Nccu commerce School 000351031-972, Winter 2009

Office: Commerce-261249

Telephone: Ext 81249

Email: iamtedfu@nccu.edu.tw

Office Hours: TBA

Lectures: Wednesday, 1:10 PM to 4:00 PM in Commerce-508

Review Sessions: TBA

(Syllabus Reference: Harvard API 141 Finance Syllabus of Professor Akash Deep)

This introductory (but fast-paced) course provides a general survey of finance and investments. It emphasizes an intuitive, logically rigorous understanding of the theory and practice of financial markets, illustrating the concepts through examples and cases drawn from the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Topics covered include: present value analysis and discounting, diversification, the tradeoff between risk and return, market efficiency, pricing of stocks and bonds, the capital asset pricing model, term structure of interest rates, the principle of arbitrage, pricing of derivative securities (forwards, futures, and options), the use of derivatives for hedging, risk management,

and the regulation of financial markets.
AUDIENCE

The course is intended for students who are interested in learning the basic tools and techniques of finance and how they are employed for the valuation of complex securities. While an intuitive appreciation of the principles will be the primary objective, mathematical tools will be employed to illustrate the implementation of these principles to practical cases. Any advanced mathematics that is used will be developed in lectures and review sessions.

It is assumed that students will be familiar with introductory concepts in economics and basic (high school level) mathematics. Students with concerns about their backgrounds

are welcome to speak to the instructor. Basic computer spreadsheet skills will be expected, and required to complete some of the assignments.
REQUIREMENTS

The course must be taken for credit. No auditors please.

Attendance: An alert, inquisitive presence in each and every class is mandatory. Attendance in review sessions is strongly advised but not required.

Readings and Assignments: Students will be expected to have completed the assigned readings before class and review them after class. Weekly problem sets will be assigned throughout the course to illustrate and reinforce the concepts presented in class as well as in preparation of the case discussions to follow.

Exam: There will be an in-class, closed book and closed notes final exam on December 12, 2008 at 9 AM. No make-up exams will be held.

Grading: Class Participation 10%

Written assignments 25%

Final Exam 65%
MATERIALS

The textbook for the course, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition by Zvi Bodie, Alex Kane and Alan Marcus, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008, is available online and in bookstores. Other “Required Readings”, including cases, are available from the Course Materials Office as a course packet. Regular reading of financial news in publications such as

The following are some good introductory finance texts that overlap in parts with the material covered in the recommended text for this class:

1 Introduction to finance and financial markets

2 Present value and the opportunity cost of capital

3 Valuing financial securities: Bonds

4 Valuing financial securities: Equity A

5 Diversification, risk, and return measures

6 Case: The State of South Carolina B

7 Choosing a portfolio

8 The Capital Asset Pricing Model C

9 Efficient markets

10 Case: Communications Satellite Corporation D

11 Arbitrage

12 Case: Long-Term Capital Management E

13 Risk management

14 Forward and futures contracts F

15 Options

16 Case: Dozier Industries G

17 Pricing of options

18 Guest Speaker: TBA

19 Case: BASIX H

20 Real options

21 Case: Bidding for Antamina I

22 Case: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation J

23 Case: Subprime Meltdown

24 Review

Final exam
INTRODUCTION TO FINANCE AND FINANCIAL MARKETS
Required Readings

Introduction to finance and financial markets

Chapters 1 and 2, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“The New Capitalism, How Unfettered finance is fast reshaping the global economy”, Martin Wolf, The Financial Times, June 19, 2007.
Additional Readings

Chapters 3 and 4, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

Chapters 2 and 3, Principles of Corporate Finance, 7th edition, Richard Brealey and Stewart Myers, 2003, 12-50.

Chapter 10, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

Chapter 13 and Section 14.1, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“Uses, Abuses, and Alternatives to the Net Present Value Rule”, S. Ross, Financial Management, Vol. 24, 96-102, 1995.

“Market Myths”, G. Bennett Stewart, III, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 2, No. 3, Fall 1989, 6-23.

“Do Stock Prices Reflect Fundamental Values?”, J. Randall Woolridge, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Spring 1995, 64-69.

“Valuation Models for Default-risky Securities: An Overview”, Saikat Nandi, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Economic Review, Fourth Quarter 1998
PORTFOLIO SELECTION
Required Readings

Diversification, risk, and return measures

Chapter 5 and Section 18.3, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“Risk, Market Sensitivity, and Diversification”, William F. Sharpe, Financial Analysts Journal, Jan-February, 1995, 84-88.

