Economics / Finance Joint Honours Component (B.A.) (60 credits)
Offered by: Management (Desautels Faculty of Management)
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Program credit weight: 60
Program Description
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: http://www.mcgill.ca/economics/undergraduates/honours. 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 http://www.mcgill.ca/economics/undergraduates/honours.
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 Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours./ECON 250D2 Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours., 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.
Degree Requirements — B.A. students
To be eligible for a B.A. degree, a student must fulfil all Faculty and program requirements as indicated in Degree Requirements for the Faculty of Arts.
We recommend that students consult an Arts OASIS advisor for degree planning.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Program Prerequisites (0-10 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MATH 133 | Linear Algebra and Geometry. 1 | 3 |
Linear Algebra and Geometry. Terms offered: Summer 2025 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. | ||
| MATH 140 | Calculus 1. 2 | 3 |
Calculus 1. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Review of functions and graphs. Limits, continuity, derivative. Differentiation of elementary functions. Antidifferentiation. Applications. | ||
| MATH 141 | Calculus 2. 2 | 4 |
Calculus 2. Terms offered: Summer 2025 The definite integral. Techniques of integration. Applications. Introduction to sequences and series. | ||
- 1
Or equivalent (to be taken prior to U2)
- 2
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: http://www.mcgill.ca/economics/undergraduates/courses/. Students who have taken equivalent statistics courses may be waived the ECON 257D1 Economic Statistics - Honours./ECON 257D2 Economic Statistics - Honours. requirement. These students will normally be required to take ECON 469 Econometrics 2 - Honours. in addition to ECON 468 Econometrics 1 - Honours..
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ECON 250D1 | Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours. | 3 |
Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| ECON 250D2 | Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours. | 3 |
Introduction to Economic Theory: Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. See ECON 250D1 for course description. | ||
| ECON 257D1 | Economic Statistics - Honours. | 3 |
Economic Statistics - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| ECON 257D2 | Economic Statistics - Honours. | 3 |
Economic Statistics - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. See ECON 257D1 for course description. | ||
| ECON 353 | Macroeconomics - Honours 1 . | 3 |
Macroeconomics - Honours 1 . Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Basic macroeconomic theory, emphasizing the Classical and Keynesian ideas for the short-run determination of output, employment, interest rates and prices in the economy. | ||
| ECON 354 | Macroeconomics - Honours 2. | 3 |
Macroeconomics - Honours 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Elements of international economics, money and banking and growth theory. The structure of the Canadian economy. | ||
| ECON 450 | Advanced Economic Theory 1 - Honours. | 3 |
Advanced Economic Theory 1 - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Selected topics in economic theory from recent periodical and monograph literature. | ||
| ECON 452 | Advanced Economic Theory 2 - Honours. | 3 |
Advanced Economic Theory 2 - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Selected topics in economic theory from recent periodical and monograph literature. | ||
| ECON 468 | Econometrics 1 - Honours. | 3 |
Econometrics 1 - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
Finance
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 342 | Corporate Finance. | 3 |
Corporate Finance. Terms offered: Summer 2025 In-depth study of corporate finance, risk, diversification, portfolio analysis, and capital market theory. | ||
| FINE 441 | Investment Management. | 3 |
Investment Management. Terms offered: Summer 2025 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. | ||
| FINE 443 | Applied Corporate Finance. | 3 |
Applied Corporate Finance. Terms offered: Summer 2025 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. | ||
| FINE 547 | Advanced Finance Seminar. | 3 |
Advanced Finance Seminar. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| MGCR 211 | Introduction to Financial Accounting. | 3 |
Introduction to Financial Accounting. Terms offered: Summer 2025 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. | ||
| MGCR 341 | Introduction to Finance. | 3 |
Introduction to Finance. Terms offered: Summer 2025 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. | ||
Notes:
- Three of the 6 credits for ECON 250 are counted in the Management Core, where it replaces MGCR 293 Managerial Economics..
- Three of the 6 credits for ECON 257 are counted in the Core, where it replaces MGCR 271 Business Statistics..
- Three of the 6 credits for ECON 353 Macroeconomics - Honours 1 . and ECON 354 Macroeconomics - Honours 2. are counted in the Core, where it replaces ECON 295 Macroeconomic Policy..
Complementary Courses (15 credits)
Economics
3 credits selected from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ECON 460 | History of Thought 1 - Honours. | 3 |
History of Thought 1 - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| ECON 461 | History of Thought 2 - Honours. | 3 |
History of Thought 2 - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| ECON 469 | Econometrics 2 - Honours. | 3 |
Econometrics 2 - Honours. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
Finance
6 credits selected from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 442 | Capital Markets and Institutions. | 3 |
Capital Markets and Institutions. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| FINE 448 | Financial Derivatives. | 3 |
Financial Derivatives. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| FINE 449 | Risk Management in Finance. | 3 |
Risk Management in Finance. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| FINE 451 | Fixed Income Analysis. | 3 |
Fixed Income Analysis. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| FINE 452 | Applied Quantitative Finance. | 3 |
Applied Quantitative Finance. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
6 credits from any undergraduate FINE course.