This is an advanced course covering a variety of special topics. These topics should include:
Understanding financial crises and the role of banks; Investor sentiment, anomalies, and market efficiency; The money management business and the inherent limitations of professional arbitrage; The role of cross-country institutional differences in explaining differences in financial markets and access to finance; Finance and rent-seeking: Are financial people overpaid?; Implications of asset price volatility for corporate finance, including merger waves and financial innovation.