What Kind of PhD Can You Get in Finance?
According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau survey of educational attainment, there were 2,793,000 Americans who hold a Ph.D. A small number of these students achieved a doctorate in finance, in one of its many specialties. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that in 2008 there were 250,600 workers employed as financial analysts and 14,600 employed as economists, many of whom have a Ph.D. in finance. There are several types and specialties of Ph.D. in finance.
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Economics
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If you would like to focus on economics, whether on small-scale microeconomics or national-scale macroeconomics, a finance Ph.D. with an emphasis in economics will provide you with several occupational choices. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, financial analysts, many of whom are employed in the private sector, average $86,040 annually. Other emphases in finance in the economics category include investment banking, international economic forecasting and corporate financial management.
Government
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There are several specialties and dissertation paths that go well with a Ph.D. in finance in a government job path. While some of these overlap private fields in course matter, they target government employment in a specific department. Public policy and health care administration specialties targeting government employment are available at several universities. Some schools offer resource-oriented finance specializations For instance, the Colorado School of Mines offers a Ph.D. in finance specializing in mineral and energy economics, targeting many government jobs in the field.
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Theory or Methods
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While all Finance and many Business Management degrees have a mathematical component to them, some finance doctorates specialize in mathematical or economic theory. These tend to be research-oriented and will perform means testing and economic theory modelling for public and private employers. The University of Western Ontario offers a Actuarial Science, Statistics and Probability, Stochastic Finance specialization. Boston University offers a similar Mathematical Finance program that combines theory and practice in finance.
Other Types
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Some schools, such as the University of Essex and University of Birmingham, combine an accounting doctorate with one in finance. Others, such as Barry University and the University of Arizona, combine an MBA with the Ph.D. in finance to train a corporate manager. Others, such as Texas A&M add a real estate component to the finance doctorate. Management is applied as a specialty in several schools, such as Boston College, Walden University and Queen's University, in Ontario, Canada. Other finance specialties focus on creating finance instructors, such as those at Università Della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, Switzerland.
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