Economics 1759, Fall 2008: I will not sign in anyone right now. Instead, I will give a basic competency exam in financial economics, statistics, and computer programming in the first class—nothing too difficult, but just to make sure you know how to compute stock returns, what the CAPM is, what a regression and a covariance is, what a T-test is, and how to write a computer loop, an if-then-else statement, and a subroutine (function). You can use any computer language you know. If you pass, I will let you into the course.
The following are my personal opinions for a good curriculum for students that want to specialize in financial economics. They have not been endorsed by any other faculty or committee.
This is a curriculum of 8 core courses. Most also count towards economics or COE/economics concentrations. If you complete them, you will go off into the world (of business or graduate school) very well prepared. It is much more important that you know the basic material from these courses very well, preferably scoring an A+ in them, than it is for you to have taken many business-like courses--both for your own education, and for your job interviews.
Of course, we also offer many other good and relevant courses, such as International Trade Econ1540, International Finance Econ1550, Politics and Finance Econ1800. In addition, if we offer a good course on ethics and economics, you should take it. All of these can be very interesting in themselves, even if they are not primarily geared towards financial economics per se.
In my opinion, advanced math courses (such as real algebra) can be interesting, but they also have little direct application in financial economics. (They are great for students who want to enter a PhD program in economic theory or math.) The important math courses from a financial economics perspective are [a] basic high-school algebra, [b] intro calculus (up to basic one-dimensional integration), and [c] basic linear algebra. Mathematical aptitude and comfort with working with equations is much more important than mathematical sophistication. Exception to the Rule: If you want to go into fixed income or options, then there is one advanced math course that would be very good: stochastic calculus.
Entrepreneurship, like math, can also be interesting, but it is not a particularly important field for financial economics concentrators, either. As with math, this is not to say that you should not take entrepreneurship courses---entrepreneurship courses can be interesting in themselves. If you are interested in the Corporate Finance and Consulting Specialization, then Danny Warshay is teaching a good case course in entrepreneurship (engineering), which is complementary. However, you should absolutely not take Danny's case course before you have taken the five base courses listed above. (Also, Angus Kingon will be offering new kinds of courses, which I am not familiar with.) Taking a good course on technology in engineering (and the business and ethical issues arising from new technology) would also be a good idea.
Job and Timing Advice: Try to do very well especially in Econ1710 and Econ1720. It is also the case that if you are among the top-ten students in your Econ1710 or Econ1720 course, it will help your job placement directly. (Because there are so many students in these courses, it is impossible for you to shine in non-grade related ways.) Optimally, you should have taken Econ1710 and Econ1720 in your fourth semester at Brown, so that when interviews for summer jobs for your junior year come around, this knowledge can help you get a good internship. (If you take them in your fifth semester, they will be contemporaneous with your interviews. Pedagogically, I would prefer if you took them in your fifth or sixth semester; pragmatically, from an interviewing perspective, you are better off taking them in your fourth semester.)
Do not forget: you are not in a vocational program or a business school, but in a liberal arts program. You should not just take courses with professional motivations. You would be cheating yourself---and transforming your Brown-label into a wannabe Wharton-label won't help you much even if you want to go into business, either.
For those of you not comfortable speaking up, you should take a course in theatrical acting, such as Tsda 0030, in which you should learn to play a role on stage. (Unfortunately, this seems to be open only to Freshman, so take it early.) If you cannot do this, try to see if there is an amateur acting company or acting workshop that you can join. Being able to play roles and speak up, as a stage actor has to, may be as or more important to your success in life than all the economics&finance courses you may ever take.
Oded Galor and I are willing to sponsor two to five collaborative independent study courses that will become senior theses, for current juniors. The goal of this senior thesis is to create a publishable study (a joint chapter in a book) about the success of the MacArthur fellows program.
Requirements: Sophomore or Junior. A GPA high enough to qualify for a senior thesis next year. An interest not only in (labor) econonomics, but also in the base are you will be studying (arts, humanities, public issues, science, or social science). Independent working habits.
The big question is: Is the foundation better in picking future geniuses than academia, the NSF, or other peer-based institutions? (The MacArthur awards are often popularly dubbed "genius awards.")
FYI: The five areas that the MacArthur foundation targets are the Arts (Architecture, Choreography, Crafts, Fiction, Music, Photography, Poetry, Theater, Visual Arts), the Humanities (American history, Art History, Biography, Classics, History, Philosophy of Science, Literary Studies, Musicology, Philosophy, Religious Studies), Public Issues (Agriculture, Community Affairs, Cultural Preservation, Economic Development, Education, Energy, Environment, Human Rights, International Security, Journalism, Labor, Public Health, Public Policy), the Sciences (Astronomy, Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Ecology, Engineering, Mathematicas, Medican Science, Biology, Neuroscience, Physics, Statistics), and the Social Sciences (Archeology, Anthropology, Economics, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology, Scoiology).
This study will entail descriptive, forward, and backward analysis:
There is no axe to grind here---the goal is to do as good an evaluation as possible. Each independent study should select one area, and do as good an evaluation as possible.
The independent studies will be Pass/Fail only.