Economics of Financial Intermediaries

The aim of the course is to provide participants with all the relevant information for a proper understanding of the different functions performed by financial markets and financial institutions. The course will analyze the financial system with an institutional approach, examining both the architecture of different financial institutions and the relation between this architecture and the financial needs of the real economy.

After successful completion of the course students are expected to be able to navigate current events in financial markets (e.g. central bank actions, capital flows, markets behavior, bubble formation). The course will place a strong emphasis on developing the students' ability to identify critical issues in the market and their institutional and regulatory ramifications.