Program Requirements
The B.A. Joint Honours in Economics and Finance is offered jointly by the Economics Department and the Desautels Faculty of Management. Students in this program should see an Economics adviser and a Management adviser. For the economics part, they should consult: . For the current list of advisers in Economics and their advising times, see the website of the Department of Economics. For the Management component of this Joint Honours program, students should see the Honours program adviser in the Desautels Faculty of Management.
All Joint Honours students should consult the Economics Honours and Joint Honours programs at .
The B.A. Joint Honours in Economics and Finance requires the completion of 30 specified credits of Honours Economics courses listed in the Economics Honours Program and 30 specified credits for Finance. This program is designed to take advantage of both McGill's Finance and Economics course offerings to produce a student who is well trained in these two complementary areas. To enter this Joint Honours program, students must have completed two terms of Calculus.
Continuation from one year to the next in the Economics part of this Joint Honours program requires a minimum grade of B- in ECON 250D1/D2, and a minimum B- average in the required and complementary Honours Economics courses.
For the Economics component, a student must also obtain a 3.00 GPA in the required courses, a 3.00 average in the required and complementary credits in Economics, and a CGPA of 3.00. For a First Class Honours degree, the minimum requirements are a 3.50 program GPA in the required courses, a 3.50 average in the required and complementary credits in Economics, and a CGPA of 3.50. In cases where a student takes a Supplemental Exam in a course, both the initial and the Supplemental Exam grades will be counted in the calculation of the GPA and CGPA averages.
For the Management part of this program, students also have to meet the requirements of the Faculty of Management for Honours and First Class Honours.
To earn the Honours in Economics and Finance, the Faculty of Management requires that students must achieve a grade of B- or better in all courses in the Finance component of this program.
Program Prerequisites (0-10 credits)
-
MATH 133 Linear Algebra and Geometry (3 credits) *
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Systems of linear equations, matrices, inverses, determinants; geometric vectors in three dimensions, dot product, cross product, lines and planes; introduction to vector spaces, linear dependence and independence, bases. Linear transformations. Eigenvalues and diagonalization.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Macdonald, Jeremy; Ayala, Miguel; Branchereau, Romain; Giard, Antoine (Fall) Pinet, Théo (Winter)
3 hours lecture, 1 hour tutorial
Prerequisite: a course in functions
Restriction(s): 1) Not open to students who have taken CEGEP objective 00UQ or equivalent. 2) Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 123, except by permission of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
-
MATH 140 Calculus 1 (3 credits) **
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of functions and graphs. Limits, continuity, derivative. Differentiation of elementary functions. Antidifferentiation. Applications.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Sabok, Marcin; Trudeau, Sidney; Kalmykov, Artem (Fall) Huang, Peiyuan; Trudeau, Sidney (Winter)
3 hours lecture, 1 hour tutorial
Prerequisite: High School Calculus
Restriction(s): 1) Not open to students who have taken MATH139 or MATH 150 or CEGEP objective 00UN or equivalent. 2) Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 122, except by permission of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
Each Tutorial section is enrolment limited
-
MATH 141 Calculus 2 (4 credits) **
Overview
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : The definite integral. Techniques of integration. Applications. Introduction to sequences and series.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Hassan, Hazem; Trudeau, Sidney; Zlotchevski, Andrei (Fall) Trudeau, Sidney; Poulin, Antoine; Syroka, Bartosz (Winter)
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken CEGEP objective 00UP or equivalent.
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 122,except by permission of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
Each Tutorial section is enrolment limited
* Or equivalent (to be taken prior to U2)
** Or equivalent
Required Courses (45 credits)
Economics
Please refer to the Department's document "Rules on Stats Courses for Economics Students" available on the following website: . Students who have taken equivalent statistics courses may be waived the ECON 257D1/ECON 257D2 requirement. These students will normally be required to take ECON 469 in addition to ECON 468.
-
ECON 250D1 Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : An intermediate level microeconomics course. Includes theory of exchange, theory of consumer behaviour, theory of production and cost curves, theory of the firm, theory of distribution; general equilibrium and welfare economics. The assumptions underlying the traditional neo-classical approach to economic theory will be carefully specified.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Xue, Licun (Fall)
Students must register for both ECON 250D1 and ECON 250D2.
