Foundations of Modern Finance II
Learn fundamental principles of modern finance, including valuation models, methods for risk analysis, derivative instruments and investment management.
Course Information
Certificate Track
Learn for Free
About this Course
Many of the most important financial decisions in business are made under uncertainty. This second course in the Foundations of Modern Finance series provides you with the science of financial decision making under uncertainty.
We build on the core set of basic principles taught in the first part, and continue to develop a powerful and general framework for making financial decisions in business and in personal financial planning. We introduce financial derivative securities and their valuation models, discuss the capital structure decisions of firms, and explore the interaction between investing and financing.
At the center of financial decision making is the valuation problem. How much value does a business investment create? What is a fair price to pay for a financial asset? We develop models and analytics for measuring risk and for valuing financial assets. We apply valuation models to financial securities, including stocks and bonds, and to project valuation and capital budgeting.
What you'll learn
- Valuation of futures, forward, and options
- Portfolio optimization and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM)
- Capital structure decisions within the firm
- The interaction between investing and financing
Prerequisites
Meet your instructors
Egor Matveyev
Executive Director of MicroMasters Program in Finance
Egor Matveyev is an Executive Director of the MicroMasters Program in Finance and a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
His research interests are in the fields of corporate finance, organizational economics, and corporate governance. Matveyev’s work has studied corporate director labor markets, the impact of management teams and CEOs on firm value and performance, and the challenges investors face in valuing firms’ investment options. At MIT Sloan, he teaches 15.401 Managerial Finance and 15.434 Advanced Corporate Finance.
Matveyev holds an MA in Economics from the New Economic School in Moscow and a PhD in Finance from the University of Rochester.
Current Research Focus: Matveyev’s current research focus is corporate finance, with a particular interest in the role of top corporate executives in creating firm value and its implications for executive compensation and the design of corporate governance systems. Current research projects include measuring the value of CEOs, allocation of executive skill across firms, and the role of non-pay job characteristics in the executive and director labor markets.
