By taking this course, students will learn the role played by financial intermediaries in modern economies, their vital role to finance investments and the sources of risk associated with such intermediation activity. The course is structured to provide students with both theoretical notions, through the derivation of models developed by the literature, and empirical application, that are based on real data analyses.

The topics covered include the role of financial development and banking activity for economic growth; the role of banks for the occurrence of financial crisis and the regulatory initiatives to avoid excessive risk-taking; the propagation of financial intermediaries for macroeconomic shocks; the microeconomics of banking, with emphasis on the role of market competition and the determinants of bank-firm relationships; the technological innovation that takes the name of “Fintech revolution” and how it is potentially disrupting traditional financial intermediation. Suggested prerequisites for this course are microeconomics, econometrics and mathematics for economists.