Graduate Program/ Joint Ph.D. Progam in Financial Economics

Joint Ph.D. Program in Financial Economics

The joint Ph.D. program in Financial Economics was established in the 2006-07 academic year and is run jointly by the Department of Economics in the Division of the Social Sciences and by the Graduate School of Business (GSB). The aim of this program is to exploit the strengths of both sponsors in training Ph.D. students interested in financial economics. Core economics training is valuable for students seeking to do research in financial economics, and advances in financial economics have important spillovers to other areas of economics. It has long been a tradition in the Department of Economics to feature core economics training for their Ph.D. students, and the Graduate School of Business has a well recognized excellence in finance. Students in the joint program benefit from broad sets of instructors and classmates in both the Economics Department and GSB. They also hold an official status and are able to utilize resources in both Economics and GSB.

Upon completion of this program, students will be awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics and Finance jointly from the Division of the Social Sciences and the Graduate School of Business.

Program Elements

Students must satisfy the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in both programs. This is viable because of the considerable overlap in what the two programs expect of their students.

In the first year students will take:

1. Economics 30100, 30200 and 30300 - Price Theory (microeconomics)
2. Economics 31000, 31100, and 31200 - Empirical Methods (econometrics)
3. Economics 33000, 33100 and 33200 - Theory of Income (macroeconomics)

In their second year they will complete courses in two fields in accordance with requirements from the Economics Department. At the same time the students will satisfy the dissertation area requirements of the GSB.

As an example, a student in their second year could satisfy the course requirements by taking:

1. Business 35901, 35902, 35903 - Theory of Financial Decisions I-II-III
   This is a required sequence in the GSB. It will be recognized as a separate field by the Economics department.
   


2. Three courses in asset pricing and macroeconomics, jointly staffed by the Economics Department and GSB. This sequence will simultaneously satisfy a field requirement for the economics department and finance area requirements for the GSB. For example:
   
   
   1. Business 35904 - Economics 39100 - Asset Pricing
   2. Business 35905 - Economics 39200 - Topics in Asset Pricing
   3. Business 35910 - Economics 39500 - Asset Pricing and Macroeconomics


3. Three other classes in economics and business to satisfy additional distributional requirements of the Economics Department and the GSB. There is a wide range of appropriate course offerings both at the GSB and the economics department.

In their remaining years, students will satisfy any additional distributional requirements from the Department of Economics and the second year paper required by both the Department of Economics and the GSB. To facilitate guidance in choosing a dissertation topic and pursuing research, third year students will attend a student workshop or reading group in which student presentations will be made of recent papers by others or of their of their own projects in early stages of development. The workshop will be run by one or more of the faculty members involved in the joint degree program. Students will propose and defend a single dissertation to the satisfaction of both the Department of Economics and the GSB. These requirements will adapt to any future changes made by either the Department of Economics or GSB.
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Admissions

Admission to the joint program requires admission to both the doctoral program in the Department of Economics and to the doctoral program in the Graduate School of Business, but interested parties need only apply to one or the other program. Students may enter the joint program at the beginning of their doctoral studies. Those seeking admission to the joint program should apply online to either the Ph.D. program in the Department of Economics or the Graduate School of Business.

Students enrolled in doctoral studies in either the Economics Department or the GSB may apply to the joint program at any time within their first two years in residence. Such students will still have to meet all of the requirements of both programs.

Enrollment and financial aid throughout a student’s matriculation in the joint program will be administered by either the Division of the Social Sciences or the GSB, as arranged by the two units. This designation will be for administrative purposes only and will not have programmatic implications. If a student’s interests change, the Director of the Ph.D. program in the Graduate School of Business and the Dean of Students for the Social Sciences will facilitate transfers out of the joint program and into the doctoral program in Economics or Business.
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