Course 2010-2011 a.y.

Go to class group/s: 31

CLMG (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - M (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - IM (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - MM (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - AFC (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - CLAPI (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - CLEFIN-FINANCE (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - CLELI (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - ACME (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - DES-ESS (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11) - EMIT (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/11)

Course Director:
MARCO ONADO

Course Objectives

The course main objectives can be summarised as follows:

• Discuss the current problems of the international financial system. In particular, a large section is devoted to the causes and implications of the crisis that began in June 2007 and which will shape the evolution of the global financial system in the foreseeable future.
• Analyze strengths and weaknesses of the main players, in particular looking at the core group of global banks (both US and European) before and after the crisis.
• Analyze the conceptual framework for comparing financial systems across countries and over time (in particular looking at the main channels of intermediation: banks vs financial markets).
• Review the main characteristics of the financial systems of the industrialised countries looking at the households’ financial assets and the corporate sector’s financial liabilities.

Course Content Summary

• The financial structure: general issues. The main questions this part try to answer are: what are the main characteristics of a financial system and how can they be measured? Why structural characteristics differ across countries and over time? Are some financial structures better than others? To what extent (and why) households’ and companies’ financial behaviour varies across countries and time?
• Anatomy of a crisis: the main facts of the crisis in the main financial systems. The main questions this part try to answer are: why the crisis originated in the subprime sector and spread to the entire global system? Why the risks were underestimated? Which were the flaes of the securitisation process? What does that mean for the business models adopted by the main global banks?
• The crisis and the strategic issues for main global players. The main questions this part try to answer are: What are the characteristics of the so-called Large Complex Financial Institutions? Why were they the main cause of the moral hazard problem? How should they change to avoid similar problems?
• Lessons to be learnt. The main questions this part try to answer are: To what extent the causes of the financial crisis have been removed, both from a macro and a micro perspective? Have business models changed? What are the implications of the likely regulatory changes?

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

The exam is a written text (12 multiple choice questions and two open questions); no mid-term exam. Attendants are encouraged to submit short individual paper as a partial or total alternative to the final exam.

Textbooks

Course material is mainly taken from official publications by the main international agencies (in particular: Global Financial Stability Reports from the Imf; Financial Stability Reports from the bank of England and European Central Bank) and will be available on the website.

Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)

Prerequisites

No specific prerequites are needed, but knowledge of basics of the economics of financial intermediation is necessary.

Last change 18/06/2010 10:59