93091 - Financial Economics

Academic Year 2025/2026

  • Teaching Mode: In-person learning (entirely or partially)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Economics, Markets and Institutions (cod. 8038)

    Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in Economics and Finance (cod. 8835)

Learning outcomes

The student learns the basic insights into portfolio theory and management. He/she learns about investor’s choice, market opportunities, and optimal portfolio selection trading-off returns and risk. Some of the topics covered are mean-variance portfolio theory, efficient portfolio and efficient frontier, Capital asset pricing model, Arbitrage pricing model.

Course contents

First, the course introduces the students to the problem of managing a portfolio.

- the mean-variance portfolio choice,

- CAPM,

- APT, Fama-French models.

Second, the course introduces the students to the main models and techniques that are used to analyze fixed income securities.

- Starting from basic concepts such as the yield curve, yield-to-maturity, duration, convexity, the course introduces portfolio hedging strategies based on duration-matching or asset liability management.

Third, the course introduces options pricing

Fourth, the course expose the students to the main behavioural finance findings in the current literature

Readings/Bibliography

Bodie, Kane and Marcus (2011), Investments, McGraw-Hill

Teaching methods

Lezioni frontali, homeworks

Assessment methods

mid-term+final exam

Teaching tools

Slides, Homeworks

Office hours

See the website of Filippo Massari