The MSc Finance and Risk Programme assumes that students have a solid background in several areas, including Finance Theory, Microeconomics and Quantitative Methods. We suggest that students with a weaker background in these areas review or self-study them as thoroughly as possible before arriving at LSE.
Below are some indicative references in each of these topics that you may find helpful for revision or self-study purposes. In each case, we suggest that you become familiar with at least the early chapters of these references, as we find that prior exposure to these topics is beneficial to students.
Introductory Reading
In general, it is helpful to have some background in Corporate Finance and Financial Markets. The following two books provide a good introduction to Corporate Finance:
- Principles of Corporate Finance, by Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers and Franklin Allen; or
- Corporate Finance, by Jonathan Berk and Peter DeMarzo.
The following book provides a basic introduction to the topic of portfolio choice and asset allocation:
- Investments, by Alex Kane, Zvi Bodie and Alan Marcus.
The following are standard references in Microeconomic Theory. These are all good choices as a reference to the topic at a suitable level:
- Microeconomics and Behavior, by Robert Frank and Edward Cartwright
- Intermediate Microeconomics, by Hal Varian
- Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions, by Christopher Snyder and Walter Nicholson
Finance is a quantitative subject by nature, so a solid background in quantitative methods will be beneficial for your experience at LSE. A background in Introductory Calculus, Probability and Statistics and Introductory Econometrics are all helpful; we suggest that you review or self-study any standard reference in these areas.
Readings in FM403 Management and Regulation of Risk
The core course of the Programme is FM403 Management and Regulation of Risk. In this course you will have the opportunity to study and explore the topic of risk management extensively. In addition to weekly lectures, the course includes a number of practitioner seminars that will expose students to practical aspects of the issues considered.
FM403 requires an extensive amount of reading. Detailed below is a list of indicative readings to give you an idea of the level and range of the material covered in the course. You are not expected to read every article listed here.
The following is a relevant research working paper co-authored by Professor Kathy Yuan, Programme Director of MSc Risk & Finance. It is more demanding than the previous articles and is listed as an example of the type of research that LSE Finance faculty are carrying out on the topic:
Optional Course Reading
Aside from the compulsory course course FM403, you can choose your remaining course options from a very wide range of courses at LSE.
Under Programme regulations, many courses are pre-approved as options, but you can take other courses as well, as long as they are open to Programme students and you obtain the approval of the Programme Co-Director.
We recommend that you study the list of courses offered in the Programme, available from the Programme Regulations section of the website. The page contains links to the individual course pages, which provide a description of the course content and material. In particular, each course’s page provides information on course pre-requisites, topics covered and reading material.