Applied Economics with Banking and Financial Markets (Taught)

Enhance your economics knowledge, with a focus on the application of economic and financial theory in contemporary banking and financial sector settings.

Closely related to our MSc Applied Economics course, MSc Applied Economics with Banking and Financial Markets allows you to develop your core economics knowledge within the context of banking and financial institutions.

You'll receive rigorous training in the main aspects of economic and financial theory, and learn to apply your advanced understanding of the subject to contemporary challenges and issues. This combination aims to prepare you for a variety of careers.

Alongside these core themes, you can select from a range of supplementary optional units to tailor the course to your personal interests and aspirations. These will cover topics like:

• behavioural economics and finance

• environmental and natural resource economics

• macroeconomic policy and institutions

• applied financial economics

• machine learning applications in economics and finance

MSc project

The course culminates with a project, in the form of two policy briefs or a traditional dissertation.

Both options give you the opportunity to apply your newly acquired knowledge to a specific economic area or debate that interests you or is relevant to your career aspirations.

Policy briefs

The policy briefs allow you to communicate the practical implications of a real-world piece of policy, or your own research into challenge or issue, to an audience of public sector (central banks and market regulators) or private sector (investment banks and funds) practitioners.

You will conduct appropriate research and data analysis (if necessary), before presenting your findings as a written report.

Dissertation
You can choose to do a traditional dissertation. This enables you to use sophisticated economic theories in a piece of applied research work.

Use specialist facilities
You’ll have access to some of the latest industry-standard statistical, mathematical and econometric software in our computer labs, including EViews, Stata, Matlab and Python.

Access to top-tier international databases, including our Bloomberg Terminals, will allow you to access up-to-the-minute data on real-world trends to enhance your learning experience.

Gain important career skills
On successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

• understand and apply financial theories and concepts to a wide range of economic scenarios, including portfolio allocation, asset pricing and risk management

• apply theories and statistical tools to analyse, visualise and conceptualise economic and financial data

• use mathematical, statistical and econometric methods to carry out quantitative analyses of applied economics problems

• conduct applied research in both private and public contexts (investment banking and insurance, central banks, market regulators, etc.)

We limit student numbers on this course to ensure a collegiate atmosphere and a high degree of interaction between students and lecturers.

Graduate prospects

This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge and practical abilities required to work in various careers within economics. These include banking, consulting, governmental organisations and research institutions. It also provides suitable preparation for doctoral study and future roles in academia.

Common graduate roles in applied economics include:

• applied economist

• civil servant

• consultant

• financial analyst

• investment banker

• risk analyst

Recent graduates have gone on to work in a number of different roles across the world in organisations such as:

• World Bank

• Royal Bank of Scotland

• HSBC

• JP Morgan Chase & Co

• Deloitte

• HMRC and other government institutions both in the UK and overseas

Others have chosen to continue their careers in academia.

• Closed book written examination
• Coursework
• Dissertation
• Essay
• In-class test
• Oral presentation