Asset Management

The objective of this course is to provide students with an introduction to asset management. We will begin with mutual funds, the most important investment vehicles in the asset management industry. We will look at investment strategies of mutual funds and evaluate their performance. We will also shed light on other players in asset management, such as hedge funds. Finally, we will talk about recent trends in the asset management industry, such as investment strategies based on alternative data, socially responsible investing, robo-advice, and social trading. Throughout the course, we will discuss strengths and weaknesses of the different players in the asset management industry. The assessment will be mostly based on (recent) academic research.

Problem sets accompany the lectures. Moreover, I plan to have one to two guest lectures from industry experts.

Roadmap

1. Mutual funds
2. Investment strategies
3. Performance measurement
4. Hedge funds
5. Recent trends in asset management

Bodie, Z., A. Kane, and A.J. Marcus, 2021: Investments, 12th edition, McGraw-Hill (older editions should be fine as well).Academic papers, industry reports, and newspaper articles (will be made available during the lectures)

Lectures, problem sets, online questions, guest lectures

Written exam

90