text: This chapter presents the specific degree requirements (to add to the general requirements discussed in Chapter 1) for a Ph.D. in the finance area. Each finance doctoral student must review the requirements listed in this chapter with the Ph.D. area advisor in finance.
  Financial economics studies how investors determine the value of assets in financial markets (asset pricing), how firms allocate their resources and make financial decisions (corporate finance), and how financial institutions and markets facilitate financial transactions (financial intermediation). Topics in finance include: portfolio management, pricing of assets and contingent-claims, the theory of the firm, financial risk management, the role of financial markets and institutions, corporate investment and financing decisions, and others. The main goal of the finance doctoral program is to train students to do high-quality research in any of these areas and to prepare them for a career as a professor of finance at top academic research institutions. To achieve this goal, Ph.D. students are required to take courses in economics, statistics, econometrics, and finance, and to write research papers examining important and relevant issues in financial economics.
  During the student's first year, he or she must take a minimum of four courses per semester. The student is required to take at least 6 credits of BUSI 524 - Advanced Topics in Finance.
  The student is expected to attend all research seminars organized in the finance area during the student's tenure in the Ph.D. program. Moreover, during the second and third years, the student must formally register for the finance research seminar and attend presentations of faculty members from other business schools who visit JGS to present their research. The student must write a short summary and critical comments on two papers presented in the research seminar during the semester. These reviews are to be submitted to the area advisor and will be graded by a subset of area faculty for a Pass/Fail grade.
  Students must have a Jones School finance faculty member who has agreed to serve as their dissertation advisor by the end of the spring semester of their third year in the program. Exam Requirements
  Students must successfully pass a comprehensive exam in microeconomics administered by the economics faculty at the end of the first year. Students must successfully pass a comprehensive exam administered by the finance faculty at the end of the second year. The exam will be administered and graded by finance faculty, under the supervision of the finance area advisor. The exam is focused on the coursework taken in finance and also measures the student's knowledge of the area as a whole. A successful performance in the exam will demonstrate the student's competency in finance and provide the foundation from which he or she begins the research that will form the basis of the dissertation.
  Third-Year Research PaperEach student must write and present a solo-authored original research paper at a workshop during their third year in the program. The paper must be presented by the end of the fall semester of the student's third year in the program. The specific procedures are as follows:
  (1) By May 1st of the student's second year in the program, a student must submit a copy of the Third-Year Paper Topic Approval Form to the Finance area advisor, signed by two JGSB faculty members, who approve the topic and agree to serve as readers of the paper. If, at any point, the student changes topics, the student must get faculty approval for the new topic and submit a new form to the Ph.D. area advisor.(2) A student must submit a detailed outline of the paper and a copy of the Third-Year Paper Outline Approval Form, signed by the two faculty readers, to the Finance area advisor by July 15 following the student's second year in the program. The outline for an empirical paper should include: (1) the research hypothesis, 2) motivation for the research hypothesis, (3) description of the data, (4) description of the empirical tests, and (5) the expected contribution to the literature. The outline for an analytical paper should include: (1) the basic phenomenon under study, (2) the economic setting, (3) the modeling approach, (4) the fundamental assumptions, and (5) the expected contribution to the literature. The outline should also include references to the related literature investigating the research topic and to any studies underpinning the analytical methods to be used.(3) A student must submit a copy of the completed third-year paper to the Finance Faculty advisor and to the two faculty readers by October 15 of the student's third year in the program.(4) A student's two faculty readers must affirm that the paper is satisfactory by November 1 of the student's third year in the program. The faculty readers will notify the Finance Faculty advisor to the Ph.D. program by submitting the Third-Year Paper Evaluation Form.(5) A student must present the third-year paper at a research workshop at a date chosen by the faculty during the fall semester of the student's third year in the program and at least one of the faculty readers must be present and sign the Third-Year Paper Presentation Form, stating that the presentation is acceptable.Failure to complete the Third-Year Paper requirement, as outlined above, will mean that the student is not making satisfactory academic progress in the Ph.D. Program and is grounds for dismissal from the doctoral program.
  Sample Course Sequence The course curriculum is designed around a challenging course of study in both the theory of financial economics and in cutting edge empirical work. Here is a sample course sequence for a doctoral student in finance. BUSI 524, 525, 526, and 527 are half-semester courses on special topics in finance offered biennially.
  Year 1 AugustQuantitative Methods ReviewWorkshop in Statistical Computing and Research
  ECON 501 - Microeconomic Theory IECON 504 - Advanced Economic StatisticsECON 507 - Mathematical Economics IBUSI 521 - Asset Pricing TheoryWorkshop in Statistical Computing and Research Year 1 - Spring
  ECON 508 - Microeconomic Theory IIECON 510 - Econometrics IBUSI 522 - Corporate FinanceBUSI 532 - Analytical Research in AccountingWorkshop in Statistical Computing and Research
  BUSI 524 or BUSI 525BUSI 523 - Empirical Methods in FinanceECON 511 - Econometrics IIECON 502 - Macroeconomics I
  BUSI 526 or BUSI 527ECON 579 - Topics in EconometricsECON 503 - Macroeconomics II
  Course substitutions are possible with the approval of the area advisor, and there are opportunities for taking elective courses. Possible elective courses include the following.
  BUSI 504 - Game Theory
  BUSI 530 - Introduction to Accounting Research
  BUSI 531 - Empirical Methods in Accounting
  ECON 514 - Industrial Organization and ControlECON 516 - Empirical Microeconomics
  CAAM 453 - Numerical Analysis ICAAM 454 - Numerical Analysis IICAAM 560 - Optimization Theory
  STAT 650 - Stochastic Differential Equations Course Descriptions
  BUSI 521: Asset Pricing TheoryThis course is an introduction to portfolio choice and asset pricing theory. Topics include expected utility maximization, stochastic discount factors, arbitrage, mean-variance analysis, representative investors, and beta-pricing models. Single-period and dynamic models are studied.BUSI 522: Corporate FinanceThe purpose of this course is to provide a background for understanding the major research directions in corporate finance. Topics include theory of the rm, capital structure, external financing decisions, payout policy, agency problems, corporate control and governance, investment decisions, and the role of financial institutions in corporate transactions.BUSI 523: Empirical Methods in FinanceThis course is an introduction to empirical research in finance, covering the techniques most often used in the analysis and testing of financial economic theory. The course covers both time-series and cross section methods. Topics include event studies, empirical tests of asset pricing models, forecasting relationships, return predictability in the time-series and cross-section, asset pricing anomalies, and specification and identification issues in corporate financeBUSI 524, 525, 526, 527: Advanced Topics in FinanceThese are half-semester courses covering various topics in financial economics.
  Certification of Candidacy indicates that a student has reached the advanced stage of the Ph.D. Program, permitting him/her to devote full time to writing a dissertation. At least eight months must elapse between admission to candidacy and conferral of the degree. The requirements for candidacy are: (1) Successful completion of the course work requirements,(2) Successful completion of the examination requirements. The Rice MBA ProgramsMBA Full Time ProgramMBA for Professionals ProgramMBA for Executives ProgramREEPPhD in BusinessJoint Graduate ProgramsUndergraduate Business Minor Faculty & Research Academic AreasFaculty DirectoryFaculty ExpertsFaculty RecruitingExecutive Education