An overview of the main elements of Finance theory beginning with Markowitz and applying widely accepted techniques of analysis to financial decisions in companies and investment portfolios. Intended to be accessible to non specialists

During world financial crises in 1994 and 1998, most Latin American countries suffered severe contagion. But from the crisis of 2001 onward the amounts of contagion those countries suffered was less. This paper is a preliminary discussion of how several Latin American countries protected...