Catalogue

Economics and Finance

economics.bard.edu/econfinance

Faculty

 Sanjaya DeSilva (director), Kris Feder, Liudmila Malyshava, Michael Martell, Aniruddha Mitra, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Leanne Ussher, L. Randall Wray

Overview

The Bard Economics and Finance Program, established in the fall of 2007, is a five-year BS/BA dual-degree program. Students receive both a BS degree in economics and finance and a BA degree in an academic program other than economics. The program is designed to meet the needs of students who wish to achieve a broad education in the liberal arts and sciences even as they prepare themselves for careers in the financial world.

Requirements

The BS/BA program requires 160 credits; the student must fulfill all general educational requirements of the College’s BA program. The BS degree will not be awarded unless the student also receives the BA degree. However, a student may elect to step out of the program, continuing in the BA program. Hence, the dual-degree program is structured to allow all requirements for the BA to be met within four years. 

Candidates for the dual degree must complete 56 credits in economics and finance, comprising the core courses of the program: Principles of Economics; Foundations of Finance and Investments; Money and Banking; Intermediate Microeconomics; Mathematical Economics; Accounting; Industrial Organization; Introduction to Econometrics; Seminar in International Economics; Advanced Econometrics; Contemporary Developments in Finance; and Corporate Finance.

Students are required to complete a Senior Project relating to finance.

Recent Senior Projects in Economics and Finance

• “The Closed-End Fund Paradox in Country Funds: A Conventional and Behavioral Perspective”
• “Forecasting Error in the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Economic Assumptions”
• “A Microdata Analysis of the Gender Pay Gap in South Korea”
• “Testing the Predictive Power of Equity Valuation Metrics: A Minskyan Approach” 

Accounting
Economics and Finance 190
This course surveys financial and managerial accounting. The concepts and methods of financial accounting following generally accepted accounting principles and the effects of alternative principles on the measurement of periodic income and financial status are covered. Recent changes in accounting methods such as those stimulated by manufacturing advances are examined, as are concerns about ethical standards.

Foundations of Finance and Investments 
Economics and Finance 291 / Economics 291
This course explores the foundations of the pricing of financial instruments, and the structure and organization of financial markets. Methods are developed to analyze and measure financial performance, price stocks and bonds, evaluate portfolios, and understand financial derivatives as they relate to financial data. Additional topics include the investment decision-making process, trading practices, risk assessment, and diversification. This course involves a substantial amount of statistical analysis and calculation, but no prior knowledge of statistics is required.

Corporate Finance
Economics and Finance 391 / Economics 391
See Economics 391 for a full course description.