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2017/2018  BA-BHAAV2389U  Behavioral Finance

English Title
Behavioral Finance

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Second Quarter
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Jimmy Martinez-Correa - Department of Economics (ECON)
  • Steffen Andersen - Department of Finance (FI)
Contact information: studenthub@cbs.dk​
Main academic disciplines
  • Finance
Last updated on 28-06-2017

Relevant links
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors: The course will provide students with an understanding of how human psychology leads to biases and mistakes in the financial decisions of others and potentially of themselves. Through an awareness of these biases and mistakes, students will be better able to mitigate them as finance industry professionals, managers in non-financial firms, and investors of their own money.
Objectives:
To attain the top grade, students are required to have a good understanding of the major concepts and issues in behavioral finance. This includes the ability to:
• Identify and apply psychological concepts to financial markets and financial decision-making.
• Compare and contrast behavioral and non-behavioral explanations of financial phenomena.
• Apply the psychological and behavioral finance concepts to new problems outside the finance discipline.
Course prerequisites
The course is designed for students in the final year of their bachelor studies with a strong interest in finance and financial decision making. The course assumes knowledge of basic financial theory, as acquired in standard corporate finance courses.
Examination
Behavioral Finance:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Aids Limited aids, see the list below:
The student is allowed to bring
  • USB key for uploading of notes, books and compendiums in a non-executable format (no applications, application fragments, IT tools etc.)
  • Any calculator
  • Books (including translation dictionaries), compendiums and notes in paper format
The student will have access to
  • Access to CBSLearn
  • Access to the personal drive (S-drive) on CBS´ network
  • Advanced IT application package
At all written sit-in exams the student has access to the basic IT application package (Microsoft Office (minus Excel), digital pen and paper, 7-zip file manager, Adobe Acrobat, Texlive, VLC player, Windows Media Player). PLEASE NOTE: Students are not allowed to communicate with others during the exam : Read more about exam aids and IT application packages here
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the programme office will inform the students that the make-up examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination instead.
Course content and structure

The objective of the course “Behavioural Finance” is to provide bachelor students with a broad understanding of how human psychology affects financial decisions, with specific reference to the impact on financial markets, corporate finance, and personal financial decisions.

There are two sides to the course. The "soft" side concerns the psychology of decision making. The "hard" side concerns modern empirical finance, as used in many hedge fund strategies, for example. The teaching of both sides focuses more on intuition and understanding rather than technical skills. The teaching is research-based, drawing on findings from the current academic literature, and covers a large quantity of material.
Teaching methods
The teaching is interactive and students are expected actively to participate in class discussions.
Feedback during the teaching period
Upon agreement between teacher and students, feedback will be given through in class exercises at the class level and in office hours at the individual level.
Student workload
Class attendance 36 hours
Exam attendance 4 hours
Readings 83 hours
Exam preparation 83 hours
Last updated on 28-06-2017