Portfolios and Investments

The book is concerned with the theory of portfolios, as well as with investing in assets and securities and offers a general introduction, rather than a toolbox for making money. It will help its readers to better understand investing. The book is structured in two parts. Part I introduces the student into fundamental principles of portfolio theory and investment analysis, such as the Markowitz portfolio selection approach, factor models, basic evaluation techniques and portfolio management. Part II extends the material to more advanced topics and focuses on inefficient markets, including topics including technical analysis and momentum effects, behavioural finance, bubbles and herding, portfolio management in inefficient markets and market microstructure. followed by an appendix consisting of primers to some econometric approaches.

Michael Frömmel was born in 1970 in Rheydt, Germany. From 1990 to 1997 he studied mathematics and business administration at the RWTH Aachen. In 2003 he obtained a doctoral degree in economics at the Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany. In 2007 he joined the Department of Fincancial Economics at Ghent University, Belgium, as 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. His research focuses on international finance, the foreign exchange market and financial markets in transition economies. He is author of various books and articles in, inter alia, the Journal of International Money and Finance, the Journal of Comparative Economics, and the International Journal of Finance and Economics.