Courses Taught

FIN 426 – Interest Rates and Debt Mrkts (3)
The course starts off with a review of the time value of money concepts and the pricing of standard cash flows such as annuities, perpetuities. Next, an overview of the Treasury markets is provided with emphasis on both the primary and the secondary markets. In particular, the economics of the Treasury auctions, on-the-run/off-the-run liquidity issues, the presence of the zero lower bound, the economics of inflation-protected bonds, and other topics will be discussed at length. Students will also learn how to interpret the shapes of the nominal and the real yield curves, how to forecast short/long term future directions of rates as well as how to forecast future inflations based on nominal-real rate differentials.

FIN 875 – FIX INC MKTS (2)
Discuss the fundamentals of fixed income securities and markets. Develop tools for valuing fixed income securities and managing various sources of risks in fixed income markets. The course covers traditional bonds, the term structure concepts, and recently developed fixed income derivatives. The course emphasizes the real-world applications of the theory of fixed income securities and markets.

FIN 881 – FUND FIN MKTS (2)
Operation, structure of money, bond markets and concepts; and techniques used in evaluating and managing fixed income portfolios.

FIN 597 – Special Topics (1.5)

FIN 497 – Special Topics (3)
Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

FIN 496 – Indep Studies (Variable)
Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

FIN 581 – FUND FIN MKTS (2)
This course provides a broad understanding of the pricing mechanism of the bond, equity, and foreign exchange markets. The course also gives students an overview of analytical methodologies that help market participants discern asset price from asset value. How can a market participant understand when they are "buying low and selling high"? In particular, the course investigates the following questions related to understanding financial markets and why this understanding is important to success as a strategic corporate manager: ¿ What is the language of financial markets¿how do market actors read financial statements with a critical eye to understand assets' future value? ¿ What is the difference between price and value? ¿ What, theoretically, is the "intrinsic value of an asset? What analytical techniques can the financial market participant use to approximate intrinsic value? ¿ How are decisions made given that market results are uncertain? ¿ How are decisions made probabilistically using the basic concepts of expected value and standard deviation? ¿ What is the difference between an "optimal" decision using market data vs. an "accurate" decision? ¿ How do we understand that the concept of risk is multi-layered and multi-dimensional? ¿ Which risks are associated with which markets, i.e., bonds vs. equities etc., and how do market participants mitigate risk through hedging? ¿ Are markets rational or are they subject to "behavioral" characteristics? ¿ How do we understand and quantify our corporation¿s risk profile and how does that determine our decisions to employ capital in one asset market vs. another? At the end of the course students should have a sense that decisions to buy or sell an asset in any financial market are imperfect, and that new information alters the value of assets extremely quickly. As a result, students must develop a keen sense of how markets are moving, and why they are moving in one direction or the other. More importantly, students will realize that decisions must be made, assets must be bought or sold, and hopefully, valuation techniques lead to profitable outcomes.

FIN 408 – Fin Mrkts and Insts (3)
Functional analysis of major credit institutions; sources and uses of funds; impact of government regulation.

Selected Publications