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I was really hyped for this course and kept thinking about taking it for about a year. I read a review about 6 months ago that recommends the Finance and capital markets course on Khan Academy and I did watch a good chunk of the videos there and made notes as well, before I decided to finally purchase the course on Coursera. Overall it's a really good course. Robert Shiller is just such a charismatic and passionate professor and I love listening to him, the assignments were very fair and the content very interesting. I really love how Shiller doesn't just teach you the financial theory, but also its societal implications. Finance is not just about money, but about getting things done. This is such a refreshing and unique perspective - and I love it! However it's also not a perfect course. I agree with another review that this course is very US-centric. This should come as no surprise, because this is a Yale course. Finance is very tightly regulated by all governments on Earth (each country will thus have different specifics) and I think that learning about the financial markets in the US makes the most sense, because the US is the most advanced in this field. However you do lose a bit of your motivation, when the assignment questions ask some specific things about financial history or companies from the US. My only other complaint would be that some terms are not defined or explained well in the course. While I was taking notes from the course, I often had to check the definitions on Investopedia (for example the definition of a Beta). These definitions become very important later on in the assignments. I think that Khan Academy does this better - because Khan assumes that you don't know anything and he explains things very intuitively. So just like another reviewer I can really recommend the Finance and capital markets course on Khan Academy (it's free ^^) in tandem with Financial Markets by Robert Shiller. In conclusion, if you're looking for a (beginner) finance course on Coursera, then this is the best course you can take, but as most things it isn't perfect.

This course is absolutely not for beginners, I would know, I'm a beginner. I have no background in economics or finance, and my math was rusty at best (had to brush up on my probabilities). I'm currently on week 3, and I will say it takes me usually 1 to 2 hours to get through some of the 11- and 8-minute videos. The first week alone I spent 6 hours a day for 5 days just getting through the information. Let me explain, if you want to actually understand how the topics in future videos relate to the ones you're watching now, Investopedia, Google, and random undergraduate papers on the internet will become your best friends. Finance at first seems like a jumble of models that vaguely overlap, but you have to actually dive into the concepts and understand the maths and economics behind them to see how they relate to one another. CAPM was barely mentioned in week 1 and 2, but had I not taken 3 days to give myself a crash course on CAPM, nothing in week 1 and 2 would have made any sense at all and moving forward I wouldn't have understood how future formulas related to past concepts. This week I've spent 5 hours teaching myself how bonds relate to the discount rate we see in the DDM/GGM/ and PDV models, how yield and interest/ central bank policy are related, and what coupon rates are. This was to understand an 11-minute video, one of 8, in the first half of week 3. Be prepared. Gird your loins. If you want to get the most out of this course, use it predominantly as a template to direct you to new topics that you can research on your own, if you do this I promise you will learn more in 8 weeks than you could possibly imagine.

I have learned some good points about financial markets, some aspects of how corporation works and how they are governed, as well as different types of corporations were very interesting. i was also surprised how much i knew already, without having any kind of finance background. I guess it's four stars cause i was expecting more maths and statistics and there is very little of that( just in the beginning) it is still very interesting though. As a science graduate i was surprised that same formulas used in statistics in biology, can be applied to the financial markets. The course if worth a try especially for beginners in financial markets but also I would make essential for general public, to broaden their knowledge about finances. I also wish there was one or two more peer reviewed assignments. I think it was great to read other people work as views have differed so much! Also the peer review should have few more options for scoring points. but other than that it was a really interesting. Very good opportunity to get into civilised debate.

I love Robert Schiller's talk and lessons on this topic and I have learned a lot under his years of wisdom on financial markets around the world and how they play a huge part in the world overall. I also find the instructor to have a friendly fatherly approach as he speaks to his students and how in each of the videos he would smile, laugh and shares his personal stories and it doesn't make the lessons to be dull or boring. However, for someone who is not from finance or economic background, I find the quizzes hard and only to find that the theme of the quiz were actually taught later on. I also wished that the lessons could be made simpler (especially on the graphs and charts) could be elaborated better and simple before each lesson so I could understand what was explained. In some cases, the graph is shown and explained what it was and then the quiz appears. I did not know how the graph works or what it is for. I'll be sure going to miss Robert as an instructor as I graduate from this course. Thank you Robert.

