Online course: Financial Markets

Dates: any time

Duration: 32 hours

Rating: 4.8 / 5.0 out of 13324 ratings (see total ranking of online courses here)

Participating countries: any country

Apply here: Application form

Organizer: Yale at Coursera

Cost: FREE or $49 with sharable certificate

Financial Markets

An overview of the ideas, methods, and institutions that permit human society to manage risks and foster enterprise. Emphasis on financially-savvy leadership skills. Description of practices today and analysis of prospects for the future. Introduction to risk management and behavioral finance principles to understand the real-world functioning of securities, insurance, and banking industries. The ultimate goal of this course is using such industries effectively and towards a better society.

Instructor

 

Programme

WEEK 1: 6 hours to complete

Module 1

Welcome to the course! In this opening module, you will learn the basics of financial markets, insurance, and CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model). This module serves as the foundation of this course.

Welcome video
Financial Markets Introduction
Your Teaching Assistant, Arun!
Good and Evil
VaR and Stress Tests
S&P 500
Joe McNay Story
Distribution and Outliers
Chalk Talk – Covariance
Insurance Fundamentals
Insurance Milestones
Insurance is a Local Phenomenon
Health Insurance
Disasters
Eggs in One Basket
Salon – Risk
CAPM
Chalk Talk: Beta
Chalk Talk: CAPM and Diversification
Short Sales
Calculating the Optimal Portfolio
Efficient Portfolio Frontier
Chalk Talk – Gordon Growth Model

WEEK 2: 4 hours to complete

Module 2

In this next module, dive into some details of behavioral finance, forecasting, pricing, debt, and inflation.

Invention Takes Time
Salon – Innovation
Limited Liability
Inflation Indexed Debt
Unidad de Fomento
Real Estate: Risk Management Devices
Forecasting
Intuition of Efficiency
Price as PDV
Doubting Efficiency
Introduction to Behavioral Finance
Prospect Theory
Chalk Talk – More on Prospect Theory
Logical Fallacies
The Brain
Magical Thinking
Personality Disorders

WEEK 3: 4 hours to complete

Module 3

Stocks, bonds, dividends, shares, market caps; what are these? Who needs them? Why? Module 3 explores these concepts, along with corporation basics and some basic financial markets history.

1982 Savings Account
Federal Funds and Interest Rates
Compound Interest
Discount Bonds
Consol and Annuity
Forward Rates and Expectation Theory
Inflation
Leverage
Market Capitalization by Country
The Corporation
Shares and Dividends
Common vs. Preferred
Corporate Charter
Corporations Raise Money
Dilution
Share Repurchase
PDV of Expected Dividends
Why do firms pay dividends?

WEEK 4: 6 hours to complete

Module 4

Take a look into the recent past, exploring recessions, bubbles, the mortgage crisis, and regulation.

Salon – Recessions
History of Mortgage Lending
Commercial Real Estate Vehicles
Mortgages
PMI, CMOs, CDOs
Post Crisis Regulation
Chalk Talks – Excess Reserves
The Bubble
Salon – Bubbles
Regulation Overview
Salon – Regulation and housing
Within Firm Regulation
Trade Group
Local Regulation
National Regulation
International Regulation

WEEK 5: 4 hours to complete

Module 5

Options and bond markets are explored in module 5, important components of financial markets.

Salon – Student Loans
Forwards and Futures Introduction
Forward Contracts
Futures Contracts
Rice Futures
Wheat Futures
Buying, Selling, and Settlement
Fair Value in Futures Contract
Oil Futures
SPI & FFR Futures
Options Overview
Reading Options Pricing
Why Options exist
Ubiquity of Options
Put / Call parity
Using Options to Hedge

WEEK 6: 4 hours to complete

Module 6

In module 6, Professor Shiller introduces investment banking, underwriting processes, brokers, dealers, exchanges, and new innovations in financial markets.

Investment Banks Introduction
The Underwriting Process
IPOs
Goldman Sachs and John Whitehead
Ratings Agencies
Glass Steagall
Net Worth of the US
The Prudent Person
Salon – Advisors
Mutual Funds and ETFs
Brokers and Dealers
Exchanges
Limit Order Book
High Frequency Trading
Payment for Order Flow
Government Debt
Government involvement in Corporations
Municipal Finance
Government Social Insurance

WEEK 7: 5 hours to complete

MODULE 7

Professor Shiller’s final module includes lectures about nonprofits and corporations, and your career in finance.

Nonprofits
Cooperatives
Alternative Forms
Salon – Public vs. Private
Critics of Modern Finance
Democratization of Finance
Salon – Democratization of Finance
Finance and War
Finance and Population Growth
The Importance of Financial Theory
Wealth and Poverty
Your Career and Finance
Interview with Roger Ferguson
Interview with Lei Zhang
Guest Georgia Keohane