Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2005-2006 (archived)

Module ECOS2161: INTRODUCTION TO FINANCIAL ECONOMETRICS

Department: ECONOMICS FINANCE AND BUSINESS (BUSINESS FINANCE) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

ECOS2161: INTRODUCTION TO FINANCIAL ECONOMETRICS

Type	Tied	Level	2	Credits	20	Availability	Available in 2005/06	Module Cap	None.	Location	Queen's Campus Stockton

Prerequisites

Successful completion of the first year of the Business Finance degree or the Finance with a European Language degree.

Corequisites

Corporate Finance (ECOS2011); Macroeconomics and International Finance for Business (ECOS2131); Microeconomics for Business (ECOS2121); Financial Markets and Risk Management (ECOS2241) - for BA Business Finance students only.

Excluded Combination of Modules

None.

Aims

To develop knowledge and understanding of key issues and concepts in Financial Econometrics.
To equip students with the skills required in order to undertake an applied financial Econometrics project and to prepare students for Financial Econometrics at higher levels.
To offer the opportunity to develop key skills.

Content

Review of Statistics: random variables, probability distributions, hypothesis tests.
ordinary least squares: bivariate regression, multivariate regression, hypothesis tests.
The Random Walk and Stock Market Efficiency: unit roots and tests of market efficiency.
Co-integration: testing for co-integration, using co-integration analysis to model stock market comovement.
Forecasting and Causality: The Box-Jenkins approach, Granger Causality.
Stock Market Volatility: autocoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH), generalised ARCH (GARCH), using ARCH and GARCH to model stock market volatility.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

To develop knowledge and understanding of key issues and concepts in Financial Econometrics.
To equip students with the skills required in order to undertake an applied financial Econometrics project and to prepare students for Financial Econometrics at higher levels.
To offer the opportunity to develop key skills.
On completion of the module: students should have knowledge and understanding of the key theoretical and practical issues in Financial Econometrics.
students should be able to apply the key components of Financial Econometrics and an econometrics software package to statistically analyse financial data as part of a Financial Econometrics project, and interpret the results of that analysis.

Subject-specific Skills:

Econometric analysis
Time series analysis
statistics
Econometric software packages
Model specification and calibration

Key Skills:

Written Communication- by completing the summative assignment
Planning, Organisation and Time Management- e.g. by preparing for examinations
Problem solving and Analysis- by applying the necessary analytical and quantitative skills to identify and empirically test theoretical relationships
Initiative- by collecting information for the summative assignment, searching relevant literature and information in preparation for the summative assignment.
Numeracy- e.g. by applying an array of core mathematical-statistical skills to answer a range of examination questions;
Computer Literacy and Information Retrieval- by word-processing the summative assignment

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

Lectures will enable the key theoretical issues to be covered.
Computer workshops will enable the key practical issues to be covered.
The assessment will be mixed mode, with an exam assessing theoretical knowledge and a project assessing practical skills and the ability to interpret and critically evaluate empirical results.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total/Hours
Lectures	22	weekly	2 hrs	44
Tutorials	17	fortnightly	1 hr	17
Preparation and Reading				139
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Project 40% (project of 2500 words 100%), Examination 60% (unseen examination of one-hour-and-forty-minutes 100%).

Formative Assessment:

Two formative exercises - formative 1: the single variable model, formative 2: the multivariable model and special econometric issues.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University