The course had a good plan to cover financial markets and the US economy in general, but it was not entirely successful in the execution of that plan. Some modules were presented assuming that you were familiar with market terms such as "put", "call" and "strike," while others were more thorough. I think the course would benefit from a few more voices and maybe some written summaries and glossaries of economic terms accompanying the modules where needed. I liked the emphasis on the importance of the humanitarian aspect of the finances: the need to share the wealth and avoid turning poeple's basic needs, such as home and shelter, into commodities. I wish education and health care were added to that. We are one of few industrialized countries (if not the only one) that have turned education, pharmaceuticals and health care into profitable industries at the detriment of the nation.

The course was mostly great. Robert Schiller is amazing and I appreciate the chance to learn from such a brilliant man. The peer reviewed papers have absolutely no value to me. It was a waste of time and not even on a topic that really relates to the course in a meaningful way. A paper on the stock market or something along those lines would be a much better option in my opinion. I also think in a beginner class as this is supposed to be, the mathematical equations could have been more glazed over and not such a focus early on. It made the course seem much more daunting than is actually necessary to get the point across. Last criticism is in regards to the transcripts. They are poorly edited and need to be gone over again to delete redundancies, etc.

With that said, thank you! I feel like I learned a lot.

Overall, it is a great course that provides general kowledge of financial markets with focuses on the U.S. markets. Professor Shiller is wise, curious and extremly knowledgeable on the subject, though he tends to extend the materials during the discussions which may cause some confusion on the subject matter ( I think the reason being that he just knows a lot more and deeper than the particular subject being discussed with limited recording time); this can be a good or not-so-good thing depending on your familiarity of the subject.

Personally, I think it would be very helpful if you have some sort of financial background or understanding. Otherwise, do google/wiki during your study about the specific topics, becasue the course material is rather concise and sometimes not clearly illustrated.

the course itself is great especially for someone who is very new and wants an introduction into the realm of finance but deep enough to offer you most of the details and still not make it boring to learn.

would definitely suggest it to someone who is a beginner and wants to know more about Finance just for fun or maybe for revision or whatever other reason you might have. however, I am not someone from a finance background so I can't really say if this would be good for someone who already has a background in the field or not.

nonetheless, this was a very interesting course and made me aware of a lot of things I wasn't really sure about. I came here after watching "THE BIG SHORT" and now I guess I can actually understand what and why they did as they did in the movie.

Awesome course! I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to expand its knowledge in finance, financial markets, and economics. Although it does not require any prerequisite, some finance, economics & business knowledge can significantly leverage the course outcome. Prof. Shiller is a great teacher and its a pleasure to listen to his lectures.

I would have given 5* if there was more student engagement with more practical exercises especially those that required to apply maths, such as CAPM, Std Dev., insurance pool, compounding interest, etc.

I find it helpful working closely with the recommended textbook Frank. J. Fabozzi - Financial Markets. Although the last edition is expensive, there on the internet some older or similar versions that can be downloaded.

Although the course teaches some fundamentals of finance, it lacks others. For an absolute beginner, it requires quite a lot of self-study. I am also glad that I have taken other courses in investing elsewhere prior to taking this course. Whereas Financial Markets provides plenty of tools to get a young investors started, in my opinion it does not teach the healthiest mindset. I highly recommend the bonus interview with Roger Ferguson, who emphasizes the value of long-term investing, which can be seen as part of risk management. I believe that a person that is patient and willing to learn can easily invest themselves, even on a small scale. Times have changed. Just remember: invest in value, diversify, keep long-term, and know what you are doing.