• Introduction
• Analysis of the current domestic and international economic situation
• Stock market bubbles and investor psychology
• Major crises in the global economy
• The role of psychology in investor decisions
• The long-term nature of investment in funds
• Investment strategies in times of economic crisis (contrarian strategies etc)
• Investment rules to counter psychological errors leading to investment mistakes

For more than 50 years financial theory was based on the premise that investors behave rationally and that the markets are effective. However, researchers in the field of psychology have discovered that people behave in a way that is not rational. Cognitive errors and emotions lead to mistaken investment choices.

On successful completion of the course students will:

• understand the role of emotions and other psychological characteristics in the pricing of shares and other investment products;
• understand the role of emotional factors, for example, fear, greed, excessive trust, financial illiteracy, financial contagion, herding, overreaction, loss aversion, regret aversion, media influence and other factors which generate excesses, crises and bubbles in the product, property and securities markets.