In the last decade, the academic study of finance has experienced an infusion of new concepts and quantitative methodologies that place it among the most sophisticated and growing areas of business and economics. New developments in the traditional areas of finance--theory of rational investor portfolio choice, interpretation and determination of security prices, efficient corporate decision making--have been approached from the perspective of a single integrating paradigm derived from economic theory. This has led to extensive joint teaching and research between the finance, applied economics, and accounting faculties at Berkeley. Academic contributions are having profound effects on financial practice.
A Haas Ph.D. student interested in finance needs a strong course background in mathematics, statistics, and economics. This is prerequisite to the sequence of four doctoral seminars in finance (BA 238A-C and BA 223C).
Students also attend frequent seminars to gain exposure to ongoing research. Guest speakers are featured from other universities throughout the world. The finance group sponsors the Berkeley Program in Finance, which holds two conferences a year on current topics for finance academics and practitioners. These provide a forum for doctoral students to assess the relevance of academic research in their field of business practice.
Because of the many similarities between the research areas of finance and accounting, prospective finance applicants are encouraged to consider applying to the accounting program if research in that field is found to be more closely related to the applicant's research interests.
Finance Ph.D. Program Advisor, Richard StantonFinance FacultyFinance Ph.D. Students
Finance PhD Placement
The curriculum plan given below shows a normal program for a business administration doctoral student in finance. It assumes that beginning students have sufficient preparation to enter the business administration methods course (BA 292A-B), a basic discipline course (e.g., Econ 201A), and a sufficiently rigorous quantitative methods course (e.g., Stat 200A) in their first semester. If students are admitted without this level of prior training, they will probably begin this curriculum during their second year of study.
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