USC Marshall

New course offerings in Finance and Business Economics in 2022 / 2023 academic year.

FBE 499 – Introduction to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) (2.0-unit)
At the center of DeFi is a network system that relies upon blockchains. The course will then begin with a brief introduction to the structure of blockchains used in finance. To better grasp how a financial application in blockchain works, we will develop in class simple computer codes that develop some financial applications.

FBE 499 Blockchain: Crypto, Web3 and the Future of Business and Finance (2.0-unit)
Through practical application, students are exposed to emerging business models enabled by blockchain technology. Key discussion topics include decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, Web3, DAOs, and the metaverse.

FBE 499 – Quantitative Investment Analysis (4-unit)
Modern investment management is increasingly quantitative in nature, and investment strategies are more and more determined by the output of data-driven models rather than the subjective views of analysts and portfolio managers. Students will learn how to build, test, and implement the types of models in use today by quantitative asset managers. This course focuses on the prediction of asset returns, and to a lesser extent asset volatilities, with the goal of constructing profitable investment strategies.

FBE 499 Sustainable Finance: Principles and Practice (4-unit)
This course covers ESG concepts, their applications, and transition challenges in this context. We will learn how the broad goals for ESG transformation apply to current economic models that were developed in the age of resource abundance. On the environmental front we will cover climate change, land-use adjustment, biodiversity loss, and depletion of natural resources. From a social perspective we will address poverty, hunger, lack of healthcare, and other societal inequalities.

FBE 499 Media and Entertainment Finance: Principles and Practice (4-unit)
Under review by Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for Spring 2023.
Designed for undergraduate students considering careers in media and entertainment industries as first/second year analysts in investment/commercial banking, investing and investment management, and corporate/operating financial management. We will cover the fundamental constructs of economic frameworks and idiosyncrasies in the fast-evolving global dynamics of the entertainment industry across the breadth of platforms and outlets including film, television, streaming, music, book and magazine publishing, video games, performing arts, sports, and advertising.

FBE 599 Decentralized Finance (1.5 unit)
The goal of this course is to introduce students to the growing phenomenon of “decentralized finance,” also known as “DeFi”. Technological advances are at the core of DeFi, as they are for the broader FinTech. An important component of the course is the financial analysis to evaluate and assess the risk-return trade-off of cryptocurrencies and more generally of digital assets. The data analysis will be performed with Python.

FBE 599 Behavioral Finance (3-unit)
This course will cover the foundations of behavioral finance -- a large and active subfield of financial economics that imports insights from psychology to better understand financial markets. We will examine the seminal applications of psychological forces to investor behavior, aggregate stock market returns, cross-sectional stock market returns, and corporate decision-making. This course will scheduled as FBE 505 in Spring 2023.

FBE 599 Sustainable Finance: Concepts and Applications (3-unit)
The strategic and tactical approach and actions by corporations and other organizations towards environmental, social and governance (ESG) transformation have become mainstream and are accelerating globally. This course is designed towards assessing how the business models will be impacted across a broad spectrum of industries and how the financial industry should incorporate them their risk/return decisions.

FBE 599: Media and Entertainment Finance: Concepts and Applications (3-unit)
This course is designed for graduate students considering initiating or advancing their careers in media and entertainment industry as investors, bankers, or executives in corporate/operating financial management. Applications of economic frameworks for evaluating investment and expected returns in the fast-evolving global dynamics of the entertainment industry across all platforms and outlets including film, television, streaming, music, book and magazine publishing, video games, performing arts, sports, and advertising.