Nobel laureate Robert Shiller's celebrated Coursera course from Yale. It is less a how-to-invest course and more a way of seeing the financial system clearly — the ideas behind banking, insurance, stocks and bonds, and the human behaviour that drives them. Thoughtful and broad rather than tactical, and a genuinely rewarding introduction.
Good for: Understanding how the financial system works, taught by a leading economist.
Less suitable if: You want practical trading tips or a hands-on investing how-to.
Skills you'll gain
Financial marketsBehavioural financeRiskInsuranceBondsStocksFinancial system
Is this course right for you?
A good fit if you…
You want the big-picture understanding of finance
You enjoy ideas and context over tactics
You want a respected, university-level course
Consider something else if you…
You want trading strategies or stock picks
You want a practical personal-investing guide
You prefer short, purely applied lessons
Requirements: None; curiosity about how finance works is enough.
Realistic time: Around 30+ hours over several weeks.
About this course
Financial Markets is less a how-to-invest course and more a way of seeing the financial system clearly. Nobel laureate Robert Shiller walks through the ideas that underpin banking, insurance, stocks, and bonds, and the human behaviour that drives them off course. It's broad rather than technical, which is exactly why it lands for people outside finance who want to understand the machinery.
What you'll learn
Understand how core financial instruments and markets fit together
See how risk is priced, pooled, and mismanaged
Grasp diversification and why it matters for any portfolio
Recognise behavioural forces behind bubbles and crashes
Understand the role of banks, insurance, and regulation
Read financial news with more context and less noise
This course includes
Yes
Certificate
Yes
Mobile access
English
Language
What it costs
You can audit the course free on Coursera. A certificate needs a Coursera subscription (about $49/month) or Coursera Plus, and financial aid is available.
Comparison · LBS
Compare alternatives for Financial Markets
Same topic, different options. We surface the trade-offs others hide so you can pick the course that actually fits your time, budget, and goals.
A Yale certificate on Coursera carries strong brand recognition as evidence of the learning, though it is a course certificate rather than a finance qualification.
Last updated
Instructor
RS
Robert Shiller
Coursera instructor
Robert Shiller is a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Yale, known for his work on market behaviour, speculative bubbles, and the index that bears his name. He brings a behavioural lens to finance — less about formulas, more about why people and markets do what they do — which is what makes the course readable for beginners.