Finance professionals use econometric techniques in portfolio management, risk management and securities analysis. This unit is intended to provide students with the tools necessary for financial applications. Statistical techniques are developed within the context of a particular financial application. Recent empirical evidence is also discussed. The major focus of this unit is the use of economic theory to analyse and evaluate the operation of the labour market.
Special emphasis is placed on the Australian situation and alternative explanations.
The monetary component includes theories of exchange rate and current account determination, problems of the international monetary system and policy issues. In standard economic theory, markets exist to allocate and distribute a nation's wealth through the process of exchange. The way in which a society organises these markets and the purposes to which the resulting structures are put, cannot be understood without in turn comprehending the way in which industries are organised within that economy, specifically the contractual arrangements that facilitate economic exchange. The course will analyse markets, firms and government as simply three different institutional or governance structures which serve to accomplish given economic objectives. The issue then becomes not which one should be utilised, but which is the most efficient mix.