Case: The State of South Carolina

HBS case # 9-201-061

South Carolina, State Treasurer's Office, 1998. Until last year the state pension fund, with over

$17 billion in assets, was barred by the state constitution from investing in equities. After the

constitution was amended, the state government has to decide how much to invest in equities, and

what assets to choose.

Chapter 6, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“You, too, Can Short Stocks”, Business Week, March 22, 1999

“Long & Short: It’s a Tough Job, So Why Do They Do It? The Backward Business of Short Selling”, Jesse Eisinger, The Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2006, p C1.

“Why Not Diversify Internationally rather than Domestically?”, Bruno H. Solnik, Financial Analysts Journal, Jan-Feb, 1995, 89-94.

"Estimating Expected Return", Fisher Black, Financial Analysts Journal, Jan-Feb 1995, 168-171.

"Why No One Can Tell Who's Winning", J. Michael Murphy, Financial Analysts Journal, May-Jun 1980, 49-57.

"Portfolio Optimization in Practice", Phillipe Jorion, Financial Analysts Journal, January-February, 1992, 68-74.

"Portfolio Theory versus Portfolio Practice", Richard Brealey, Journal of Portfolio Management, Summer 1990, 6-10.

"The Persistence of Risk: Stocks versus Bonds over the Long Term", Martin Leibowitz and William Krasker, Financial Analysts Journal, November-December 1988, 40-47.

“Global Stock Markets in the Twentieth Century”, Philippe Jorion and William Goetzman, Journal of Finance, 1999, Vol. 54, no. 3, 953-980.

Sections 7.1-7.4, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“Risk and Return” The Economist, February 2nd 1991, 72-73.

“Does the Capital Asset Pricing Model Work?” David Mullins, Jr., Harvard Business Review, January-February, 1982, 105-113

HBS Case No. 276-195

In January 1975, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concluded an 11-year

investigation of the appropriate regulation of Comsat. One of the most important of these

was the determination of the fair rate of return on Comsat's capital. Both the qualitative

assessment of risk and the use of analytical techniques had been suggested by eminent

experts.
Additional Readings
"Prediction of Beta from Investment Fundamentals", Barr Rosenberg and James Guy, Financial Analysts Journal, Jan.-Feb., 1995.

"The Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Market Model", Barr Rosenberg, Journal of Portfolio

"Beta and Return", Fisher Black, Journal of Portfolio Management, Fall 1993.

"Efficient? Chaotic? What's the New Finance?" Nancy Nichols, Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1993, 2-7.

"Beta and Return", Fisher Black, Journal of Portfolio Management, Fall 1993, 8-17.

"In Defense of Beta", S.P Kothari and Jay Shanken, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Spring 1995, 53-58.

"Tale from the FAR Side", The Economist, November 16th 1996, 86.

Chapter 8, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“Random Walks in Stock Market Prices”, Eugene F. Fama, Financial Analysts Journal, Jan-February, 1995, 75-80.

“The Efficient Market Hypothesis and its Critics”, Burton G. Malkiel, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2003 17 (1) 59-82

“The Truth Investors Don’t Want to Hear on Index Funds and Market Soothsayers”, The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 1998, C1.

“The Efficient Market Theory Thrives on Criticism”, Dwight Lee and James Verbrugge, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 9, No. 1, Fall 1996, 35-40.

“Stock Characters: As Two Economists Debate Markets, the Tide Shifts", The Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2004, A1.
Additional Readings

"Implications of the Random Walk Hypothesis for Portfolio Management", Fisher Black, Financial Analysts Journal, March-April, 1971, 16-22.

"The Theory of Stock Market Efficiency: Accomplishments and Limitations", Ray Ball, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Spring 1995, 4-17.

"How Rational Investors Deal with Uncertainty (Or Reports of the Death of Efficient Markets are Greatly Exaggerated)", Keith Brown, W. Harlow, and Seha Tinic, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Fall 1989, 45-58.

"I've Got the Horse Right Here: Sports Betting and Market Efficiency", Martin Fridson, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Summer 1993, 88-95.

"The Impact of Macroeconomic News on Financial Markets", Louis Ederington and Jae Lee, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Spring 1996, 41-49.

"Death by the Numbers", David Kestenbaum, Science, February 26, 1999, 1244-1247.

“Hedge Fund Existential” Richard Bookstaber, Financial Analysts Journal, September/October

2003, p 19.

