Capital Market Theory

This course is based on the Stochastic Discount Factor (SDF) approach, from which different one period and continuous time capital market models will be derived. The course lays the foundations of WHU's Master in Finance and entails comparatively advanced quantitative methods. Students attending the course should be interested in continuous time finance, stochastic calculus, and mathematical proofs. Each of the steps will be carefully developed and illustrated by applications. Moreover, talks by selected practitioners will shift the rigorous development of financial models into relevant practical applications. The basic textbook for the course will be Cochrane (2005), which requires a considerable amount of quantitative ability and interest on the student's side. All models, including contingent claims models and also inter-temporal models, can be derived out of the Euler equation by the SDF approach.