Finance 1: Portfolio Theory and Management

The book gives an introduction to portfolio theory and management and shall help the reader to better set up a long-term strategic asset allocation. After an introduction into financial markets, their instruments and players, the Markowitz portfolio theory is derived. Limitations and alternatives to Markowitz are discussed. Factor models, the capital asset pricing model and the arbitrage pricing theory, as well as the theory of efficient markets are considered, before we turn to the valuation of securities. The final section deals with the steps of asset allocation, performance measurement and international portfolios.

Michael Frömmel was born in 1970 in Rheydt, Germany. From 1990 to 1997 he studied mathematics and business administration at the RWTH Aachen University. In 2003 he obtained a doctoral degree in economics at the Leibniz University Hanover, Germany. In 2007 he joined the Department of Financial Economics at Ghent University, Belgium, as a Professor of Finance. He is program director of the Master of Banking and Finance at Ghent University. Michael Frömmel has worked as a visiting researcher at the central banks of Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria and taught at various universities in several countries in Europe and Asia. His research focuses on international financial markets, foreign exchange and emerging market finance. He is author of several books and articles in, inter alia, the Journal of Financial Markets, the Journal of International Money and Finance and the Financial Analysts Journal.