Reading Seminar in Economics
Reading and discussion of particular topics in economics. Open to undergraduate students by arrangement with individual faculty members. Consult Department Headquarters.
January IAP 2016 · Financial Crises
This course is an introduction to the economic theories of financial crises. It focuses on amplification mechanisms that exacerbate crises, such as leverage, fire sales, bank runs, interconnections, and complexity. It also analyzes the different perspectives on the origins of crises, such as mistaken beliefs and moral hazard, and discusses the optimal regulation of the financial system. The course draws upon examples from financial crises around the world, especially the recent subprime financial crisis. 14.09 is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.
Readings
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: 14.04 and 14.06 U (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗January IAP 2016
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.