Specialization in Finance & Policy

The Center for Economic Policy seeks to educate students and wider audiences about economic policy and markets, providing students with training in economic tools to analyze the regulatory and legal framework in which markets operate. Markets and government policies regulating them have always been central to economic growth, social welfare, and civil society, with policy decisions and legal frameworks inextricably tied to economic outcomes.

Whether it is the government debt consolidation undertaken by the South Sea Company (and Bank of England) in the early 1700s or the rise in mortgage debt and the 2008 financial crisis, financial markets and their functioning are inextricably linked with both household behavior and larger economic outcomes and policy decisions. The core Specialization courses teach basic finance tools necessary for understanding financial instruments and markets. Electives provide a broader range of topics related to household finance, international finance, and banking.

Learning Outcomes

Harris students earning the specialization often go into either the government financial sector (state & local government or central banking) or the private financial sector. Both place a high premium on the following skills and attributes:

• Subject-area or field knowledge: Knowledge and familiarity with financial markets, financial instruments, and finance theory

• Analytical and quantitative skills: Data analytics, statistics, programming

• Practical application of the knowledge and skills to real-world situations

This specialization teaches the field knowledge but also builds on the substantive analytic training that all Harris students acquire in their core statistics and economics courses, while trying to focus on the practical applications.

Harris specializations function as areas of focus within the degree. Specializations assume knowledge of the 6-course Harris Core and build upon that foundation with coursework in specific policy areas or technical skills.

Application Process

The specialization is open to Harris Public Policy graduate students only. Please indicate your intent to pursue this specialization using the Harris Specialization Declaration Form.

For specialization registration questions, please reach out to harrisregistration@uchicago.edu.

Planning for the Specialization

For information on which quarter(s) each course will be offered see the Harris Courses page and filter by specialization. 

Specialization Requirements

The specialization requires completion of two required courses, along with one additional elective course. Students must achieve at least a B- grade in each course. No specialization course may be taken on a pass/fail grading basis.

Required course

Students must complete one of the following courses to fulfill the requirement:

• PPHA 36101 Financial Investments for Public Policy
• PPHA 42510 Applied Financial Management 
• BUSN 35000 Investments (must submit substitution form)
• BUSN 35001 Introductory Finance (must submit substitution form)
  • note: can only satisfy one of the requirements

Required course

Students must complete one of the following courses to fulfill the requirement:

• PPHA 34410 Corporate Finance 
• BUSN 35001 Introductory Finance (must submit substitution form)
  • note: can only satisfy one of the requirements
• BUSN 35200 Corporate Finance (must submit substitution form)

Elective courses

Students must complete one of the following courses to fulfill the requirement:

• PPHA 34500 Macroeconomics for Public Policy
• PPHA 35310 International Trade, Banking and Capital Markets
• PPHA 36150 Environmental, Social, Corporate Governance, and Impact Investing
• PPHA 42521 History of Financial Crises
• PPHA 42535 Banking Regulation and Management
• PPHA 60000 Policy Lab (with permission of the Specialization Director)
• BUSN 30000 Financial Accounting
• BUSN 30131 Advanced Financial Analysis and Valuation of Global Firms
• BUSN 33050 Macroeconomics and the Business Environment
• BUSN 33502 International Financial Policy
• BUSN 34101 Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity
• BUSN 35126 Quantitative Portfolio Management
• BUSN 35201 Cases in Financial Management
• BUSN 35210 International Corporate Finance
• BUSN 35214 Debt Distress & Restructuring
• FINM 32600 Computing for Finance in C++
• Not offered in 2024-2025
  • PPHA 34241 Household Finance: Theory and Application 
  • PPHA 39404 Inequality, Household Finance, and Tax Policy

Recommended Co-Curricular Activity

• Students are recommended to attend two events in the “Harris Speakers on Economic Policy and Markets” or “History of Chicago Economics” speaker series during their second year.

Specialization Contact

Thomas Coleman, Specialization Director