Finance can be likened to the circulatory system of the global economy, and we will focus on the past, present and future of that system. The course is designed to deal with questions such as these: What is the global financial system and how does it work? What are the pressures on that system including market, regulatory, political and social dynamics? What are the key challenges to that system? How can the system be strengthened? We will take a broad view of the GFS including its history, its geopolitical framework, its economic foundations and its legal underpinnings. We will look at a number of other key issues such as how the GFS deals with economic growth, economic and financial stability, distributional questions, employment issues, and long term investments in infrastructure. We will discuss how new technologies are affecting several of the biggest issues in global finance. We will examine the GFS as a large-scale complex network, thereby compelling us to see it in an interconnected and multidisciplinary way. The emphasis will be on the practice of global finance more than the theory.
The course is open to graduate students throughout Yale and to seniors in Yale College. The only prerequisite is an undergraduate or graduate course on macroeconomics. It is mandatory that you attend the first class. If you do not attend the first class, you will not be eligible to enroll in the course.