The Economics Department offers concentrations in Financial Economics, International Economics, and Public Policy.
Concentrations are optional, but economics majors whose interests are heavily focused on one of the following areas may want to declare a concentration. Concentrations involve additional requirements beyond the major requirements. For students who expect to graduate in May, the deadline for declaring a concentration is the first Friday in February in the student’s final semester. If the student’s final semester is in the fall, and a January graduation is expected, the deadline for declaring a concentration is September 30, or the preceding Friday if this falls on a weekend.
The Financial Economics concentration aims to provide an academic grounding in financial markets and financial decision making – to teach you how economic theory and econometric methods can be combined to analyze economic phenomena in general and in particular the core issues in financial decision-making. The finance concentration is the most technically challenging of the departments concentrations. It requires a high level of mathematical and econometric knowledge. Students should be very comfortable applying the tools of calculus to applied problems. Students are also expected to be comfortable with computer programming.
This concentration should be of interest to a variety of students. Those who plan to go on to Ph.D. level work in either economics or finance, or masters level work at quantitative finance MBA programs, will benefit from the advanced financial theory and econometric tools we learn and apply. Those who do not have plans for further post graduate study, but who are intellectually curious about finance, will find their curiosity sated. Students heading for quantitative Wall Street jobs will benefit from studying the formal modeling and econometric methods.
Notes on Coursework
Completing the concentration requires that one plan in advance. Because COMM 2010 is generally taken by pre-Commerce students, first and second year students are given priority in registering for the class. You may find it impossible to register for COMM 2010 if you wait until your third year to take it. ECON 4720 must be completed before starting ECON 4360. Since ECON 4360 is typically offered in the fall semester only, ECON 4720 must be completed in the 3rd year or earlier. While linear algebra is not required for the concentration, concepts of linear algebra appear (and are taught) in the context of ECON 4720 and ECON 4360. Students may benefit from taking MATH 3351 beforehand, though this is not required.
In addition to meeting the ordinary requirements for the major, students must:
Only Commerce school students are permitted to use COMM 3720 to meet this requirement. Students in other schools, such as the College of Arts and Sciences, do not have this option.
COMM 2010 does not count as an economics elective. Economics elective courses such as ECON 4720, ECON 3030, etc., taken to meet finance concentration requirements can be counted as electives towards meeting major requirements.
For more information on the concentration in financial economics, contact Professor Chris Otrok.
The International Economics concentration is designed for ambitious majors with a keen interest in global economic policy. The core course requirements, ECON 3720 (or ECON 4720 or STAT 3220) and ECON 4210 develop basic literacy in empirical techniques and international economic theory. International finance, ECON 4220, is strongly recommended as the monetary complement to ECON 4210, though it is not currently required due to scheduling constraints. The remaining course electives allow students to specialize further in economic development (through ECON 4610 and/or 4230) and/or a particular geographic area (i.e. ECON 3630, 3650, 4410, 4660 or 5352). Please note that no more than one area studies can count towards the concentration. Many students combine the international concentration with a study abroad program or with the Foreign Affairs major. Recent graduates have gone on to work for international governmental and non-governmental organizations, master’s degree programs in international studies or public policy, law school, and business school.
Economics majors may declare a concentration in international economics when they are enrolled in or have already completed ECON 3720, STAT 3220, or ECON 4720.
In addition to meeting the ordinary requirements for the major, students must:
For more information on the concentration in international economics, contact Professor Emily Blanchard.
Economics is highly relevant for public policy as well as private business decisions. Among the topics of interest in microeconomics are the wide range of effects of specific taxes, expenditure programs and regulations. The courses in the public policy concentration apply general theoretical models for explaining how individuals and organizations respond to changes in their circumstances to predict the qualitative effects of existing and proposed government programs, and they introduce empirical evidence on the quantitative magnitudes of these effects. The concentration also develops the abilities of its students to critically evaluate arguments for particular government actions. It provides majors with the type of training that will enable them to compete successfully for the best junior analyst positions in governments, public policy research firms, and other organizations and for admission into the leading graduate programs in public policy. It should also appeal to students with a strong interest in public policy who intend to pursue careers in related areas such as law.
To declare a concentration in public policy before their last year at the University, an economics major must have completed the following:
To declare the concentration in the second-to-last semester at the University, a major who has satisfied the microeconomics requirement must have completed, or be enrolled in, ECON 4310 and ECON 3720 (or STAT 3220 or ECON 4720).
To graduate with the concentration, a major must meet the ordinary requirements for the major and complete