This is a foundation (theory) course of corporate finance. The course reviews basic concepts of game theory, information economics, and contract theory used in corporate finance and financial intermediation theory. The topics cover financial structure, financing investment, tax system, dividend policy, M&A, bankruptcy and reorganisation, and banking and financial intermediation.

This course examines the core empirical methods and evidence in asset pricing and market microstructure. It covers classical and modern approaches to testing market efficiency, return predictability, and factor models, as well as anomalies, behavioral explanations, and replication challenges. Topics include (i) empirical asset pricing models, (ii) time-series return predictability and cross-sectional tests, (iii) liquidity and trading frictions, (iv) market anomalies and behavioral finance, (v) information dissemination and return comovement, and (vi) emerging areas such as machine learning and sustainability finance.

Students will learn how to design, implement, and critically assess empirical tests using real financial data, with an emphasis on robustness, identification, and interpretation of empirical findings.

The objective of this class is to introduce you to empirical methods and data used in the current social science research (e.g., economics, finance, accounting, and strategy). The overall approach is to understand the common methods and research design in the empirical research, combined with an intensive reading and replicating (and even extending) of prior empirical work. The goal of the course is for you to better appreciate and develop the methods, approaches, and intuition of the empirical research in your discipline.

The material in the course is entirely complementary, instead of substitute, to your (theory) econometrics classes. The focus is more on how to design and conduct credible inference based on empirical data, rather than the mathematical/statistical properties of econometrics. Those are necessary skills but I leave them to dedicated PhD courses on econometrics (for example at the economics department).