INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
Obiettivi formativi
The course aims at providing the students with a wide knowledge and understanding of macroeconomic fluctuations and financial dynamics in relation to economic policies, exchange rate regimes, and foreign exchange markets.
Risultati di apprendimento attesi
Knowledge and understanding: The course will offer key theoretical tools
to analyze how market forces and institutional arrangements determine
the exchange rates in the short and long run, global imbalances, crises,
and economic policy responses.
Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will be able to
understand how economic policies and market forces shape exchange
rate fluctuations, and how exchange rate risk, impacting on basic
corporate finance transactions, can be covered.
Making judgments: We expect students to be able to forecast the
shortand
long-run impacts of major public policies on exchange rates and
other key economic variables. Also, we expect students to attribute the
appropriate relevance to the exchange rate dynamics in the global
business environment.
Communication skills: This course will give the students the possibility to
acquire and understand major terms and concepts in order to
communicate their ideas, proposals, analysis and critical reasoning in the
field of international corporate finance in the most effective and
appropriate way.
Learning skills: This course will put the students at the center of the
learning process by providing them with the tools to enquire and evaluate
in an independent way. To strengthen this capacity, students are required to participate actively in class during lectures and through
presentations.
Contenuti Del Corso
Exchange rate (ER) fundamentals, regimes, and history.
The supply of money; the ER transmission channel of central bank
policies.
Forex market; principles of arbitrage; interest parity conditions; hedging
the ER risk in corporate business.
Purchasing power parity; the monetary and asset approaches to the
determination of ER.
Balance of Payments; IS-LM-FX model, fixed versus floating ER.
Testi Di Riferimento
1) Feenstra, Robert C. and Alan M. Taylor, "International
Macroeconomics", International Edition, 5th edition, Macmillan Education
(compulsory)
2) Lecture notes, scientific articles, and policy reports provided by the
instructor.
Metodologie Didattiche
Lectures, interactive sessions consisting of practices, exercises, guest
lectures and seminars, discussions of cases studies and relevant
empirical facts.
Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento
For attending students, assessment will be based on a compulsory final
exam, on a group assignment and a midterm, as well as on class participation. Non-attending
students will have to sit a full final exam (100%) with structure described
above.
The idea behind the assignment is to consider the class section as a think
tank that monitors the world economic activity, just like the country
desks do at the major international organizations or in an investment
bank. Country desks analyse the economic activity in the countries and
come up with policy recommendations. A similar attempt can be done
even by the class groups if they feel like it.
Criteri per l’assegnazione dell’elaborato finale
Strong interest in the topics developed in the course and in reading
advanced scientific articles.
Settimana 1
Introduction to exchange rates and the foreign exchange market (on
campus). Essentials of exchange rates: markets, financial instruments,
actors; introduction to arbitrage (online). Covered Interest Parity,
Uncovered Interest Parity (on campus).
Settimana 2
Monetary approach long run: LOP, PPP, Mac index, evidence, monetary
approach and hyperinflation (on campus). General model, Fisher effect,
nominal anchor (online)
Settimana 3
The asset approach: UIP as forex equilibrium + domestic money mkt (on
campus); monetary policy in short and long run, overshooting (online).
Groups presentation 1, 2, 3, 4 (on campus).
Settimana 4
Fixed exchange rates and the trilemma (on campus). Groups
presentation 5, 6, 7, 8 (on campus).
Settimana 5
Balance of payments, twin deficits, external wealth (online). Groups
presentation 9, 10, 11, 12 (on campus).
Settimana 6
Intertemporal Balance of Payments; gains from consumption smoothing
(on campus).
Gains from efficient investment and from risk diversification (online)
Settimana 7
Mundell-Fleming and macroeconomic policy under flexible exchange
rates (online).
Settimana 8
Fixed vs flexible exchange rates; Optimal Currency Area (online). Benefits
of fixed exch rates; the n-country problem, hystory of international
monetary system (on campus)
Settimana 9
Exchange rate crises: dynamics, inconsistent policies, multiple equilibria.
(on campus). Guest lecture 1 (TBC).
Settimana 10
The euro: application of Optimal Currency Area (online). The euro:
hystory and recent crisis (on campus).
Settimana 11
Sovereign debt crises (on campus). Guest Lecture 2 (TBC).
Settimana 12
Carry trade and recent exchange rate theories (online).
Review (on campus)