advanced topics in behavioral Finance

Time: August 15 - August 17, 2018  

Place: Helsinki, Aalto University School of Business, Chydenia Building

Instructor: Professor Harrison Hong (Columbia University)

NFN Travel Grant: NFN offers travel grants to PhD students in finance who come from one of the NFN member institutions, located outside of Finland. To apply for a travel stipend, please use this this form (rtf), and send the application to nfn (at) aalto.fi.

Lectures: 12 h of lectures. (12 x 45 minutes)

DAY
DATE
TIME
Wednesday 15.8. 12:00 - 13:30
14:30 - 16
G-112, Chydenia Building
Thursday 16.8. 10:00 - 11:30
12:30 - 14
G-112, Chydenia Building
Friday 17.8. 10:00 - 11:30
12:30 - 14
G-112, Chydenia Building

Learning Goal and Objectives: This intensive 3-day PhD course covers recent advances in the field of behavioral finance, with particular attention to the economics of speculative bubbles and financial crises. In particular, I will discuss recent research on the limits of arbitrage to explain why bubbles might persist and I also examine asset pricing with disagreement and short-sales constraints to build a model of speculative bubbles. Finally, I will consider the role of networks, social influences and status effects in generating slow diffusion of information and in magnifying bubbles and crises. As a whole, the course aims to advance the ability of doctoral students to work in behavioral finance topics through inspiration and examples.

Prerequisites: Participants should have a basic understanding of key questions in Behavioral Finance. The level of sufficient background knowledge can be achieved for example by taking Behavioral Finance course organized by the GSF in June 2018.

Syllabus: PDF

Access to the articles is subject to your home institutions' subsciptions to the databases. If you have a problem with accessing the articles, please contact GSF office gsf @ aalto.fi for advice. 

Lecture Notes: Lecture 2

Lecture 3

Lecture 4

Lecture 5, part I

Lecture 5, part II

Lecture 6

Password for opening the course material will be e-mailed to the participants.

Grading: The grading is based on a written exam. The total points of this course are 100 and in order to pass the course one needs at least 40% of points (i.e. 40 points).

Examination date and time: August 31, 2018 at 10:00-14:00. Please register for the exam through this link. If you wish to take the exam in your home university (other than GSF member university), please see instructions below.

Examination places:

  • In Helsinki: Aalto University School of Business, Arkadia Building (Lapuankatu 2), E-122
  • In Oulu: University of Oulu
  • In Vaasa: University of Vaasa
  • In Lappeenranta: Lappeenranta University of Technology
  • In Turku: Turku School of Economics
  • Other locations: Doctoral students in other universities are requested to inform GSF by sending an e-mail to gsf@aalto.fi if they wish to take the exam in their home universities. Please note that the exam must be written in presence of an exam supervisor. Thus, please submit the name of the exam supervisor at least 14 days before the examination.

Please note: No retake exam will be offered for any reason (beyond your control or not). However, the exam can be taken abroad where suitable exam supervision can be arranged. Possible payment and arrangements for supervision should be made by the student. In case you wish to take the exam abroad, please contact GSF by sending an e-mail to gsf@aalto.fi at least 14 days before the examination. 

Credit units: 3 ECTS cr.

List of Participants: PDF

Participants: Doctoral students in finance. The course is also open for KATAJA as well as FDPE students with sufficient background in finance and/or economics. The course is also open for foreign doctoral students given that there is space in the course.

Application:

  • Doctoral students of GSF and FDPE: please register through this link.
  • Doctoral students in related fields, other universities and doctoral students at foreign universities: Application form can be found here: PDF file or Word file Please send in addition to your complete contact information, a report on the status of your doctoral studies, and a brief CV. Please ask also your thesis advisor to send us a short letter of recommendation by-email. All the required documents should be sent by e-mail to gsf@aalto.fi.

The deadline for registering in this course is August 8, 2018. All students will be informed of their acceptance soon after the deadline.