Teaching

An introduction to the economics of money, banking and financial markets. Surveys the modern financial system and how it shapes the broader economy. Explores various economic challenges for valuation and trade in financial markets, and the role various financial institutions like banks play in facilitating trade. Specific externalities and inefficiencies will be discussed and scope for government and central bank interventions will be evaluated. Real-world applications and practical implications of theories are emphasized including real-time trading and analysis of financial instruments for signs of recessions, and policy evaluations like “what would the macro and financial market implications of replacing cash for cryptocurrency in Canada be?”

A first-year graduate course examining theories of investment and growth subject to general equilibrium forces and both idiosyncratic and aggregate risk. Stemming from critiques of macro out of the financial crisis, the course offers a unified treatment of endogenous growth and business cycles in continuous time that accommodates non-linearities and real-financial linkages. Deterministic growth theories surveyed include Malthusian Stagnation, Solow and Neoclassical growth, and endogenous growth models with creative destruction. Theories of aggregate fluctuations build up from the prototypical stochastic growth model of Merton (1975) through to incomplete market models with heterogeneous agents and financial frictions like Brunnermeier & Sannikov (2014/2016) and Moll (2014). To facilitate this unified approach, modern continuous time stochastic tools and solution techniques (both analytical/numerical) are introduced as needed, including the basics of stochastic processes, calculus, optimal control and mean field games.