Em­pir­ic­al Fin­ance

Course content

Financial markets provide vast amounts of data that can inform financial decisions. This course provides an introduction to the analysis of financial data using quantitative techniques. Students will apply such techniques to address practical financial applications. The course will build skills that allow course participants to transform financial market data into decision-relevant information. During the course students will learn to interpret financial information using finance theory. This course provides a framework for making sound financial decisions and it focuses on applying the main concepts of finance theory.
The emphasis is on a practical approach: In-class problems, exercise lessons, and in particular by solving a group assignment, students learn to apply models and methods in a hands-on fashion to real problems and simultaneously highlight their limitations in real situations.
Examples of topics covered are: the trade-off between risk and return, market efficiency, return predictability, the capital asset pricing model.