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VIEW COURSE CATALOGMihir Desai on Demystifying Finance
Comprehend the underlying concepts of finance through examples from popular stories
Mihir Desai on Demystifying Finance
Learn How To
Recognize key ideas in finance and how they shape our daily lives
Define and explain complex ideas like insurance, risk, options, diversification, and M&A
Translate financial jargon into easy-to-comprehend language
Use debt and commitment to create leverage and opportunity
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Course Syllabus
01
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
Video: Welcome to the Course by Mihir Desai
Video: Why Is It Important to Understand Finance?
Exercise: Introduce Yourself
Resource: Workbook for the Course
02
RANDOMNESS, INSURANCE, AND FINANCE
Video: Randomness and Risk: Understanding Insurance
Video: Insurance: A Financial Tool for Chaos
Video: Two Branches of Finance: Asset Pricing & Corporate Finance
Quiz: Distinguish Between the Branches of Finance
Exercise: Analyze Randomness and Insurance in stories
03
ASSET PRICING
Video: Assessing Options: Pride and Prejudice
Video: Increasing Opportunity with Stock Options
Quiz: The Purpose of Optionality
Video: Asset Pricing and Diversification to Reduce Risk
Video: Types of Financial Assets and Personal Relationships
Quiz: Types of Betas
Video: The Mandate to Create Value: Parable of Talents
Video: What is Asset Valuation?
Quiz: Calculating Present Value
Exercise: Analyze and illustrate the different elements of Asset Pricing
04
CORPORATE FINANCE
Video: What is the Principal-Agent Problem?
Video: How does the Principal-Agent Problem Affect Your Daily Life?
Quiz: Identifying Principals and Agents
Video: Why Should Companies Merge?
Video: How are Mergers Like Marriages and Why do They Fail?
Quiz: Ideal Conditions for a Merger
Video: Why is Leverage Important to Finance and Life?
Video: What Are the Risks of Debt and Leverage?
Exercise: Identify elements of Corporate Finance in stories
05
THE FUTURE OF FINANCE
Video: Rediscovering the Humanity in Finance
Video: Why Should Social Entrepreneurs Understand Finance?
Exercise: Identify the core human needs that Finance serves
Video: About +Acumen
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“
This course makes finance very accessible and central to any entrepreneur’s endeavors. Beyond the basics, [Mihir] also provides insight into finance as a tool for social impact and [outlines] areas for innovation.”
Bernd
Course Description
On the surface, finance is intimidating - full of complex charts, confounding equations, and big words - but its underlying concepts have been ingrained in our stories for centuries, and continue to shape our daily lives. Renowned Harvard professor Mihir Desai is on a mission to make finance human again. In this course he’ll take you on a vivid, story-based tour of the key ideas in finance.
NOTE: This is not a personal finance course.
About
the Instructor
Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Author of "The Wisdom of Finance & How Finance Works", and Co-Host of HBS After Hours.
About
the Instructor
Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Author of "The Wisdom of Finance & How Finance Works", and Co-Host of HBS After Hours.
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