Reading List

Core texts and anchor papers by theme

Core Texts

Note: Additional industry books listed in the approved handbooks are useful for context. The lists below prioritise peer‑reviewed academic articles to anchor analytical learning.

Theme Anchors (Articles)

Each theme lists 1–2 high‑quality, widely cited papers. Tags indicate primary module and suggested level. Each theme lists 1–2 high‑quality, widely cited papers. Tags indicate suggested level.

FinTech Landscape

Modern Investment & Financial Inclusion

Crypto Finance

Data Science for Finance

Machine learning (advanced)

AI & NLP in Finance

Payments

Open Finance (Open Banking, Blockchain, Smart Contracts)

Market Demand (Emerging Markets, Inclusion, Policy)

Usage Notes

  • The readings above are deliberately selective and rigorous; they anchor each theme for both modules.
  • For undergraduate-level modules, use them as guided readings (focus on concepts and evidence).
  • For postgraduate-level modules, expect critical appraisal and application.
  • Coding work should link to methods in the papers (e.g., ML baselines, text sentiment, event study design).

References

Ausubel, Lawrence M. 1991. “The Failure of Competition in the Credit Card Market.” American Economic Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/2006788.
B"ohme, Rainer, Nicolas Christin, Benjamin Edelman, and Tyler Moore. 2015. “Bitcoin: Economics, Technology, and Governance.” Journal of Economic Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.29.2.213.
Buchak, Greg, Gregor Matvos, Tomasz Piskorski, and Amit Seru. 2018. “Fintech, Regulatory Arbitrage, and the Rise of Shadow Banks.” Journal of Financial Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2018.03.011.
Cao, Sean, Wei Jiang, Baozhong Yang, and Alan L. Zhang. 2023. “How to Talk When a Machine Is Listening: Corporate Disclosure in the Age of AI.” Review of Financial Studies 36 (9): 3603–42. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhad021.
Catalini, Christian, and Joshua S. Gans. 2020. “Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain.” Communications of the ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359552.
Chen, Long, Markus Pelger, and Jason Zhu. 2021. “Deep Learning in Asset Pricing.” Review of Financial Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhab069.
Gabaix, Xavier, Ralph S. J. Koijen, Robert Richmond, and Motohiro Yogo. 2025. “Asset Embeddings.” Working Paper. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4507511.
Gu, Shihao, Bryan Kelly, and Dacheng Xiu. 2020. “Empirical Asset Pricing via Machine Learning.” Review of Financial Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhaa009.
Hilpisch, Yves. 2019. Python for Finance. 2nd ed. O’Reilly Media. https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/python-for-finance/9781492024330/.
Howell, Sabrina T., Marina Niessner, and David Yermack. 2020. “Initial Coin Offerings: Financing Growth with Cryptocurrency Token Sales.” Review of Financial Studies 33 (9): 3925–74. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhz131.
Liaw, K. T. 2021. The Routledge Handbook of FinTech. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-FinTech/Liaw/p/book/9780367339152.
Mollick, Ethan. 2014. “The Dynamics of Crowdfunding: An Exploratory Study.” Journal of Business Venturing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.06.005.
Philippon, Thomas. 2016. “The FinTech Opportunity.” Working Paper w22476. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w22476/w22476.pdf.
Rysman, Marc. 2009. “The Economics of Two-Sided Markets.” Journal of Economic Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.23.3.125.
Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 2016. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.
Tetlock, Paul C. 2007. “Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market.” Journal of Finance. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2007.01232.x.
Vives, Xavier. 2019. “Digital Disruption in Banking.” Annual Review of Financial Economics. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-financial-100719-120854.