Joint PhD Program in Financial Economics

Program Requirements

Students must satisfy the requirements for the PhD 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:

  • Economics 30100, 30200 and 30300 – Price Theory (microeconomics)
  • Economics 31000, 31100 and 31200 – Empirical Methods (econometrics)
  • 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 at Booth.

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

  • Three courses in asset pricing and corporate finance, jointly staffed by the Economics Department and Booth. This sequence will simultaneously satisfy field requirement(s) for the Economics Department and finance area requirements for Booth. For example:
    • Business 34901/Economics 35050 – Asset Pricing I
    • Business 34902/Economics 35060 – Asset Pricing II
    • Business 34903/Economics 35070 – Corporate Finance I
    • Business 34904/Economics 35080 – Corporate Finance II
    • and two other finance electives as listed in the Guidebook

This is a required sequence at Booth. It will be recognized as a separate field (or fields) by the Economics department.

  • Three other classes in economics and business to satisfy additional distributional requirements of the Economics Department and Booth. There is a wide range of appropriate course offerings both at Chicago Booth 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 Booth. To facilitate guidance in choosing a dissertation topic and pursuing research, third year students will attend a student workshop or reading group in which they will present recent papers by others and/or 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 Booth. These requirements are subject to changes made by either the Department of Economics or Chicago Booth.

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