Finance and Economics Division : PhD

Finance and Economics: Curriculum - Phd

The PhD program provides students with rigorous training in various aspects of theoretical and applied research. The program aims to train scholars who go on to conduct original research as faculty members of leading global institutions.

At Columbia Business School, faculty members and doctoral students study a wide variety of subjects, including theoretical and empirical asset pricing, corporate finance, information micro-structure economics, environmental economics, econometric methods, international trade and finance, behavioral finance, real options, real estate, theoretical and applied micro and macro-economics, general equilibrium theory, banking and financial markets, development, industrial organization, government policy and industrial relations.

The doctoral program in Finance and Economics comprises a two-year core sequence of courses to be taken by all students, which allows considerable flexibility to specialize in different areas of finance or economics. Required core courses include sequences of micro- and macro-economics, statistics and econometrics, finance theory and theoretical and empirical asset pricing and corporate finance. Students are encouraged to work closely with the division's faculty members as early as their first year to develop significant research.

While entry is highly competitive, the program accepts applicants from all backgrounds with minimum mathematical skill requirements of one year of calculus and one course each in linear algebra, probability and statistics.

For more information on courses, visit the PhD Web site.

For the 2006-2007 Finance and Economics Ph.D. program guide, please click here.