FREE! Financial Markets Class by Robert Shiller

October 27, 2008 by TFB

Do you wish you attended a top university and studied under the greatest professors? I do. That's why I'm a big fan of the Great Courses series by The Teaching Company. I get to learn what I haven't in college.

This gets better. Under its Open Yale Courses initiative, Yale University made available online, FREE!, ECON 252 Financial Markets taught by Professor Robert Shiller. Outside of academic circles, Professor Shiller is probably most famous for his book Irrational Exuberance. From the course description:

"The course strives to offer understanding of the theory of finance and its relation to the history, strengths and imperfections of such institutions as banking, insurance, securities, futures, and other derivatives markets, and the future of these institutions over the next century."

This is a real university class. It was taped in spring 2008 while Professor Shiller taught the class at Yale. Every class session is complete with PowerPoint slides, mp3 audio, video, transcript, homework problem set, and reading assignments. You also get to take the mid-term and final exams and compare your answers to the exam solutions. In addition to Professor Shiller, there are also guest lecturers David Swensen of Yale Endowment, hedge fund CEO Andrew Redleaf, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. I can't believe the whole enchilada is entirely FREE! Thank you Yale and the tuition paying Yale students and their parents!

The required textbook is Foundations of Financial Markets and Institutions by Fabozzi, Modigliani, Jones and Ferri. I'm getting a used copy of the 2nd edition for $10 shipped. Thank you Amazon seller! I know what I will be busy with for the next few months.

[Update] P.S. I'm looking for one or more study mates for this class. The homework problem sets don't have official solutions. I'm looking for people to compare notes with. If you are interested in studying this class together, please e-mail me (address in About Me). Thanks.

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Comments

4 Comments on FREE! Financial Markets Class by Robert Shiller

  1. James on October 27, 2008 | permalink
    2.  

    Thank you for posting this!

  2. Gregg on October 28, 2008 | permalink
    3.  

    I'm a big fan of the Teaching Company as well but I didn't know about the Yale courses. Thanks for recommending them.

  3. Jim on November 8, 2008 | permalink
    4.  

    Thank you for posting this!
    Quick question… how did you know "Foundations of Financial Markets and Institutions" is required? I see 12 texts listed and that is only one of them?
    thank you,
    jim

  4. TFB on November 8, 2008 | permalink
    5.  

    Jim – Watch Lecture 1. Professor Shiller told the class about required textbooks. The Foundations of Financial Markets and Institutions book is the only traditional style textbook he mentioned.

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