The MPhil in Finance and Economics is a one-year master's
degree that runs from mid-September to late July. It is an intensive
course combining advanced study and research, tailored for people with
less than one year of work experience who intend to go on to work for
industry. It places particular emphasis on economic coverage of
financial themes, beginning from the institutional background, moving
on to careful consideration of how observed institutions should be
modelled, and ending by relating existing models to data and discussing
how these models should be improved when they do not fit the data.
Each student will take eight modules and write a dissertation.
Each module consists of eighteen hours of lectures, together with
supporting classes.
The detailed requirements of the course are as follows:
- To attend the preparatory course in
mathematics and statistics
- Take six compulsory 18-hour modules:
- Take two optional 18-hour modules
chosen from:
Finance Options:
- International Finance
- Empirical Finance
- Behavioural Finance
- Optimal Investment (from the Mathematics Department)
- Venture Capital Portfolio Management
- Write a dissertation of up to 10,000
words
Preparatory Course in Mathematics and
Statistics
The compulsory three-week preparatory course in mathematics
and statistics runs from mid-September to early October. Its purpose is
to review and develop the required technical methods for the compulsory
core modules in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics. The
topics covered are: linear algebra; statistics; static optimisation;
dynamic optimisation; differential and difference equations. The
preparatory course also includes a two hour examination.
Assessment
Examination of the Modules will be in May. Each module
accounts for 10% of the overall mark and
the dissertation accounts for 20% of the overall mark.
Dissertation
During the second term, each student is allocated a supervisor
for their dissertation. The topic of the dissertation is associated
with either a core subject or a specialist subject and must be formally
approved by the Faculty. During the second and third terms the student
will meet the supervisor to discuss an outline of the topic, a
bibliography, the use of appropriate data and methods of analysis, and
a draft of the dissertation. After the written examinations in the
third term, students can concentrate entirely on their dissertations.
The final dissertation is submitted at the end of July.
Continuation to PhD
Although the MPhil in Finance and Economics is designed for
students who wish to obtain a one-year master's qualification before
leaving academic economics, it will still be possible for students to
continue onto the PhD programme. To do this, students will be expected
to perform at a standard that is considered satisfactory by the
Admissions Committee and subject to finding a suitable supervisor.
