Courses | Columbia Law School

Section Description Provided by Instructor

Overview

This course is concerned primarily with the origins of financial crises and the institutional response to crises. A central theme is the extent to which financial contracting, financial regulation, and incentives may be fundamental causes of crises. Students are expected to be familiar with basic notions in finance, contract theory and game theory. The course will begin with a brief overview of recent financial crises. The main focus of the lectures, however, will be on theories of financial crises, contractual failures and the political economy of financial regulation.

Grading will be based on class participation and a term paper.


Required Readings

The lectures will be based mostly on research articles. The main textbook is Contract Theory by Patrick Bolton and Mathias Dewatripont, 2005, MIT Press.