“How Salesmanship and Brainpower Failed to Save Long-Term Capital” Michael Siconolfi, Anita Raghvan, et. al., The Wall Street Journal, November 16, 1998, p A1.

Smart people aren't supposed to get into this kind of a mess. With two Nobel prize winners among its partners, Long-Term Capital Management L.P. was considered too clever to get caught in a market downdraft. The Greenwich (Conn.) hedge fund nearly tripled the money of its wealthy investors between its inception in March, 1994, and the end of 1997. Its sophisticated arbitrage strategy was avowedly ''market-neutral'' -- designed to make money whether prices were rising or falling. Indeed, until last spring its net asset value never fell more than 3% in a single month. Then came the guns of August. Long-Term Capital's rocket science exploded on the launchpad. Its portfolio's value fell 44%, giving it a year-to-date decline of 52%. That's a loss of almost $ 2 billion. (“Failed Wizards of Wall Street”, Business Week, September 28, 1998)
Additional Readings

“What Every CFO Should Know About Scientific Progress in Financial Economics…”, Richard Roll, Financial Management, 23 (2), Summer, 1994, 69 - 75.

“Arbitrage”, Stephen Ross and Philip Dybvig, The New Palgrave, 1989, 57 - 71.

“The Arbitrage Principle in Financial Economics”, Hal Varian, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Autumn, 1987, 55-72.

“How the Eggheads Cracked”, Michael Lewis, The New York Times, January 24, 1999, p 24, Column 5.
RISK MANAGEMENT
Required Readings

Risk Management

“The Fantastic System of Side Bets” in Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, Peter Bernstein, 1996, 304-328.

“A Framework for Risk Management”, Kenneth Froot, David Scharfstein, and Jeremy Stein, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1994, 91 - 102.

“Risk management for the masses”, The Economist, March 20, 2003.

Sections 17.1-17.4, and Section 18.2, Essentials of Investment, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“Note on Hedging Foreign Currency Debt”, Akash Deep, 1999.

“Financial WMD?”, The Economist, January 22, 2004.

“Currency Derivatives Markets Landscape”, John W. Labuszewski, The Journal of Trading, Spring 2006.

"Dozier Industries" in G. Feiger and B. Jacquillat, International Finance, Allyn and Bacon, 1982.

A US company has just secured its first international sales contract in the UK. But the CFO of the company is concerned that if the value of the pound sterling depreciated, the viability of the project could be impaired.

"Pricing Financial Futures Contracts: An Introduction", Kenneth French, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Winter 1989, 59-66.

“Your Financial Future”, The Economist, May 14th 1994, 15 - 16.

“Futures Trading”, H. Houthakker, The New Palgrave, 1989, 153 - 157.

"The Currency Hedging Decision: A Search for Synthesis in Asset Allocation, Gary Gastineau, Financial Analysts Journal, May-Jun 1995.

"Estimating Currency Hedge Ratios for International Portfolios", Grant Gardner, and Douglas Stone, Financial Analysts Journal, Nov-Dec 1995.

"Derivative Assets Analysis", Mark Rubinstein, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Autumn, 1987, 73-93.

"Stock Index Futures and the Crash of '87", Merton Miller, Burton Malkiel, Myron Scholes, and John Hawke, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Winter 1989, 6-17.

"The Case of the Missing Ten Pounds: In which Sherlock Holmes explains forward pricing, options theory and other financial arcana", John Price, Derivatives Strategy, October 1997. (also available online at http://www.sherlockinvesting.com/articles/tenpounds.htm)

"Measuring Financial Risk", Clifford Smith Jr., Charles Smithson, and D. Sykes Wilford, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Winter 1989, Vol. 1, No. 4, 27-48.

"Global Risk Management: Are We Missing the Point?", Richard Bookstaber, Journal of Portfolio Management, Spring 1997, 102-107.

“A Multifractal Walk Down Wall Street”, Benoit Mandelbrot, Scientific American, February 1999, 70-73.

“The Beauty in the Beast”, The Economist, May 14th 1994, 21 - 24.

"Using Derivatives: What Senior Managers Must Know", Harvard Business Review, January-February, 1995, 3-10.

"Risk as a History of Ideas", Peter Bernstein, Financial Analysts Journal, January-February, 1995, 7-11.

"What is VAR?", David Shimko, Risk, July 1997.

