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Quantitative Methods in Finance

Eric Vansteenberghe

arXiv 19 Jan 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2601.12896 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

These lecture notes provide a comprehensive introduction to Quantitative Methods in Finance (QMF), designed for graduate students in finance and economics with heterogeneous programming backgrounds. The material develops a unified toolkit combining probability theory, statistics, numerical methods, and empirical modeling, with a strong emphasis on implementation in Python. Core topics include random variables and distributions, moments and dependence, simulation and Monte Carlo methods, numerical optimization, root-finding, and time-series models commonly used in finance and macro-finance. Particular attention is paid to translating theoretical concepts into reproducible code, emphasizing vectorization, numerical stability, and interpretation of outputs. The notes progressively bridge theory and practice through worked examples and exercises covering asset pricing intuition, risk measurement, forecasting, and empirical analysis. By focusing on clarity, minimal prerequisites, and hands-on computation, these lecture notes aim to serve both as a pedagogical entry point for non-programmers and as a practical reference for applied researchers seeking transparent and replicable quantitative methods in finance.

Citation extraction

350
references
589
in-text mentions
350
distinct cited
6
self-citations
171,834
main-text words

appendix boundary found by none_found · 100% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Marno Verbeek (2017) A Guide to Modern Econometrics1.000228100%
2Alexander, Carol (2008) Market Risk Analysis, Volume II, Practical Financial Econometrics1.00053100%
3Nelson, Daniel B (1991) Conditional Heteroskedasticity in Asset Returns: A New Approach0.87472100%
4Blundell, Richard and Duncan, Alan (1998) Kernel Regression in Empirical Microeconomics0.87452100%
5Kousky, Carolyn and Cooke, Roger (2012) Explaining the Failure to Insure Catastrophic Risks0.87452100%
6James G. MacKinnon (2010) Critical Values for Cointegration Tests0.87452100%
7Rolski, Tomasz and Schmidli, Hanspeter and Schmidt, Volker and Teuge… (1999) Stochastic processes for insurance and finance0.87452100%
8Roth, Jonathan and Sant’Anna, Pedro HC and Bilinski, Alyssa and Poe,… (2023) What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature0.87452100%
9Jondeau, Eric and Poon, Ser-Huang and Rockinger, Michael (2007) Financial Modeling Under Non-Gaussian Distributions0.81142100%
10Adrian, Tobias and Boyarchenko, Nina and Giannone, Domenico (2019) Vulnerable Growth0.81142100%

Showing the top 10 of 350 scored citations.