Macro and International Finance

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/E_FIN_MIF

Course Objective

The goals of this course are:
- to gain a thorough understanding of the role of financial markets and institutions in the economy and the international dimension therein.
- to develop a critical attitude towards different theories in macro-finance.
- develop skills to answer macro-finance questions using advanced statistical analyses.

Course Content

Macro-finance addresses the link between asset prices, investment behaviour and economic fluctuations. Potential topics that will be discussed in this course include:
- macro-economic effects of financial shocks and crises
- consumption based asset price models
- Inflation risk in asset portfolios
- currency risk and investment behaviour
- impact of leverage, liquidity and credit risk on the economy
- bond yields: macro drivers and predictive value for recessions and crises
- monetary policy
- shadow finance, activities of non-bank financial institutions

Teaching Methods

Lectures and tutorials.

Method of Assessment

The final grade consists of a written exam (minimum grade 5.0) andassignments.

Literature

Selection of academic articles.

Target Audience

Students in Master Finance, Master Economics

Recommended background knowledge

Students are advised to have bachelor level knowledge of Asset pricing, Macro economics, and Statistics.