Brief description
This module may be broadly described as providing the student with an introduction to certain aspects of the theory and practice of financial economics. The theory of finance deals with the closely related topics of investment, interest and capital.
Stripped to its most basic elements, it is concerned with extending economic analysis into the domain of time and consequently uncertainty is a key 'economic' variable (the future being intrinsically uncertain). Topics covered include capital budgeting, portfolio theory, the capital assets pricing model, options pricing and the efficient markets hypothesis.

Learning outcomes
This module is aimed to provide an understanding of the fundamentals of investment theory and the functioning of capital markets. Proceeding from general microeconomic principles the accent will be on providing an insight into the nature of capital markets and the inter-relationships between various classes of securities.
At the end of the module students should be able to assess portfolio characteristics, such as the risk/return trade-off, and hence broaden their understanding of the methods of investment management through the use of fairly sophisticated hedging techniques acquired in the course of this module.

Module outline
The current year's module outline can be found via The School's website