Public Policy and Finance Track

In the 2014-15 academic year, a public policy and finance track was added to the popular undergraduate certificate in finance offered by the Bendheim Center for Finance.

The certificate program offers Princeton undergraduates concentrating in any department the opportunity to earn a certificate that attests to their proficiency in the discipline of finance.  Students that select the public policy and finance track will study the interaction between finance and policy, including public finance, response to financial crisis, central banking, and decision making.  

Relevant courses for this track include:

  • ECO361: Financial Accounting
  • ECO491: Cases in Financial Risk Management
  • ECO492: The Rise of Asian Capital Markets
  • ECO493: Financial Crises
  • WWS340/PSY321: Psychology of Decision Making/Judgement
  • WWS466/HIS467: Financial History
  • WWS582f: Topics in Econ – House of Debt: Understanding Macro & Financial Policy

The certificate program in finance has four major requirements:

First, there are prerequisites in mathematics, economics, probability, and statistics, as necessary for the study of finance at a sophisticated level. Advance planning is essential as these courses should be completed prior to the junior year.

Second, two required core courses provide an integrated overview and background in modern finance:

  • ECO 362: Financial Investments
  • ECO 363: Corporate Finance and Financial Institutions.

Third, students are required to take three elective courses.

Fourth, a significant piece of independent work must relate to issues or methods of finance. This takes the form of a senior thesis, or for non-ECO or ORF majors only, if there is no possibility of finance content in their senior thesis or junior paper, a separate, shorter piece of independent work is required instead.

For more information about the certificate, and how to apply, visit the Bendheim Center website.

For a list of courses that overlap between the WWS concentration and the UCF please click here.  For a list of all WWS electives you can use the WWS advising tool