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 Fields
FINANCE
OVERVIEW
The PhD Program in Finance at the Schulich School of Business is primarily a research-based program. It intends to train students to become productive scholars and teachers who can be placed at research-oriented universities upon graduation. The PhD program normally takes four to five years to complete. The actual length of study depends strongly on each student’s academic background, exact thesis topic and outside commitments.
COURSEWORK
Preparatory requirements
It is highly recommended that students also take at least one of the following courses:
Core course requirements
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Qualifying Requirements and Minor Field Requirements
All PhD Students are required to have two minor fields. The minor fields for finance PhD students are economics and mathematics.
To prepare students for the material covered in their 7000-level finance courses, students are required to take the two microeconomics and the two econometrics courses listed above in the first year of their PhD program. These courses will satisfy the requirements for the minor field in economics. In the second year of the program, students should take the two courses in macroeconomics.
The second minor field consists of two courses from the mathematics department: Stochastic Process and Stochastic Calculus in Finance. These should be taken in the first year also.
With the permission of the Finance Area PhD coordinator, students may be exempted from some of the above courses if they have been completed satisfactorily in an equivalent program. The Finance Area PhD coordinator has the discretion to waive and/or modify course requirements depending on course scheduling and other institutional factors. For example, if a particular course is not offered in a given semester, or an alternative course better-fits the students’ specific needs, the Finance Area Ph.D. coordinator might recommend deviating from the above list.
Major Field Requirements
Finance PhD students are required to complete five MBA-level courses and three required finance PhD courses to satisfy their major field requirement. These courses ensure that students have a mastery of the body of knowledge and that students will have class contact with a variety of faculty that can serve on thesis committees.
Students are required to achieve a minimum grade of B in all courses (unless there are unique extenuating circumstances) with an A- average to maintain full financial support. If a grade is less than B, students will be given one chance to retake the course. If the second attempt fails for a course in the major field, students are required to withdraw from the program. To ensure students’ progress, the Finance area will evaluate each student at the end of each academic year. The Finance Ph.D. coordinator will communicate the evaluation results to each student.
Comprehensive Examination
The comprehensive examination is implemented with two steps. First, it requires students to present a “second-year” paper with original innovative research. This paper can be developed from either of their term papers for FINE7200 (Topics in Finance I) and FINE7300 (Topics in Finance II). The presentation should be conducted before May 31 of the second year and will be graded by the finance area Ph.D. committee. A pass/fail grade and a written evaluation will be provided to students within two weeks of the presentation.
After successful completion of the paper and presentation, the student will be allowed to write the comprehensive examination.
The comprehensive exam is offered once a year. Students are expected to complete the exam by the end of the second year or the beginning of the third year (normally between June and September). This exam is designed to ensure that students have a breadth of knowledge in finance. If the first attempt is unsuccessful, the student will be allowed to rewrite the exam within 6 months. If the second attempt fails, students are required to withdraw from the program.
The Dissertation
Students are required to select a supervisor and to form a supervisory committee by the end of the third year. The committee normally consists of a supervisor and two other members of the graduate faculty. The candidate is expected to meet with the committee frequently during the dissertation period.
By the end of the third year, students are required to submit a one page summary and a preliminary paper to the thesis committee and present the paper in the finance workshop. The summary should outline the topic and research question, the data needed, if any, and the research methodology. The preliminary paper can be viewed as the evidence of proper progress toward the thesis. At this stage, students should have a very good idea of how to create, structure and present a complete academic paper.
To enhance prospects for successful job placement, students are required to present their job market paper in the finance area seminar prior to going on the market.
Additional Requirements
First, students are required to be in residence for the first two years of the Ph.D. program. Also, since all students are supported by a financial award, they should not spend an extended period of time away from the Schulich School unless their thesis research calls for such an absence. This requirement continues for all years in which students receive a financial award.
Second, students must work as research assistants for the first three years in order to receive the financial support. This is a necessary experience to prepare students for their dissertation.
