Catalog

MIT 15.401 Finance Theory I, Fall 2008

Economics & Finance MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 20 lectures

This course provides a rigorous introduction to the fundamentals of modern financial analysis and applications to business challenges in valuation, risk analysis, corporate investment decisions, and basic security analysis and investment management. The four major sections of the course are: (A) an introduction to the financial system, the financial challenges firms and households face, and the principles of modern finance in tackling these challenges; (B) valuation of stocks, bonds, forwards, futures, and options; (C) methods for incorporating risk analysis into valuation models, including portfolio theory, mean-variance optimization, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model; and (D) applications to corporate financial decisions, including capital budgeting and real options.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Ses 1: Introduction and Course Overview
  2. 2 Ses 2: Present Value Relations I
  3. 3 Ses 3: Present Value Relations II
  4. 4 Ses 4: Present Value Relations III & Fixed-Income Securities I
  5. 5 Ses 5: Fixed-Income Securities II
  6. 6 Ses 6: Fixed-Income Securities III
  7. 7 Ses 7: Fixed-Income Securities IV
  8. 8 Ses 8: Equities
  9. 9 Ses 9: Forward and Futures Contracts I
  10. 10 Ses 10: Forward and Futures Contracts II & Options I
  11. 11 Ses 11: Options II
  12. 12 Ses 12: Options III & Risk and Return I
  13. 13 Ses 13: Risk and Return II & Portfolio Theory I
  14. 14 Ses 14: Portfolio Theory II
  15. 15 Ses 15: Portfolio Theory III & The CAPM and APT I
  16. 16 Ses 16: The CAPM and APT II
  17. 17 Ses 17: The CAPM and APT III & Capital Budgeting I
  18. 18 Ses 18: Capital Budgeting II & Efficient Markets I
  19. 19 Ses 19: Efficient Markets II
  20. 20 Ses 20: Efficient Markets III & Course Summary

Course materials