AØKK08384U Seminar: Advanced Empirical Analysis of Exchange Rates (F)

Volume 2019/2020
Education

MSc programme in Economics

The course is a part of the financial line, signified by (F)

 

The seminar is primarily for students at the MSc of Economics.

Content

The objective of the seminar is for students to work on independent research projects related to exchange rates. Students choose their topic in consultation with the seminar organizer.

 

The following list provide possible topics but students are free to choose other topics as well.

 

  • Are exchange rate models useful for forecasting?
  • Are fundamental based exchange rate models useful?
  • Is it profitable to use carry trade strategies?
  • Bid-ask spreads and uncertainty
  • Exchange rates and monetary policy uncertainty
  • Deviations from CIP
  • FX liquidity, measurements and determinants
  • Google Search Volume Index measures and exchange rates
  • Danish central bank interventions
  • Explaining the forward premium puzzle, the role of liquidity and deviations from PPP
  • Are FX and stock returns related?
  • Are there arbitrage opportunities on the FX market?
  • The information content of order flows
  • The sources of fluctuations in real and nominal exchange rates
Learning Outcome

In addition to the learning outcome specified in the Curriculum the student is after completing the seminar expected to be able to:

  • Go into depth with recent research within the area of exchange rates.
  • Conduct independent research.
  • Critically analyze a problem and gain insights into empirical analysis.
Literature

Students must find relevant literature themselves but will get some initial papers to start with depending on the topic. The level of the curriculum is

  • Lucio Sarno and Mark P. Taylor, (2002), The Economics of Exchange Rates, Cambridge University Press
  • Keith Pilbeam (2013), International Finance, Palgrave Macmillan both used as core curriculum in the MSc course “Economics of Exchange Rates”.
  • Another useful textbook is Martin D.D. Evans (2011), Exchange-Rate Dynamics, Princeton University Press.
  • Articles published in journals such as Journal of International Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Money and Finance are useful when finding topics and background material.

 

BSc in Economics or similar
It is recommended that the student has followed the course “Economics of Exchange Rates”, Master of Economics at Copenhagen University or has knowledge similar to the curriculum. It is an advantage, if the student has followed any econometrics course at the MSc level, for example “Advanced Macroeconomics: Structural Vector Autoregressive Analysis” or “Financial Econometrics A” ( at the studies of Economics at Copenhagen University).
Activities:
- Kick-off meeting
- Finding literatur and defining the project
- Writing process of the seminar paper
- Presentation of own project and paper
- Giving constructive feedback to another student´s paper
- Actively participating in discussions at the presentations and other meetings.

At the seminar the student is trained independently to
- identify and clarify a problem,
- seek and select relevant literatur,
- write a academic paper,
- present and discuss own paper with the other students at the seminar.

The aim of the presentations is, that the student uses the presentation as an opportunity to practice oral skills and to receive feedback. The presentations is not a part of the exam and will not be assessed.

There is no weekly teaching/lecturing and the student cannot expect guidance from the teacher. If the teacher gives a few introduction lectures or gives the opportunity for guidance, this as well as other expectations are clarified at the kickoff meeting.

Process:
It is strongly recommended that you think about and search for a topic before the semester begins, as there is only a few weeks from the kick-off meeting to the submission of the project description/ agreement paper.

Before the presentations, your nearly finished version of the seminar project paper must be uploaded in Absalon, as the opponents and the other seminar participants have to read and comment on the paper. It is important that you upload a paper that is so finalized as possible due to the fact that the value of feedback and comments at the presentation is strongly associated with the skill level of the seminar paper.

After the presentations, you can with a few corrections improve the seminar paper by including the feedback and comments emerged during the presentations. It is NOT intended that you rewrite or begin the writing of the full project AFTER the presentation has taken place.
Schedule:

Autumn 2019:

• Kick-off meeting: September 3, 2019, 13.15-15.00
• Extra days of meetings: 17 September 13.15-15.00
• Deadline of project description: not later than October 1 at 10AM
• Deadline of pre-paper uploaded to Absalon: One week before presentation.
• Presentations: In the periode November 1 – 22. Exact dates is agreed on at the kick-off meeting

All information regarding the seminar is communicated through Absalon including venue. So it is very important that you by yourself logon to Absalon and read the information already when you are registered at the seminar.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Project work
  • 186
  • Seminar
  • 20
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination
A seminar paper in English that meets the formal requirements for written papers stated in the curriculum of the Master programme and at KUNet for seminars.

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Exam registration requirements

Attendance in all  activities at the seminar as stated in the formal requrements in the Curriculum  and at the KUnet for Seminars (UK)  and  Seminars (DK)  is required to participate in the exam.

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Aid
All aids allowed

for the project paper.

The teacher defines the aids that must be used for the presentations.

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Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
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Exam period

Exam information:

Autumn 2019:

Deadline for submitting the final seminar paper: December 2, 2019 before 10 AM

 

Exam information:

The seminar paper must be uploaded to the Digital Exam. More information will be available from the middle of the semester.

 

For enrolled students more information about examination, rules, aids etc. is available at the intranet for Master (UK) and Master (DK ).

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Re-exam

Reexam information:

The reexam is a written seminar paper as stated in the Curriculum.

Deadline and more information is available at Seminars(UK) and Seminars(DK).

More information about reexam etc is available at Master(UK) andMaster(DK).

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the seminar and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes in the Curriculum of the Master programme.

 

To receive the top grade, the student must with no or only a few minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material.