FM502 One Unit
Corporate Finance for Research Students
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Daniel Paravisini
Prof Amil Dasgupta
Availability
This course is compulsory on the MRes in Accounting (EoA) (Economics of Accounting Track) and MRes in Finance. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
All students on a programme listed under the Course Availability will be given a place. The course is not capped. The course is available with permission as an outside option.
Please contact finance.phd@lse.ac.uk with any queries.
This course is compulsory on the MRes/PhD in Finance. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
Doctoral students in the Departments of Finance and Economics, and other students with the permission of the PhD Finance Programme Director.
This course is not capped; any eligible student that requests a place will be given one.
Course content
The first half of the course provides an empirical treatment of major topics in corporate finance, and may include capital structure and financial policy, investment decisions, financing constraints, bankruptcy, corporate governance and the market for corporate control, banking and financial intermediation, household finance, consumer finance, finance and development (the list of topics may change year to year). A substantial emphasis will be placed on research design and empirical methods in finance applications. Students will spend a significant portion of time critically evaluating empirical papers.
The second half of this course focuses on the theory of corporate finance. The theory half of the course can, in turn, be subdivided into two parts. The first part reviews some of the classical concepts in corporate finance, using tools from game theory and contract theory to study incentive and information problems at the level of the firm, and examines how financial contracts can be designed to mitigate these problems. This part of the course also considers how takeovers and ownership concentration can help to mitigate conflict of interests among insiders and investors in firms. The second part focuses on the theory of financial intermediation. This component first reviews classic theories of banking while also introducing students to recent developments in the field. The course then introduces students to asset managers as financial intermediaries, examining their role in financial markets and corporate governance.
Teaching
30 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
30 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.
Indicative reading
Readings will be mainly based on journal articles and working papers. Some useful reference textbooks:
Tirole, Jean, The Theory of Corporate Finance, 2006, Princeton University Press.
Freixas, X. and Rochet, J.C., The Microeconomics of Banking, 1997, MIT Press.
J. Wooldridge, Econometric Analysis of Cross-Section and Panel Data, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2002.
J. D. Angrist and J-S Pischke, Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist’s Companion, Princeton University Press, 2009.
Assessment
Continuous assessment (100%)
Key facts
Department: Finance
Course Study Period: Autumn and Winter Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 8
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 5
Average class size 2024/25: 5
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Application of numeracy skills
- Specialist skills