Duke University 2009-2010 - Office of the Registrar - Duke University

531. Accounting Seminar: Empirical. This course focuses on empirical-archival research in accounting, emphasizing
the framing of research questions, the research design and the research methods. Topics covered include: the value of
relevance and stewardship roles of accounting information; valuation models; voluntary disclosure and accounting
choice; earnings management; tax considerations. Prerequisites: PhD. level course in microeconomics recommended;
basic mathematics background in calculus, statistics and algebra. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
532. Accounting Seminar: Analytical. This course focuses on the economic models underlying information economicsbased
theories of the usefulness of accounting information. Topics covered include: adverse selection, moral hazard,
incentive contracting and disclosure. Prerequisites: PhD level courses in microeconomics and econometrics, MBA level
financial accounting course, and BA 531 is required; or approval by instructor on a case-by-case basis. Strong
mathematics background in calculus, statistics and algebra. Instructor: Staff. 3 units. Instructor: Chen. 3 units.
533. Accounting Seminar: Behavioral. Introduces Accounting Ph.D. students to judgment/decision making research in
accounting that is informed by cognitive and social psychology and economics and that relies on experimental research
methods. Choices made by market participants such as securities analysts and investors, the determinants of those
choices, and their effects on these and other participants in the economic system are considered. The course is designed
for students whose major interests involve economics-based archival research in financial accounting and reporting
issues who need to understand complementarities between archival and experimental research approaches. Instructor:
Ashton. 3 units.
551. Introduction to Finance (Finance I). This course provides a comprehensive yet rigorous introduction to both the
theory and related empirical evidence of modern financial economics. Topics covered include (i) preferences and
expected utility theory; (ii) single-period portfolio choice, mean-variance optimization, and CAPM; (iii) efficient
markets, predictability, cross-sectional anomalies, and event studies; (iv) stochastic discount factors, no arbitrage, state
prices, and contingent claims; (v) APT and multifactor pricing models; and (vi) behavioral finance. Instructor: Staff.
3 units.
552. Finance II. This course is intended to introduce students to research topics in empirical corporate finance. The
course is roughly divided into two parts. In the first part, we spend considerable amount of time on canonical early papers
in corporate finance, most of which deal with the role of various capital market imperfections, such as taxes, moral
hazard, or asymmetric information, in the determination of optimal capital structure. We also examine the empirical
literature these early papers have spawned. In the second half of the course, we examine a range of current topics in
empirical corporate finance and explore the tools used to address these questions. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
553. Corporate Finance Theory - Finance III. This course looks at the foundations of the theory in corporate finance.
Topics covered include adverse selection, contracting and agency problems, capital structure, initial public offerings,
collateral and corporate finance, bubbles and corporate financing decisions, banking and bank runs, and coordination
failures. Applications in corporate finance include optimal capital structure, voting, debt regeneration, investment
decisions and market valuation, executive compensation, bank runs, initial public offerings, and secondary public
offerings, collateralization and securitization. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
554. Asset Pricing - Finance IV. This course covers central issues in the field of Asset Pricing. Topics covered in the
course include (i) state price representation of dynamic asset pricing models (ii) present value and its implications for
financial markets (iii) estimation issues in asset pricing (iv) dynamic consumption based models (v) dynamic household
portfolio choice (vi) term structure models (vii) option markets (viii) production and asset prices, and (ix) recent
developments in asset pricing. The course covers many of the recent ideas/articles in asset pricing. Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
561. Seminar in Quantitative Research in Marketing. Research in marketing endeavors to explain consumer and firm
behaviors and use these to abet managerial decision making. This course surveys quantitative research in marketing,
with a focus on statistical and game-theoretic models. The goal of the course is to a) raise students' awareness of this
literature and b) stimulate new research interests. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the key issues
and approaches in quantitative marketing, the strengths of these research streams, and the opportunities to extend them.
Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
562. Seminar in Consumer Behavior. Examines the development of research in consumer behavior. Major emphasis
is given to theoretical developments and empirical research, with a range of articles assigned for each topic. Topics
include motivation and personality, perceptual processes, information search, choice processes, attitudes and
persuasion, learning, and influence in consumer choice. Instructor: Staff. 3 units. C-L: Psychology 315
563. Marketing Models Seminar. The primary goals of this seminar are: (a) to review critically the most current research
in marketing and (b) to gain a better understanding of and ability to build one's own model. After taking this course,
students should be able to understand the assumptions and mathematical development of the current quantitative work
in marketing and to use this understanding to develop meaningful extensions. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
564. Experimental Design and Analysis Seminar. Examines issues in the design and analysis of experiments. Emphasis
on analysis of variance (ANOVA), starting with the basic ANOVA model and examining multiple factor designs,
blocking designs, nested models, within subject designs, repeated measure designs, and analysis of covariance.
Instructor: Edell Britton. 3 units.
Departments, Programs, and Course Offerings 71