93250 - Economics Of Financial Intermediation

Learning outcomes

This course introduces students to financial markets, financial institutions, and financial authorities. Emphasis is placed upon the economic effects of financial institutions and markets on various sectors of the economy. The course will outline the institutional structure of financial intermediation and the concerns facing the regulators and managers of these institutions. Students will also learn the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in a market based economy, the role played by market liquidity and sovereign debt, the policy tools of quantitative and qualitative easing.

Course contents

1. Function and structure of financial markets
2. Interest rates and the yield curve
3. Why financial institutions exist
4. The role of central banks
5. The conduct of monetary policy
6. Money markets and interbank markets
7. The bond market
   
8. Banking and the management of financial institutions
9. Risk management in financial institutions
10. The derivatives market
11. Bank regulation
12. Financial stability and financial crises
    
13. Other financial intermediaries

Readings/Bibliography

Frederic S. Mishkin and Stanley G. Eakins, Financial Markets and Institutions, global edition, 9^thedition, 2018, Pearson.

Any other material that will be posted on Virtuale.

Teaching methods

Lectures and exercises

Assessment methods

Students can take either: (1) the mid-term exam (covering the first part of the course) and the second partial exam (covering the second part of the course); or (2) the full exam (covering the entire material). All exams (partial and full) consist of a combination of multiple-choice questions and exercises. The exams are closed-book written tests, only non-programmable calculators are allowed.

Students can reject a pass grade only once. To this end, he/she must email a request to the instructor within the date set for registration. The instructor will confirm reception of the request within the same date. Rejection is intended with respect to the whole exam, whose grade is the average of the grades obtained in the two partial exams. If the grade is rejected, the student must retake the full exam. The only grade that can be rejected without any communication from the student is the one of the first mid-term: in this case the student can either take the second partial exam or sit the full exam (thus losing the grade obtained in the first mid-term).

Teaching tools

Slides

Exercises

Additional readings and videos

Office hours

See the website of Mascia Bedendo