Dr Cristina Scherrer

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Law and Finance. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

All students on a programme listed above will be given a place. This course is closed to outside students and does not permit auditing students.

Please contact finance.teachingmanager@lse.ac.uk with any queries.
 

Co-requisites:

Students must complete FM479 and LL4FA either before taking this course or in the same year as this course.

Additional requisites:

The course assumes no previous knowledge of finance, economics, and statistics, and requires only basic knowledge of mathematics. However, the course is quantitative and students must be willing to learn and work with new concepts in mathematics and statistics. Course work will involve a significant amount of algebra and numerical exercises. Students should be comfortable with 'High School' level Mathematics and simple algebra, e.g., the ability to solve linear systems of two equations and two unknowns.

This course is a self-contained introduction to finance for MSc Law and Finance students. The course explores the way that firms and the capital market function to channel savings toward productive investments. From the investor's perspective it considers characteristics of the major financial contracts and the principles used in their valuation. It considers how investors should select their portfolios and the implications of this behaviour for pricing assets in stock and bond markets. It explores the question of whether stock markets are efficient in reflecting investors’ information. It applies these insights to the firm's financial management decision of whether or not to invest in a risky project and how to select among alternative investments.

The course is also related to FM479 Principles of Corporate Finance for MSc Law and Finance: both are introductory courses in Finance. FM483 focuses mostly on understanding the workings of financial markets, the determination of asset prices, and the decisions made by financial investors. FM479 studies financial decisions from the perspective of firms.

30 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.

This course is taught in an interactive format. There is no distinction between lectures and classes/seminars; there are simply “sessions” where the pedagogical approach is always interactive.

Brealey, Myers, Allen, and Edmans, Principles of Corporate Finance.

Continuous assessment (100%).