In today’s global market, “market watching” requires understanding monetary and fiscal policies, international trade and exchange rates, and the forces driving economic growth and development in all countries. The proliferation of financial instruments and strategies, such as financial futures, derivatives, hedge funds, risk arbitrageurs, securitization of liquid assets, program trading, and interest rate swaps, has also pushed economics into the center of financial operations. The operation of markets for the new instruments is based on fundamental principles of economics.

This specialization trains you to understand how these markets function, how new financial instruments are used to deal with a variety of risks, and what accounts for the interaction between domestic and international financial centers. As a graduate of the program, you will be qualified for employment as a securities dealer, a consultant, or a specialist in the finance department of any corporation, in addition to being prepared for employment in a regional bank or a Wall Street firm. Recent events demonstrate that public officials also need to understand the economics of finance.

The addition of a related quantitative track, offered with the cooperation of the Department of Mathematics, stems from the need to train people who can effectively communicate with specialists and quantitative groups dealing with complex financial instruments, which have literally exploded since the mid-1980s. At the same time, there is growing need for specialists who are able to understand and communicate the implicit strategies and goals of these financial instruments to the management of their organizations. The goal of the quantitative track is to provide a deep enough foundation of appropriate economic analysis (microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics), along with a core of applied or practical financial analysis (corporate and international finance), and enough mathematics to understand quantitative aspects of derivatives and risk management.