No credit will be given for this course unless both ECON 250D1 and ECON 250D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
-
ECON 250D2 Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : See ECON 250D1 for course description.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Dutta, Rohan (Winter)
Prerequisite: ECON 250D1
No credit will be given for this course unless both ECON 250D1 and ECON 250D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
-
ECON 257D1 Economic Statistics - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Stochastic phenomena; probability and frequency distributions, introduction to probability theory. Statistical inference about proportions, means and variances; analysis of variance; nonparametric statistics; index numbers and time series; economic forecasting; regression and correlation analysis; introduction to general linear models, its uses and limitations; uses and misuses of statistics.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Amodio, Francesco (Fall)
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken 154-357 or are taking ECON 217 or ECON 227.
Students must register for both ECON 257D1 and ECON 257D2.
No credit will be given for this course unless both ECON 257D1 and ECON 257D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
You may not be able to receive credit for this course and other statistic courses. Be sure to check the Course Overlap section under Faculty Degree Requirements in the Arts or Science section of the Calendar.
-
ECON 257D2 Economic Statistics - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : See ECON 257D1 for course description.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Dufour, Jean Marie (Winter)
Prerequisite: ECON 257D1
No credit will be given for this course unless both ECON 257D1 and ECON 257D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
You may not be able to receive credit for this course and other statistic courses. Be sure to check the Course Overlap section under Faculty Degree Requirements in the Arts or Science section of the Calendar.
-
ECON 353 Macroeconomics - Honours 1
(3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Basic macroeconomic theory, emphasizing the Classical and Keynesian ideas for the short-run determination of output, employment, interest rates and prices in the economy.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francisco (Fall)
Prerequisites: ECON 250D1/ECON 250D2
Corequisite: ECON 257D1
Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken ECON 352D1/D2.
-
ECON 354 Macroeconomics - Honours 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Elements of international economics, money and banking and growth theory. The structure of the Canadian economy.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francisco (Winter)
Prerequisite: ECON 353
Corequisite: ECON 257D2
Not open to students who have taken ECON 352D1/D2.
-
ECON 450 Advanced Economic Theory 1 - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Selected topics in economic theory from recent periodical and monograph literature.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Castro, Rui (Winter)
Prerequisites: ECON 250D1/ECON 250D2 and ECON 352D1/ECON 352D2
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken ECON 450D1 and ECON 450D2.
-
ECON 452 Advanced Economic Theory 2 - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Selected topics in economic theory from recent periodical and monograph literature.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Benchekroun, Hassan (Fall)
Prerequisites: ECON 250D1/ECON 250D2 and ECON 352D1/ECON 352D2
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken ECON 450D1 and ECON 450D2.
-
ECON 468 Econometrics 1 - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The statistical basis of econometric modelling and treatment of the linear regression model; simple time series models; procedures for inference in linear cases; an introduction to methods for dealing with endogeneity and non-constant variance.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Chaudhuri, Saraswata (Fall)
Prerequisite(s): ECON 257D1/D2 or permission of the instructor.
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken or are taking ECON 467D1/D2
Finance
-
FINE 342 Corporate Finance (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : In-depth study of corporate finance, risk, diversification, portfolio analysis, and capital market theory.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Beaumont, Paul; di Pietro, Vadim (Fall) Rivera, Thomas; Madan, Sujata (Winter) di Pietro, Vadim (Summer)
Prerequisite: MGCR 341
-
FINE 441 Investment Management (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : Application of investment principles and security analysis to the selection and comparison of equity and fixed income securities in the current economic and financial environment. Also covered are: determinants of stock prices, growth models and portfolio diversification.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Errunza, Vihang R; Croitoru, Benjamin (Fall) Goyenko, Russ; Hammami, Larbi (Winter)
Prerequisite: MGCR 341
-
FINE 443 Applied Corporate Finance (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : Concepts and techniques are applied to problems faced by managers in Corporate Finance, such as working capital management, capital budgeting, capital structure, dividend policy, cost of capital, and mergers and acquisition. Application of theory and techniques through case studies.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Hammami, Larbi (Fall) Weitzner, Gregory; Hammami, Larbi (Winter)
Prerequisite: FINE 342
-
FINE 547 Advanced Finance Seminar (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : Selected topics will be discussed by Faculty members, invited guest speakers, and the students. Each student is required to select a topic for study and prepare a written report for presentation.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Malkhozov, Aytek (Winter)
-
MGCR 211 Introduction to Financial Accounting (3 credits)
Overview
Management Core : The role of financial accounting in the reporting of the financial performance of a business. The principles, components and uses of financial accounting and reporting from a user's perspective, including the recording of accounting transactions and events, the examination of the elements of financial statements, the preparation of financial statements and the analysis of financial results.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Zhang, Jingjing; Lee, Dongyoung; Zhu, Yin (Fall) Roh, Yongoh; Zhu, Yin (Winter)
-
MGCR 341 Introduction to Finance (3 credits)
Overview
Management Core : An introduction to the principles, issues, and institutions of Finance. Topics include valuation, risk, capital investment, financial structure, cost of capital, working capital management, financial markets, and securities.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: di Pietro, Vadim (Fall) De Motta, Adolfo; di Pietro, Vadim (Winter) di Pietro, Vadim (Summer)
Corequisite: MGCR 271 or equivalent
Restriction: Not open to U0 students.
