Spring 2027

Financial Markets, Institutions and Economic Activity

Analyzes the U.S. financial system's impact on economic activity, risk pricing for financial instruments, and fund allocation across sectors.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jason Allen3.7/5Erik Mayer

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ilhan Demiralp

Attendance at lectures was essential because sessions were not recorded. Students reported that the exams were straightforward and almost exactly the same problems practiced in class.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Understand the sources and uses of funds for the main financial institutions in the U.S.

  • Explain how deposit money is created in the banking system.

  • Summarize how government budget deficits affect the money supply.

  • Classify the various instruments the Federal Reserve uses to influence interest rates and the money supply.

  • Understand how monetary and fiscal policies can affect the economy.

  • Explain how monetary policy can affect the aggregate supply schedule in the economy.

  • Infer how financing decisions of firms change over the business cycle.

  • Interpret how Basle 3 and the Dodd-Frank affect the business model of financial institutions.

  • Conclude how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau affects the business model of financial institutions.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(ECON/​FINANCE 300 or concurrent enrollment), or declared in undergraduate Business Exchange program

FINANCE 305 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.50/5 from 2 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.48 GPA, 72.4% A/AB (n=87 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.54 GPA, 77.2% A/AB (n=114 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.35 GPA, 60.6% A/AB (n=94 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.50 GPA, 71.2% A/AB (n=139 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.49 GPA, 71.3% A/AB (n=178 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ERIK MAYER is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ILHAN DEMIRALP is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JASON ALLEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LEC 003Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LEC 004Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LEC 005Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LEC 006Classroom Instruction0 / 600

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ilhan Demiralp

A student found the class easier than Finance 300, while another noted the professor was straight to the point. Instruction used direct examples that resembled both homework and exam problems.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.49 GPA, 71.7% A/AB (n=226 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.41 GPA, 66.2% A/AB (n=293 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.51 GPA, 73.6% A/AB (n=292 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ilhan Demiralp

Attendance at lectures was essential because sessions were not recorded. Students reported that the exams were straightforward and almost exactly the same problems practiced in class.

Past student reviews · Ilhan Demiralp

Reviewers appreciated that the professor graded short-answer and math exams promptly. The material was presented with direct examples that helped students prepare effectively for assessments.

Topics

  • U.S. financial system and economic policy
  • Risk assessment and pricing of financial instruments
  • Allocation of funds to economic sectors

Skills

  • Understanding sources and uses of funds, explaining deposit money creation, and summarizing effects of budget deficits on money supply.
  • Classifying Federal Reserve instruments and understanding impacts of monetary and fiscal policies on the economy and aggregate supply.
  • Inferring firm financing changes over the business cycle and interpreting regulatory impacts like Basle 3, Dodd-Frank, and CFPB.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
FINANCE 305 · Spring 2027

Financial Markets, Institutions and Economic Activity

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:233:003042",
    "course_id": "FINANCE 305",
    "course_uid": "course_ad4d4970816277a713b7cfd6",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003042",
    "source_subject_id": "233",
    "title": "Financial Markets, Institutions and Economic Activity",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "dbcf8d7720668f59296b0ca1f8d9af95cd251ffa23229e7077bb3e0e938f3606",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}