CONN 308 | People and Portfolios

This course contrasts how people should and how they do create portfolios. To explain how they should, the course covers applied modern portfolio theory, including mean-variance optimization and Monte Carlo simulation using Excel and Crystal Ball software. To address how they do, it covers cognitive and emotional behavioral biases, as well as behavioral portfolio theory, adaptive portfolio theory, bounded rationality, and prospect theory. Students may choose to focus either on institutional portfolios (like endowments and pension funds) or on individual portfolios (like 401(k)s). The course requires junior or senior standing and completion of the mathematical approaches core.