Columbia Business School offers a huge array of finance and economics courses ranging from the very broad to the highly specific.

Five courses are considered foundational. The core finance course, B6301--Corporate finance, is the starting point for all work in finance, even for those who have had substantial Wall Street experience. It is usually taken in the first term. B6302--Capital markets and investments, is a continuation, establishing the foundations of asset pricing and portfolio theory. It should precede or be taken concurrently with most of the mainstream second-year finance courses. Other foundation courses include B6005--The global economic environment, B6006--Managerial economics and B6501--International business.

Further finance courses may be grouped into three general classes based on their viewpoint or perspective. Corporate-perspective courses take the viewpoint of the treasurer or CFO of a corporation and examine solutions to problems of corporation finance, including project assessment and capital raising. Market-perspective courses focus on a particular market or market instrument, such as futures or options, often examining theories as to why the market prices an instrument as it does. Portfolio-perspective courses take the viewpoint of the investor with a full array of markets and instruments from which to choose, trying to understand what mix of markets and instruments will best serve the investor's goals.

One must also distinguish between mainstream second-year courses (B8000 series) and practitioner second-year courses (B9000 series). The mainstream courses are central to a clear understanding of such fundamental concepts as the measurement of risk and the pricing of uncertain cash flows. They are not how-to courses but provide conceptual underpinnings to a wide variety of financial problems, and we urge students to take a substantial number of them to build a strong foundation in financial and economic theory and its applications.

The practitioner courses are most often taught by adjunct faculty with current careers on Wall Street. Frequently they are offered by just one professor, and their subjects tend to reflect that professor's direct interest and experience. The list of practitioner courses and seminars changes constantly and is subject to the availability of the individuals involved. 

For further information about concentrations or course details please visit the Finance & Economics Division web site or email - Shawn Patenaude ([email protected])

Course #	Course Name	Professor(s)
B6301	Corporate finance	Rhodes-Kropf
B6302	Capital markets and investments	Donaldson/Ronen/Lynch
B6005	The global economic environment	Schramm/Wilkinson/Zeldes/Himmelberg
B6006	Managerial economics	Sicherman/Gentry
B6501	International business	Schramm

 

 

Course #	Course Name	Professor(s)
Corporate-Perspective Courses
B8201	Economics of strategic behavior	Greenwald
B8202	Modern political economy	Horton
B8301	Advanced corporate finance	Hodrick/Hitscherich
B8317	Investment banking	Freeman
B8358	International banking	Beim
Market-Perspective Courses
B8351	Money and financial markets	Mishkin
B8308	Debt markets	Sundaresan/Selden
B8311	Option markets	Mainolfi
B8312	Advanced derivatives	Sundaresan
B8314	Real estate finance	Mayer
Portfolio-Perspective Courses
B8313	Security analysis	Mauboussin

 

The following courses focus on the economics of international business generally or particular industries or regions. They are recommended for all students interested in careers in these domains.

Course #	Course Name	Professor(s)
B8210	Management of information, communication and media resources	Noam
B8509	International financial management	Vassalou
B8514	Pacific Basin economic relations	Fantulin
B8599	International financial decisions	Hodrick
B9501-005	Chinese international business relations	Wang
B9501-027	International communications and media networks	Noam
B9501-043	The Chinese Economy in Transition	Huang
B9501-044	International trade	Huang

 

Course #	Course Name	Professor(s)
B8399-003	Advanced seminar in real estate	Sagalyn
B8399-004	Emerging financial markets	Beim
B8399-006	Entepreneurial Finance	Hubbard
B9301-003	Financial accounting in media industries	Howe
B9301-015	Advanced security analysis	Sloate
B9301-042	Venture capital and the entrepreneurial company	Lindgren
B9301-051	Seminar in advanced security analysis	Griffin
B9301-063	Investment banking tax factors	Willens
B9301-075	Venture capital seminar	Howe
B9301-089	Seminar in corporate finance	Sexton
B9301-093	Principles and strategies of portfolio management	Folberth
B9301-097	Seminar in applied value investing	Sonkin
B9301-099	Money management	Brock
B9302-001	(PHD) Finance Theory I	Huberman
B9311-008	(PHD) Research models in continuous-time finance	Vassalou
B9311-013	(PHD) Seminar in international finance	Hodrick
B9351-008	(PHD) Topics in Public Finance and Financial Markets.	Hubbard
B9354-001	(PHD) Research seminar in money and financial markets	Mishkin

 

 

 

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Last updated: 11/05/98