Two major lines of academic research in Finance are corporate finance and investments. Fundamental research questions in corporate finance are based on managerial decisions related to real investments and financing, as well as on how governance structures affect these decisions. Investment analysis concentrates on the design and efficiency of financial instruments including stocks, bonds, derivatives, structured products and the institutional structure through which these instruments are offered. Research questions in this area relate to the pricing of financial assets, measurement and the efficient allocation of financial risk, and the effects of the market mechanism on the financial system.

The Bilkent Faculty of Business Administration offers two graduate programs, a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy, with a concentration in finance.  Upon completion of the MS program, graduates will have an intermediary level understanding of financial theory, application and quantitative research tools that will enable them either to continue onto the PhD program of their choice or to work for the financial industry as researchers, consultants or regulators. The graduates of the PhD program are expected to conduct original research that contributes to the theory and application of financial economics and to pursue academic careers in prestigious universities. To achieve this objective, students are equipped with a rigorous training in research methods and financial theory.

The finance faculty conducts empirical and theoretical research in specialized fields of asset pricing, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, financial intermediation, real estate finance, derivatives markets, financial risk management, market efficiency and market microstructure. Some examples of the research questions that our faculty recently worked on are as follows:

What is the impact of banking activities on local output?  What is the impact of the interdependence of the banking sector and the real sector in OECD countries?  Are risk measures inferred from derivatives markets a factor in the pricing of US stocks?  Can theoretical models be used to explain the empirical finding of stocks having high returns that can not be justified by their risks?  How can we measure the risks of financial instruments using the interactions among various instruments? Which corporations are candidates for mergers and acquisitions? Does investor sentiment affect the Turkish stock returns?  How does the introduction of the mortgage system affect house values and the economy? What are the determinants of house values and rents in Turkey?

Research support includes excellent computing facilities and library, as well as access to financial databases such as DataStream, The Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), Euromonitor International's Global Market Information Database (GMID), Global Development Finance (GDF), ISI Emerging Markets, International Financial Statistics, World Development Indicators (World Bank).