Household Finance

About the course

Subjects

Microeconomics Macroeconomics International economics Finance

Course content

A sound understanding of personal finance is crucial for everyone aiming to make informed financial choices, avoid costly mistakes and achieve good financial health. It is also a highly sought-after skill by private and public institutions alike.

The course offers an overview of personal finance topics and issues, including financial planning, savings and spending, credit management, financial literacy, the role of expectations, beliefs and personal experiences in financial decision making, financial technology, financial intermediation, retirement planning, intra-household decision making, household heterogeneity in response to monetary policy changes, and gender differences in financial decision making.

The course provides students with a good understanding of the key topics within the household finance literature and will empower them with the tools to achieve their financial goals in life. In addition to learning the theory, students will actively participate in classroom discussions related to real-life cases, existing research and research ideas that will require them to apply their financial knowledge.

The course will also include guest lectures from industry, aimed at providing insights into real-world applications of the topics discussed in the course. Students should be able to base their master thesis on the final assignment.

See course description in course catalogue

What you will learn

Students should come away from this course with the foundational knowledge that is common to most researchers within the field of household finance, along with a sense of where the active research frontier in the field lies. An important secondary objective of the course is to teach students the art of empirical research. After having successfully participated in the course students ought to:

Understand the core questions and results in household finance research.
Understand the role of expectations in household finance and some key inputs in expectation formation.
Know the evolution of household finance as field and what drove the rise of the field.
Understand the role of behavioral biases in the financial choices of individuals and households.
Know typical data sources used in household finance research.
Know some of the stylized facts in household finance.
Know the key puzzles in household finance.
Understand what may drive the large gender gap in financial choices observed worldwide.
Understand the role of intra-household financial decision making on the financial choices of household.
Understand how financial technology may influence the financial choices of households and understand both the potential benefits and drawbacks for the financial wellbeing of households.
Be able to identify compelling research questions in household finance and empirical approaches to address these.
Be able to develop a high-quality research proposal suitable for thesis work.

Course prerequisites

A good knowledge of microeconomics, statistics, and finance is recommended. Students who do not have good knowledge of these topics but still wish to enroll, should be prepared to invest a bit of time early in the course to catch up.

Facts

Level

Master

Type

Elective

ECTS

7.5

Code

CFIAV2501U

Teaching periods

Autumn – semester

Autumn – 2nd quarter

Academic year

2026/2027

Status

Available places

Teaching language

English

Teaching Format

On campus

Exams

Written assignment
Individual exam, winter

Assessment type

7 point grading scale