London School of Economics

The main topics covered in this course are financial risk analysis and financial risk. The course provides students with a thorough understanding of market risk from both a practical and technical point of view. A representative list of topics covered includes empirical properties of market prices (fat tails, volatility clusters) and forecasting of conditional volatility; concepts of financial risk (volatility, Value-at-Risk); univariate and multivariate volatility models (ARCH, GARCH); implementation and evaluation of risk forecasts; and endogenous risk. Students apply the models to real financial data using Matlab/Python/R, a programming environment widely used in industry and academia. No prior knowledge of programming is assumed.

The course introduces the student to the statistical analysis of time series data and simple time series models, and showcases what time series analysis can be useful for. Topics include autocorrelation; stationarity, trend removal and seasonal adjustment; AR, MA, ARMA, ARIMA; estimation; forecasting; unit root test; introduction to financial time series and the ARCH/GARCH models; basic spectral analysis. The use of R for time series analysis is covered.

This course explores the complex relationships between development, poverty, and the environment. It covers a range of important natural resource and environmental issues, and provides students with the necessary tools to critically evaluate how these issues have been addressed by different stakeholders and at different levels of governance. Using concepts and analytical tools grounded in political ecology and critical development studies, the course examines several topics, including the politics of sustainable development, environmental governance and tenure, and critical resource issues.

This course teaches students the concepts and tools necessary to inspire better manage innovation with the goal to help you pre-empt the high failure rates associated with innovation in the real world. Emphasis is placed on more contemporary forms of innovation such as open innovation. Interactive case studies, a group project, and innovation exercises form an integral part of the course as innovation cannot simply be taught but must be experienced. 

This course places social media, fake news, and artificial intelligence at the heart of debates on political dysfunction and instability. Students explore how populist leaders use communication strategies, how global powers deploy public diplomacy to advance their interests, and the role of communication and propaganda in modern warfare. Through diverse theoretical approaches and global case studies, students critically examine how media shapes political power, cultural narratives, and globalization. The course also investigates how popular culture – films, TV and video games – reflects and influences political moments, offering new insights into contemporary crises. 

This course is designed to give students the critical thinking skills to assess these audiences and markets from both an economic and psychological perspective, giving students the tools to implement effective marketing strategies. Using real-world case studies, students understand how marketing intersects with other business functions to create customer and shareholder value. Through active discussion with faculty and peers students understand the key concepts and theories of marketing that enable effective market analysis - a critical element of managerial decision-making.

This course provides a broad, up-to-date introduction to the economic analysis of public policy issues. Drawing on microeconomic theory, the course focuses on the development of analytical tools and their application to key policy issues relating to the spending, taxing, and financing activities of Government. Particular emphasis is given to recent developments in public economics, including findings from current research, in areas such as behavioral public economics, new empirical methods, and policy innovations.