Third, all students are required to attend the finance workshop. When they are at the dissertation stage, students – who are now officially Ph.D. candidates – are expected to actively dialogue – both formally in seminars and informally - with other area members within the confines of their dissertation. In addition, students should plan to attend – and try to present their research at the well-known academic conferences such as the Northern Finance Association, the Financial Management Association, the American Finance Association and the Western Finance Association. They may also be asked to help review manuscripts and journal articles by editors and associate editors.
Finally, students are required to teach one finance course before they go on the job market. This will help students to accumulate teaching experience which is an important ability to acquire in order to have a successful academic career.
SUMMARY OF STAGES IN THE PhD PROGRAM
Prior to Entering Program
Students complete pre-qualifying requirements.
First Year and Second Year
Students complete the required course work in the first two years. By the end of the second year, students will complete a paper which will be presented in the finance workshop during the summer. Upon successful completion of the presentation, students are allowed to write the comprehensive exam.
Third Year
Students form thesis committee and defend their dissertation proposal. The defense consists of presenting a complete paper and outlining the ideas for the remaining dissertation.
Fourth Year (or Fifth Year if needed)
Candidates present their completed job market paper in the finance area workshop. They teach at least one finance course before going on the academic job market.
FACULTY MEMBERS AND THEIR RESEARCH INTERESTS
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| Melanie Cao | equilibrium, asset pricing, derivatives, CEO compensations, banking and IPO | |
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| Ming Dong | stock valuation; return predictability; under- and over-reaction of the stock market; asset pricing | |
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| Mark Kamstra | asset pricing, empirical finance, behavourial finance, financial asset valuation | |
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Elizabeth Maynes
| experimental economics and finance; corporate finance | |
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Moshe-Ayre Milevsky
Personal website | exotic option pricing; mortality contingent claims; financial planning and risk management; personal insurance | |
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| Debarshi Nandy | IPOs, venture capital and investment banking, SEOs, convertible securities, corporate restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and financial intermediation | |
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| Eli Prisman | applications (commercial, academic, and methodological) of symbolic (MAPLE V) and numerical (MATLAB) computations to financial models and financial engineering; arbitrage pricing and valuation operators in markets with frictions; tax affects in the derivative and bond markets | |
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| Gordon Roberts | financial institutions; duration models; valuation of fixed income securities | |
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Pauline M. Shum
Personal website | asset allocation; corporate investment; capital structure; pension design and reform | |
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| Yisong Sam Tian | derivatives and financial engineering; executive compensation; asset pricing; capital market efficiency | |
RECENT DISSERTATION TOPICS
| 2005 | Li Hao | Three Essays on Bank Loans |
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| 2002 | Kamphol Paryagometh | Three Essays on Bank Failure Resolution Policies, Subordinated Debt, and Loan Syndications |
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| 2002 | Xingnong (Kevin) Zhu | Essays on market efficiency and portfolio performance measures |
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| 2001 | Aron Gottesman | Essays on reputational signalling in corporate finance and banking |
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| 2000 | Sebouh Aintablian | Market reaction to corporate loan announcements and mergers of financial institutions: The Canadian evidence |
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| 1999 | Ioulia Ioffe | Implied valuation operators: the debt market. |
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| 1999 | Gady Jacoby | Three essays on defaultable fixed-income securities. |
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1998
| Scott Anderson | Unlimited liability: Its impact on security prices, investors’ decisions and capital structure. |
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| 1998 | Kenneth Stanton | Efficiency issues in banking: Reassessment in an evolving industry |
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| 1998 | Alan Kaplan | Essays on financing decisions: Redemption features and the joint capital structure/debt maturity decision |
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| 1997 | Narat Charupat | Essays on financial innovations |
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| 1996 | Alexandra Mackay | Valuation operators in incomplete markets. |
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| 1996 | Moshe-Ayre Milevsky | Essays on hedging and pricing derivative securities with taxes |
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| 1995 | Andrew Aziz | Essays on index-linked bonds |
CURRENT PHD STUDENTS
For the students’ names, e-mail addresses and webpages, click here
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