Notes:
1. Three of the 6 credits for ECON 250 are counted in the Management Core, where it replaces MGCR 293.
2. Three of the 6 credits for ECON 257 are counted in the Core, where it replaces MGCR 271.
3. Three of the 6 credits for ECON 353 and ECON 354 are counted in the Core, where it replaces ECON 295.
Complementary Courses (15 credits)
Economics
3 credits selected from the following:
-
ECON 460 History of Thought 1 - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The evolution of economic thought prior to the close of the 19th century, as reflected in the writings of prominent economists from the time of Adam Smith to the emergence of marginalism and neoclassical economics.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Strumpf, Erin (Winter)
Prerequisite: ECON 250
-
ECON 461 History of Thought 2 - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The evolution of economic thought in the 20th century, as reflected in the writings of prominent economists on equilibrium, dynamics, games, expectations, econometrics, industrial structure, economic policy and other primary areas of interest.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: ECON 250.
-
ECON 469 Econometrics 2 - Honours (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Treatment of asymptotic theory and classical inferential procedures, an introduction to the bootstrap, maximum likelihood, non-linear models, mis-specification testing, non-stationarity and limited dependent variable models.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Goncalves, Silvia (Winter)
Prerequisite: ECON 468
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken or are taking ECON 467D1/D2
Finance
6 credits selected from the following:
-
FINE 442 Capital Markets and Institutions (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : Functions of the capital market through flow of funds analysis and an examination of portfolio activities of financial intermediaries. Also covered are: securities regulations and ethical considerations, the term structure of interest rates and risk and rates of return in debt and equity markets.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Hammami, Larbi (Fall) Goldman, Jim (Winter)
Prerequisite: MGCR 341
-
FINE 448 Financial Derivatives (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : The course will concentrate on both the analytical and practical aspects of investments in options and futures. The first part of the course concentrates on option and futures valuation, considering both discrete and continuous time models. The second part of the course concentrates on the practical aspects of options and futures trading.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Summer 2025
Instructors: Ericsson, Jan Edvard (Fall) Malkhozov, Aytek (Winter)
-
FINE 449 Risk Management in Finance (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : Understanding, quantifying, and managing different types of financial risks. A broad overview of the tools required of someone pursuing a career in risk management, whether it is at a bank, an asset management fund, or a non-financial business. Topics include corporate hedging with derivatives, volatility and correlation modelling, non-normal distributions, Monte Carlo and historical simulations, liquidity risk, and capital requirements.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: di Pietro, Vadim (Fall)
-
FINE 451 Fixed Income Analysis (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : Fixed income financial instruments and their uses for both financial engineering and risk management (at the trading desk and aggregate firm level). This will involve coverage of fixed income mathematics, risk management concepts, term structure modeling, derivatives valuation and credit risk analysis.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: di Pietro, Vadim (Winter)
Prerequisite: FINE 441
-
FINE 452 Applied Quantitative Finance (3 credits)
Overview
Finance : The course is built around a series of practical applications (backtesting trading strategies, yield curve modelling, derivatives hedging) and consists of lab sessions where lectures are mixed with time and support for solving the tasks in Matlab. No programming experience is required, but a willingness to learn is.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Ericsson, Jan Edvard (Fall)
6 credits from any undergraduate FINE course.