FINANCE

This course aims at providing a graduate-level overview of the main research topics in the field of asset pricing and macrofinance. The focus is on the analysis of asset price formation mechanisms and of the interactions between the real economy and asset prices. After the introduction to core, traditional frameworks in asset pricing, the course will then proceed to selected specialized topics from recent research. Students will be introduced to a blend of theory and empirics, with a hands-on approach to data.

Knowledge and skills:
- solid understanding of main asset pricing models
- bringing asset pricing models to data

Application of knowledge and skills:
- deriving empirical predictions from theoretical frameworks
- finding suitable empirical settings to test such predictions
- critically assessing current research in asset pricing

First year courses of the macro and metrics sequence

- Consumption-based asset pricing
- CAPM, factor pricing models, APT
- Investment-based asset pricing
- Testing asset pricing models
- More specialized topics (e.g., term structure of equity, the role of labor for asset prices)

- Cochrane, John H. Asset Pricing. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 2009
- Ferson, Wayne. Empirical Asset Pricing: Models and Methods. MIT Press, 2019
- Selected academic papers

The final grade is based on:
- report and presentation in class on a research paper (individual assignment)
- empirical project (group assignment)
- final written exam

The course is based on lectures, tutorial sessions, and discussions.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development