Finance Theory I
By Andrew Lo
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Description
The collection includes videos that cover the class lectures on finance theory as well as a course summary at the end. Overarching concepts include the framework for financial analysis, valuation, risk, and corporate finance, and market efficiency. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | VideoSes 1: Introduction and Course Overview | This lecture introduces the framework of financial analysis, the flow model of the economy, the factors that affect financial decisions, and the fundamental principles of finance. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
2 | VideoSes 2: Present Value Relations I | This lecture presents the definition of an asset as a sequence of current and future cash flows, and the implications of that definition. Valuation of cash flows is presented in the context of time, certainty, and the present value operator. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
3 | VideoSes 3: Present Value Relations II | This lecture covers examples on calculating net present value, comparing perpetuities and annuities, and conventions for compounding. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
4 | VideoSes 4: Present Value Relations III & Fixed-Income Securities I | This lecture starts with a discussion of leverage ratio with an example from Lehman Brothers. The lecture then covers inflation, real and nominal rate of return, trading frequency, the framework for valuation with an example of a coupon bond. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
5 | VideoSes 5: Fixed-Income Securities II | This lecture introduces spot rates and forward rates in the context of yield curves and interest rate forecasts, and models for term structure interest rates. Examples are given during lecture using data from U.S. Treasury Securities. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
6 | VideoSes 6: Fixed-Income Securities III | This lecture continues to work through the valuation of a coupon bond, and using the law of one price in working with multiple coupon bonds. The lecture also covers methods for measuring the interest-rate risks of a bond. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
7 | VideoSes 7: Fixed-Income Securities IV | This lecture explores securitization's impact on intermediation, sources of risk in corporate bonds. An example is given to demonstrate the effect of priority of payouts on expected values and the pricing of bonds, and the additional effect of correlation. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
8 | VideoSes 8: Equities | This lecture provides an overview of equities and models with which to price equities, with a focus on using the dividend discount model. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
9 | VideoSes 9: Forward and Futures Contracts I | This lecture covers the motivation, definition, features, and examples of forward and futures contracts in light of the uncertainty of exchange rates, illiquidity, and counterparty risk. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
10 | VideoSes 10: Forward and Futures Contracts II & Options I | This lecture includes examples of calculating payoff, and pricing forward and futures contracts. Options, a derivative, are presented as another kind of security. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
11 | VideoSes 11: Options II | This lecture covers interpreting payoff diagrams of call and put options and how to use the diagrams in option strategizing and betting on volatility. A brief historical background for option-pricing theory is also given. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
12 | VideoSes 12: Options III & Risk and Return I | This lecture continues to cover option pricing by deriving a generalized binomial model, and the implications of the conditions under which the formula holds. Statistical background and context is given in preparation for dealing with risk and return. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
13 | VideoSes 13: Risk and Return II & Portfolio Theory I | This lecture covers empirical properties of stocks and bonds, patterns of returns, and statistical measures of risk of a security. An introduction to the portfolio as a combination of securities and what constitutes a good portfolio is given. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
14 | VideoSes 14: Portfolio Theory II | This lecture walks through calculating properties of mean and variance for portfolio returns. Mean, standard deviation, and correlation are used as measures in portfolio analysis. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
15 | VideoSes 15: Portfolio Theory III & The CAPM and APT I | This lecture introduces the tangency portfolio and the Sharpe ratio as a measure of risk/reward trade-off. The expected return of efficient portfolios is presented in the capital asset pricing model. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
16 | VideoSes 16: The CAPM and APT II | This lecture covers how to calculate a proper discount rate, the application of CAPM, and performance evaluation using the security market line. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
17 | VideoSes 17: The CAPM and APT III & Capital Budgeting I | This lecture starts with an example that uses CAPM to explain market-cap portfolios. The focus then shifts to making financial decisions as a manager, including applying the NPV rule and calculating project cash flows. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
18 | VideoSes 18: Capital Budgeting II & Efficient Markets I | This lecture presents applications of the NPV rule and project financing, as well as alternatives to NPV. In the latter half, an overview of the theory of market efficiency and the example of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster are presented. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
19 | VideoSes 19: Efficient Markets II | This lecture explores behavioral finance, why people avoid uncertainty, the link between rationality and human emotion, and human preferences for decision-making. Discussion and simulations frame the adaptive markets hypothesis and its implications. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
20 | VideoSes 20: Efficient Markets III & Course Summary | This lecture presents the limitations of CAPM and the practical implications of the adaptive markets hypothesis. The latter part of lecture is a summary of the entire course and a recap of key concepts. | 6/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
20 Items |
Customer Reviews
Beautiful
Absolutely riveting! Best course on financial markets I have ever found
Learned a ton!
Easy to digest, hard to lay it down!
Amazing
I just started watching these and they are incredibly good. I don't normally write reviews but I wanted to make sure others got the same value out of them that I did. He teaches in an intuitive way that makes you not only understand it, but truly see it.

- Free
- Category: Business
- Language: English
- © http://ocw.mit.edu; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0; http://ocw.mit.edu/terms; Album art image is in the public domain.