Graduate

THE MASTER OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE (WITH THESIS)

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Medium of Instruction: English

EF 501: International Political Economy

This course is designed to introduce students to key issues of international political economy (hereafter IPE). The course will begin with an overview of competing paradigms in IPE, specifically the mercantilist, liberal and the Marxist/structuralist paradigms. This will be followed by a discussion of the welfare implications of free trade where the liberal viewpoint diverges sharply from the mercantilist and the Marxist/Structuralist viewpoints. The historical evolution of the international monetary system and its present structure will be given substantial emphasis in this part of the course. The problems of supra-national economic and political blocs will be discussed in the context of the European Union and the problems associated with its enlargement process. The course will end with a discussion of the macroeconomic difficulties facing the Eurozone countries.

EF 503: Analysis of Macroeconomic Indicators

Introduction to macroeconomic theory; macroeconomic indicators: graphs, tables, statistics and reporting techniques; interpretation of leading indicators; mutual interaction of macroeconomic indicators and their effects on other indicators; macroeconomic forecasting; case studies from Turkey and other countries; credit rating agencies and rating criteria; country risk analysis.

EF 505: Quantitative Methods for Economics and Finance I

Basic quantitative techniques for economic and financial analysis; probability and introduction to basic statistics; basic tools of linear algebra; statistics for economics and finance and its applications.

EF 509: Monatary Policy and Banking

Definition of money, determination of monetary supply and monetary demand; theories explaining change in prices levels; a comparative assessment of  principal central banks: FED, Bank of England, ECB and Turkish Central Banks; instruments and targets of monetary policy.

EF 502: Quantitative Methods for Economics and Finance II

Advanced statistics for economics and finance and its applications; hypothesis and tests, introduction to econometric models and data processing; developing econometric models;  introduction to the analysis of systems and models; linear and non-linear models and programming.

EF 504: Emerging Markets

Differentiation of developed, developing and emerging markets; growth and development policies of emerging markets; comparative advantages and fragility of emerging markets: Cases of China, India, South Korea and Turkey.

EF 506: The New Dynamics of Economic Integration

History of economic integration in the European context: Zollverein, European Free Trade Area (EFTA) and the European Economic Community (EEC); General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), World Trade Organization (WTO) and the North America Free Trade Area (NAFTA); regional economic integration and the European Union (EU); the new dynamics of economic integration under globalization: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

EF512: Economic Modeling and Forecasting

This course aims to teach students to build a simple economic model. In this course students will first examines the modeling methods used in seminal empirical researches and discusses the accuracy of their outcomes. The course includes also an introduction to econometric methods and forecasting techniques with applications to macroeconomic analysis. Primary focus on application and interpretation of multiple regression analysis using SPSS and STATA statistical software. In regression analysis, panel data methods, instrumental variables, time series analysis can be used.

EF 510: Islamic Economics and Finance

Foundations of Islamic economics; history of Islamic economics; theory and practice of Islamic finance; problems of Islamic finance; Islamic financial instruments; Islamic finance in the world; future of Islamic finance.

EF 524: Corporate Finance

Principles of corporate finance, analysis of investment decisions; dividend policy, debt policy and capital structure; analysis of financial performance; financial ratios and stock valuation methods; mergers and acquisitions.

EF 526: Portfolio Management

Definition of a portfolio; traditional and modern portfolio theory; introduction to Markowitz portfolio theory; calculation of the risk and return associated with individual financial assets; calculation of the risk and return associated with a portfolio; calculation of the covariance and correlation between returns to different assets; valuation of financial capital and the estimation of returns; evaluation of portfolio performance; active portfolio management; international diversification of portfolios.

EF 540: Law of Financial Markets

The aim of this course is to examine the actors and institutions of capital and money markets, as well as investment instruments in these markets. In this context (i) functions and structures of capital and money market, regulations and procedures in these markets as well as (ii) security issue, public offering and the legal status of issuer, (iii) investment instruments, types of securities, (iv) the legal framework (means of payment, credit transactions, checks etc.) of the capital markets and money markets transactions of banks will be evaluated comparatively in an international base.