GRA 6516 Economics for Finance

GRA 6516 Economics for Finance

Course code: 
GRA 6516
Department: 
Economics
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Alfonso Irarrazabal
Course name in Norwegian: 
Economics for Finance
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Finance
Semester: 
2021 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

The course, which is an introductory economics course on master level, provides the students with the main concepts and models used in modern micro- and macroeconomic analysis.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

Provide students with an understanding of the key areas of economic theory such as:

  • The nature of economic decisions of individual units and implications for the allocation of resources in the economy.
  • The mechanism that shape business cycles.
  • The impact of monetary and fiscal policy.
  • The economic principles of financial markets and the role of finance in economic development.
Learning outcomes - Skills
  • Students should be able to analyze how consumers and firms respond to incentives, how resources are allocated and their welfare consequences.
  • Students should possess skills to evaluate macro-economic policy.
  • Students should possess skills to analyze the economic forces driving financial markets.
General Competence
  • Through this course, students should develop basic understanding of how market outcomes are shaped by individual decisions, institutions and economic policy. 
  • The course provides the students with a thorough understanding of the micro economic foundation of macroeconomic models. 
  • The course provides the students with a solid background on the economics forces driving financial markets.
Course content

Microeconomics

  1. Utility Maximization

  2. Demand Function and Substitution Effects

  3. Market Demand, Market Equilibrium, and Uncertainty

  4. Firm Behavior and Supply Function

  5. Firm Supply and Industry Equilibrium.

  6. Imperfect Competition.

Macroeconomics

  1. General Equilibrium with Production

  2. Fiscal Policy and the Role of Money

  3. The Neoclassical Model

  4. The New Keynesian Model: IS Curve and Policy

  5. IS-LM and the Role of Monetary Policy

  6. Open Economy Models

Teaching and learning activities

- The course involves mostly lectures, where we rigorously go over the economic theory, through mathematical derivations and graphs. During classes, there will also be discussions on how the theory applies to real-world situations.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.

At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.

Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Covid-19 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.

Teaching 

Information about what is taught on campus and other digital forms will be presented with the lecture plan before the start of the course each semester.

Exam categoryWeightInvigilationDurationSupport materialsGroupingComment exam
Exam category:
Submission
Form of assessment:
Written submission
Exam code:
GRA65162
Grading scale:
ECTS
Grading rules:
Internal and external examiner
Resit:
Examination when next scheduled course
100Yes3 Hour(s)
  • No support materials
Individual Final written examination under supervision.
Exams:
Exam category:Submission
Form of assessment:Written submission
Weight:100
Invigilation:Yes
Grouping (size):Individual
Support materials:
  • No support materials
Duration:3 Hour(s)
Comment:Final written examination under supervision.
Exam code:GRA65162
Grading scale:ECTS
Resit:Examination when next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.