Financial Economics; Speculative Markets

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course focuses on the description, pricing, and hedging of basic derivative claims on financial assets. We study the characteristics, uses, and payoffs of a variety of contracts where the underlying claims include commodities, foreign currencies, bonds, stocks, or stock indices. We examine contracts such as options, swaps, and futures contracts. We use a unified approach (the technique of portfolio replication) to study pricing of these claims. Students also gain an understanding of strategies for hedging of the risks inherent in holding these derivative claims.