The course consists of three main parts.

· It will start with the examination of the two main components of the global international financial environment, namely (i) balance of payments, and (ii) exchange rates. This introduction is needed for an analysis of the concept and evolution of the international monetary system and of the international financial governance problems.

· The second part of the course is aimed at two specific risks in international finance, namely (i) foreign exchange risk (including forecasting of foreign rates based on international party conditions) and (ii) country risk (including political risk as well as economic and financial risk).

· Within the third part of the course, two specific international finance issues will be analysed some depth. The first one addresses major issues of European monetary union including optimal currency theory as a theoretical backbone of monetary unions as well as euro-zone’s economic governance prior to the crisis and changes made in this area in recent years. The second issue deals with international capital flows to emerging economies through official flows (multilateral financial institutions) and private flows (selected financial instruments, such as syndicated loans and bonds). 

The main objective of the course is to give participants a focused overview of international finance issues at the global level. The course is designed to combine both a practical and theoretical approaches to global finance. Students will be put into positions of a various players in international finance (foreign direct and / or portfolio investor, creditor, government of the recipient country, multilateral financial institution, etc.). Mathematical context of the course will be kept to a minimum, with the main focus being on institutional aspects as well as on practical application.

After the course, participants are expected to understand main international finance concepts, their relationship to other macroeconomic aggregates as well as institutional aspects of international finance and capital flows at global level. More specifically, participants will be able: 

· to undertstand key concepts in international finance,

· to demonstrate ability to analyse international finance problems and to write issue papers on this subject, and

· to present ideas on international financial issues in a clear, concise and professional manner

The course will be carried out as a combination of lectures, exercises and individual assignments to be done by the participants. Reading assignments will be assigned to the students for each of the lectures. Students are expected to stay current in their reading assignment preparation before class, to regularly attend class and to participate actively in the class discussions.

The final grade will be composed on the following three components:

· Class participation                             10 per cent

· Home assignments                             30 per cent

· Final Exam                                        60 per cent

Students will be assessed on:

• their knowledge on the content domain of international finance,
• their ability to understand and analyze the issues presented in their home assignments, and  
• the quality of presentations in class discussions, the written reports and the examination questions; by quality in this context we mean the clarity and persuasiveness of each bit of work. 

Though not obligatory for official enrollment into the course, basic understanding of macroeconomic concepts would be desirable.   

Lecturer can be contacted via mail: mojmir.mrak@ef.uni-lj.si

A course pack consisting of some of the above texts, presentations and cases will be available before the beginning of the course.