LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course of Economics of Financial Markets has the specific aim of providing both theoretical and technical knowledge on the working of financial markets, with specific focus on the most recent theories and the debate among the different streams of thought. Specific attention will be dedicated to the impact of monetary policies on financial markets, to the creation and propagation of expectations and to the impact that they have on the yields of financial assets and their time structure. 

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The main targets of the course are the following:

• Understanding the working of financial markets
• Understanding the effects of monetary policy on the financial markets

PREREQUISITES

Undergraduate introductory courses of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics.

TEACHING METHODS

Lessons by the teacher. Seminars on a few specific topics.

A detailed description of the course is available on "AulaWeb".

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Part I: The Debate on Financial Markets Efficinecy

1. The conventional approach and its foundations.
2. Some alternative approaches and the main objections to the orthodox models.
3. Firm's investments and financial markets.

Part II:  Monetary Policy and Financial Markets

1. Central Bank, inside money, outside money and payment systems.
2. From the policy interest rate tto the markets interest rates.
3. The Transmissiom Mechanism of Monetary Policy: the Money Channel and the Crediit Channel

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Bagliano,  F-C, Marotta, (2010) G., Economia Monetaria, seconda edizione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010, chapters 1 (pp.19.-31), 5 (pp. 165-188 and (198-208) 10 (pp. 309-323).  An alternative textbook in English may be comunicated to English Speaking students upon request at the beginning of the course. .
• Notes edited by the teacher (that will be available AND downloadable from “AulaWeb”): “The debate on market efficiency”.
• Notes edited by the teacher (that will be available AND downloadable from “AulaWeb”: "Mercati e strumenti finanziari: un’introduzione"
• Notes edited by the teacher (that will be available AND downloadable from “AulaWeb”: "CAPM and APT"
• Bernanke, B. Blinder, A. (1988), "Credit, Money and Aggregate Demand", American Economic Review, vol. 78, no. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the One-Hundredth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May 1988), pp. 435-439. The students may obtain the pdf file of this paper by downloading from the terminals of the Library of the Department terminals. The students may also download from the AulaWeb site of the course, for this specific point, the lecture notes “Il canale creditizio”