Financial markets “grease the wheels” of the economy. The banking sector finances the entrepreneurs, who then build all that we have and enjoy on daily basis. The B.Econ. Honours Concentration in Financial Economics provides a rigorous and intensive grounding in financial economics. This concentration is recommended to individuals who plan to pursue a career in the financial sector, such as, banking, insurance, or consulting, where strong background in economics, in addition to finance and accounting, is required.
The B.Econ. Honours Concentration in Financial Economics can be completed via one of two streams, which vary in terms of the relative proportions of constituent economics (ECON) and business (BUSI) courses. Stream I is geared toward economics courses in 6-to-2 ratio and offers a more conceptual perspective on finance. Stream II is geared toward business courses in ratio of 0-to-8 and offers more pragmatic perspective on finance. Normally students begin the concentration in the second year with a pair of foundational courses in accounting. In the third year, students choose a stream by either taking a course in financial economics (ECON 3050) or a pair of business finance courses (BUSI 2504 and BUSI 2505). These provide a gateway to advanced-level courses in financial economics and business finance respectively. The choice of a stream largely depends on the individual student’s inclination towards economics or business approach to finance.
Students looking to gain additional quantitative training may choose to combine the B.Econ. Honours Concentration in Financial Economics with the B.Econ Honours Concentration in Economic Data Science, the combination of which will provide students with a strong and broad set of technical skills generally sought by the employers.
Recommended Course Patterns
Stream I: primarily economics courses
| Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | |||
| Fall | Winter | Fall | Winter | Fall | Winter |
| BUSI 1001 † | BUSI 1002 ‡ | ECON 3050 | ECON 4051 | ||
| ECON 4052 | |||||
| 1.5 credits from: ECON 3602 or ECON 4602, ECON 3607, ECON 4053, ECON 4056, ECON 4057, PSCI 4805 | |||||
| Concentration and (non-concentration) elective courses may be re-distributed to some extent across years. As a general rule, students should schedule concentration courses first and elective courses second for a given year. | |||||
Stream II: all business courses
| Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | |||
| Fall | Winter | Fall | Winter | Fall | Winter |
| BUSI 1001 † | BUSI 1002 ‡ | BUSI 2504 | BUSI 2505 | BUSI 3500 | BUSI 4500 or BUSI 4502 |
| BUSI 3502 | |||||
| BUSI 3512 | |||||
| Concentration and (non-concentration) elective courses may be re-distributed to some extent across years. As a general rule, students should schedule concentration courses first and elective courses second for a given year. | |||||
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* BUSI 2504 and BUSI 2505 are not counted as part of the concentration unless either BUSI 4500 or BUSI 4502 is included. As prerequisites for BUSI 3500, BUSI 3502, and BUSI 3512, however, BUSI 2504 and BUSI 2505 must be taken by students pursuing Stream II and will be counted among their non-Major electives not in Economics or free electives.
† Instead of BUSI 1001, students may use BUSI 1004.
‡ Instead of BUSI 1002, students may use BUSI 1005.
*Please note registration in BUSI 1004 and BUSI 1005 is restricted to students in the Sprott School of Business