Doctoral Program First-Year Curriculum

The following is an outline of the coursework students can expect to complete during the Finance Ph.D. program. The coursework is subject to change due to the availability of classes. Exhibit A provides a sample schedule for an entering student.

Prior to the Start of the Program

Three weeks prior to the first semester of study (generally starting the first Monday in August), entering Finance Ph.D. students will be required to take Economics 519, Math for Economists, a boot camp designed to help prepare students for the mathematical rigors of the program.

During the same three weeks that the students are taking the “Math for Economists” boot camp, the students will also be required to complete a workshop designed to demonstrate how to access CRSP/Compustat and to teach them the basics of using this data.  The class will be taught by the Ph.D. student is in charge of the finance data. In conjunction with this, faculty offering classes to the first year students will have assignments that require the use of CRSP and Compustat.

The First Year focus is on developing a foundation in economics and on acquiring the necessary skills to be a first-rate scholar in finance.

First Semester

Courses students take in the first semester include:

• Economics 501A, Microeconomic Theory I. A Ph.D. level microeconomics course focusing on individual and firm-level optimization.
• Economics 501B, Microeconomic Theory II. An economics course focusing on general equilibrium and competitive analysis as well as market failure. These subjects are becoming increasingly important in the study of finance.
• Economics 520, Theory of Quantitative Methods in Economics. A statistics course designed to prepare students to study econometrics.

To do well in Economics 501a and 520, students should be very comfortable with calculus and the principles of optimization, as well as know some linear algebra and analysis. Students with below this level of mathematics background are strongly encouraged to plan to attend courses at The University of Arizona in the summer prior to their enrollment to cover the necessary mathematics topics.

Second Semester

Courses the second semester will include:

• Finance 600, Theory of Finance. An introductory course to Finance that is taught at a higher level than a typical MBA course.
• Economics 501C, Microeconomic Theory III. An economics course focusing on the economics of information and game theory.
• Economics 522A, Econometrics I. The first course in the econometrics sequence studying the theory of econometric estimation of single and simultaneous equation models.
  
  Other classes might include:
• Finance 601, Financial Decision Making Under Uncertainty. Theoretical and applied financial economics relating to uncertainty in markets, information, and choice.
• Finance 541B, Fixed Income. (Prerequisite: FIN541A) This is the second semester of a two-semester course designed to introduce students to fixed income models and analysis.
• Math 522, Advanced Applied Analysis. Review of multivariable calculus, series solutions of differential equations, Laplace transforms, Fourier series, introduction to partial differential equations.
• Finance 696E, Corporate Finance. The development and exchange of scholarly information related to corporate finance, usually in a small group setting. The scope of work shall consist of research by course registrants, with the exchange of the results of such research through discussion, reports, and/or papers.
• Accounting 696a, Taxation. The development and exchange of scholarly information related to accounting theory, usually in a small group setting.
• Accounting 696d, Accounting Theory. The development and exchange of scholarly information related to accounting theory, usually in a small group setting.
• Finance 697A, Research Issues. A course designed for the practical application of theoretical learning within a group setting and involving an exchange of ideas and practical methods, skills, and principles.
• Available Economics, Finance or Accounting seminars (695, 696 and 697 courses).

Required Economic Minor

Each student is required to meet the requirements of a minor in Economics, which includes the required first year coursework in economics as listed above (Econ501A, Econ501B, Econ501C, Econ 520, Econ522A) and passing the first year written qualifying examination administered by the Economics Department faculty.

Qualifying Examination

The Qualifying Examination is taken by Ph.D. students at the end of the first year in the program, typically in early June. It is a written examination in either theory or quantitative methods and is based on the material taught in the Economics courses taken during the first year of the program. The theory examination covers the material in the microeconomic core courses (ECON 501A, 501B and 501C). The quantitative examination covers the material in the statistics and econometrics courses (ECON 520 and 522A). Copies of the questions on earlier preliminary exams can be obtained from the Economics Department Graduate Coordinator.

The goal of the exam is to ensure that students have developed an appreciation for how all of the material fits together in a broader framework of economic reasoning. In addition, the exam will help students solidify their knowledge about the core of economics. The qualifying examination is a requirement for continuation in the program.

If the student does not pass the exam at the end of the first year of the program, the department may elect to dismiss the student from the Ph.D. program, withdraw financial assistance awarded in prior semesters, or allow the student to retake the exam in August (around the start of Fall semester of the second year of study, per the Economics Department schedule) at which time the first year qualifying examination must be completed with a passing grade.