Admission and Unit Information - Master of International Trade and Finance

This unit concentrates on both Microeconomic and Macroeconomic theories. Microeconomics is concerned with the study of individual units within the economy - the individual consumer, the individual firm, the type of market structure facing the firm and price and output determination. Macroeconomics is concerned with analysis of the factors determining the way in which the economic resources of an economy are utilised or under-utilised.

As an introductory finance unit, this unit introduces the fundamental concepts of finance theory and tools of financial decision-making in the context of Australian institutional environment. These concepts relate primarily to the time value of money, risk and return, capital budgeting and capital structure. The purpose of the unit is to develop an understanding of the basic practices of financial management from the perspective of a firm (both large and small). Students examine the investment, financing and dividend decisions of corporations.

This unit is essential to prepare students for applied financial analysis and modelling applications used extensively in other units in the Master of Applied Finance program. It familiarizes the students with the strengths and limitations of contemporary quantitative modelling techniques using multivariate statistical procedures and optimization approaches. The use of appropriate software notably STATA SE V.10.

This unit helps students to: understand the role and nature of financial markets and institutions; develop computational skills for transactions in financial markets; understand the factors that determine share price, interest rates and exchange rates; and understand major derivative products and their use in financial markets. This subject contains financial institutions and markets and the transactions that take place in them.

This unit provides an introduction to the theory, concepts, tools, techniques and applications of investment management. The Australian financial system is used for illustration. The emphasis is on passive investment management and asset pricing for money market instruments, bonds and equity securities and the use of derivatives for risk management.

This unit provides an introduction to the major classes of derivatives: forwards, futures, swaps and options. These are studied in detail with the objective of elucidating the ways in which these instruments can be used for the purposes of hedging, speculation and arbitrage. In addition to the analysis of derivative usage and market growth, considerable attention is given to the objective of gaining an understanding of the fundamentals of derivative pricing.

The general aim of this subject is to examine how financial and non-financial firms use key foreign exchange and interest rate products to manage the risk associated with their international investment and financing decisions. This subject compliments other aspects of managerial decision-making, including the marketing and production decisions of the international firm.

This unit is concerned with microeconomic policy development in an open economy setting. It applies and extends microeconomic theory to provide an understanding of the principles governing the formulation of international trade and industry policies. The unit reviews traditional and recent models of the behaviour of firms in international economics. It also overviews the traditional and strategic theories of trade performance and the design, formulation and implementation of trade policy.