"The Benefits and Risks of Derivative Instruments: An Economic Perspective", Rajna Gibson and Heinz Zimmermann, Working Paper, http://Finance.Wat.ch/GenevaPapers/paper1.htm

"Risk Management Guidelines for Derivatives", Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, 1994,

"Does Government have a Future in Derivatives?" Ken Bull, Australian Business Law Review, August 1997, 246-257.

"10 Myths About Financial Derivatives", Thomas Siems, Policy Analysis, September 1997.
OPTION CONTRACTS
Required Readings

Options

Chapter 15, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“Of Butterflies and Condors”, The Economist, February 16, 1991, 58-59.

Pricing of Options

Chapter 16, Essentials of Investments, 7th edition, Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2008.

“A Calculus of Risk”, Gary Stix, Scientific American, May 1998, 92-97.

“So many options”, The Economist, November 7, 2002.

HBS Case # 207-099

BASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if measured rainfall during the growing season falls below a pre-specified limit. Mr. Sattaiah, managing director of the BASIX's bank, considers a revised insurance policy for the coming season, weighing the costs and potential risks of expanding the product against the potential benefits.

Additional Readings

“Replicating Options with Positions in Stock and Cash”, Mark Rubinstein and Hayne Leland, Financial Analysts Journal, Jan-Feb, 1995, 113-121.

"Implied Volatility", Stewart Mayhew, Financial Analysts Journal, July-Aug 1995, 8-20.

"Option Pricing Thoery: Is Risk-Free Hedging Feasible?", John Glister, Jr., Financial Management, Spring 1997, 91-105.

"Fact and Fantasy in the Use of Options", Fischer Black, Financial Analysts Journal, Jul-Aug 1975, 36-72.

"How We Came up with the Option Formula", Fisher Black, Journal of Portfolio Management, Winter 1989.

“The Options Approach to Investment”, Avinash Dixit and Robert Pindyck, Harvard Business Review, May-June 1995, 105 – 115.

HBS Case # 297-054

In June 1996, executives of the multinational mining company RTZ-CRA are contemplating bidding to acquire the Antamina copper and zinc mine in Peru. The Antamina project is being offered for sale by auction as part of the privatization of Peru's state mining company. RTZ-CRA has to determine what the mine is worth, and to recommend whether and how RTZ-CRA should bid in the upcoming auction. The bidding rules put in place by the Peruvian government dictate that each company's bid contain two components: an up-front cash amount and the amount the bidder will invest to develop the property, if development is warranted after further exploration is completed.
Additional Readings

Investment under Uncertainty, Avinash Dixit and Robert Pindyck, Princeton University Press, 1994.

Real Options: Managerial Flexibility and Strategy in Resource Allocation, Lenos Trigeorgis, MIT Press, 1996.

Real Options in Capital Investment: Models, Strategies, and Applications, Lenos Trigeorgis (Editor), Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated, 1995.

“Using APV: A Better Tool for Valuing Operations”, Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1997, 3-10.

“What's It Worth? A General Manager's Guide to Valuation”, Timothy Luehrman, Harvard Business Review, May-June 1997, 132-142.

“Today's Options for Tomorrow's Growth”, W. Carl Kester, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1984, 153-160.

“The real power of real options”, Keith Leslie and Max Michaels, The McKinsey Quarterly, 1997,

Number 3.

HBS Case # 799-097

‘On March 3 banking operations in the United States ceased ... the government has been compelled to step in for the protection of depositors and the business of the nation’. As

President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke these words to Congress on March 9, 1933, the

nation's troubled banking system lay dormant. More than 9,000 banks had ceased

operations between the stock market crash in October 1929 and the banking holiday in

March 1933. The economy was in the midst of the worst economic depression in modern

history. Out of the ruins, birth was given to the FDIC three months later when the

President signed the Banking Act of 1933.

Case: Subprime Meltdown: American Housing and Global Financial Turmoil

HBS Case # 708-042

“The Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury have lately widened the federal safety net

more quickly and more aggressively than at any time since the New Deal era. Indeed, a

recent front-page headline in this newspaper, “Confidence Ebbs for Bank Sector and

Stocks Fall,” had distinctly Depression overtones. (You could almost envision the next

line: “Hoover Urges Calm.”) And not since the Depression (under the Reconstruction

Finance Corporation) has the government bought significant equity in private firms, as

the Treasury has sought the authority to do in the case of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

At least during the 1930s, legislation followed months of deliberation and public

hearings. The proffered fixes to today’s fast-moving crises are worked out hastily and in

private.” - Roger Lowenstein, The New York Times, July 27 2008

Harvard API 141 Finance Syllabus of Professor Akash Deep