Introduction to Finance and Policy

Central banks, Treasury departments, the IMF, and sovereign wealth funds use financial data and tools to inform their decisions. This class covers the main concepts of finance theory for stocks, bonds, and investment portfolios and applies them in the public policy context. Topics covered include the following: present value, real and nominal interest rates, optimal portfolio choice, Value-at-Risk and Growth-at-Risk, risk and return, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, performance evaluation, market efficiency, and return predictability.