Academic Bulletin Financial Economics - 2014-15

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Major in Financial Economics

Description

The Financial Economics major guides students interested in a career in finance to the most useful courses in the two departments currently teaching financial topics, and makes it easier for students who have strong financial economics interests to obtain a minor or area of concentration outside mathematics or economics. Students wishing to major in Financial Economics are required to take the core economics theory courses in macroeconomics and microeconomics to provide a strong theoretical foundation. Beyond those courses, the student specializes in finance. The two departments’ offerings in Mathematics and Economics complement each other well. Economics courses reinforce the concepts of optimization and comparative statics and give students command of computational tools that are ubiquitous in the world of finance. The mathematics courses examine mathematical models and lines of reasoning used in finance.

Requirements for the Major

Students are required to take the following 9 course credits:

ECO 101 Principles of Economics

ECO 251 (1/2 cr.) The Economic Approach with Excel

ECO 253 Econometrics

ECO 291 Intermediate Microeconomics

ECO 292 Intermediate Macroeconomics

ECO 361 Corporate Finance

ECO 362 Money and Banking

MAT 251 (1/2 cr.) Mathematical Finance

MAT 252 (1/2 cr.) Mathematical Interest Theory

MAT 253 (1/2 cr.) Probability Models

MAT 254 (1/2 cr.) Statistical Models

MAT 353 (1/2 cr.) Probability Models II

Co-requisites (2 course credits):

MAT 111 Calculus I

MAT 112 Calculus II

Students taking a Financial Economics major may have a minor or second major in Mathematics, but may not count MAT 251, 252, 253, 254, or 353 toward that major or minor. Students taking a Financial Economics major may NOT have a major or minor in Economics.

The written and oral comprehensive exams, designed jointly and specifically targeted to the financial economics student, serve as a capstone as well as an assessment experience.  

Suggested Route through the Financial Economics Major

*Co-curricular requirement for the major

**May be taken in the fall of the freshman year

***May be taken in the fall of the senior year

Several of the MAT courses can be delayed one year. Thus students beginning with MAT 010 could follow this path:

Oversight

Senior comprehensive examinations for the Financial Economics major will be jointly written and administered by the Economics and Mathematics departments and overseen by the two department chairs.