Financial Economics
Introduction
The Master’s specialisation in Financial Economics is intended for students who are eager to take on an intellectual challenge and who want to pursue a career in financial economics, either in The Netherlands or in international financial centre’s such as London or New York.
Financial economics plays an increasingly important role in economic life. Financial economics is a driving force behind corporations, markets and the modern economy. Without money to clear markets, equity prices signaling investment opportunities, debt to keep managers under control and derivatives to hedge risk exposures the world economy would grind to a halt.
The Master’s specialisation in Financial Economics focuses on two main themes: Corporate Finance and Investments. Important issues in Corporate Finance are the capital structure, company valuation and the management of financial risk. The Investments track focuses on asset pricing and the developing markets for financial instruments such as derivatives. Fascinating topics covered are the rise of private equity, asset pricing, asset management of pension funds, the abundant financial market anomalies, the increasing focus on behavioral finance and bidding games for acquisitions, and the rise of emerging markets. The Master’s specialisation aims to provide students with scientific theories and tools in the field of financial economics, and to equip them with knowledge and experience that will support them in an international career. It provides its students access to fascinating and excellent academic research and allows them to benefit from the extensive co-operation that exists between the ESE and leading players in the public and private sector.
The specialisation allows students to take advantage of the long-standing co-operation between the Finance group, the Accounting group and the Economics department of the Erasmus School of Economics.Because of the relatively large numbers of applicants for this Master’s specialisation, we are able to offer a large variety of topics. You are free to select your own combination of courses and seminars from the two tracks to match your personal interests.
Facts
Below you see an overview of the key facts of the Master's specialisation in Financial Economics:
Start | September 2012 |
Duration | Full-Time (1 year) |
ECTS | 60 |
Language | English |
Programme Coordinator | Prof. Dr. H.T.J. Smit |
Title | MSc |
Study Association |
Curriculum
Below you see an overview of the curriculum of the Master's specialisation in Financial Economics:
Courses | Student Workload |
Four core courses, to be chosen from: | 16 ECTS credits |
1 Elective, to be chosen from: | 4 ECTS credits |
Two seminars, to be chosen from: | 24 ECTS credits |
Master’s thesis | 16 ECTS credits |
Programme | 60 ECTS credits |
The Master’s specialisation consists of core courses, electives, seminars and a Master’s thesis distributed over five blocks of eight weeks. Core courses and electives help you to get acquainted with a wide range of topics that are essential for financial economics, and provide you with a solid background for attending the seminars. Seminars are the most important component of the Master’s specialisation. For these intensive courses, active participation and commitment is a prerequisite. You are expected to present pieces of the literature or case applications, ask questions, express doubts and share your ideas in class discussions. The specialisation allows you to elect from the available seminars in corporate finance and investments. The last block of the specialisation is devoted to the Master’s thesis. The thesis is written individually under close supervision by one of our academic staff members.
For more information about the specialisation please go to this website and select your specialisation.
Application and Admission
The application and admission procedure differs for Dutch university students, HBO students and international students. Please click on this link and then choose to which group you belong and you will be directed to the correct application and admission procedure.
Career prospects
Upon successful completion of the Master’s specialisation in Financial Economics, students will find that they have excellent career prospects, either in the Netherlands or abroad.Recent financial economic developments have kept demand for well-educated financial economists high. Excellent career opportunities exist within multinational corporations, banks, private equity houses, insurance companies, asset management institutions and government institutions such as central banks and budget offices.
Finance Group
For information about the Finance Group at the Erasmus University please visit our website at http://www.finbel.nl.
