Econ Concentration – Finance – Value Investing in a Market Economy

One of the central functions of investors in a market economy is to direct capital to its most productive use. This concentration in Value Investing in a Market Economy is intended to prepare students for a wide range of careers in which they will be faced with the challenge of evaluating investment opportunities and making active decisions to direct capital to enhance value. Such careers include high level executive positions within companies, careers in alternative investment firms such as private equity or distressed debt firms, or in actively managed mutual funds. A student graduating from this concentration should be able to understand the full set of fundamental economic and strategic forces that favor or disfavor a particular investment opportunity from both a theoretical and historical perspective.

Prerequisites: In addition to the full set of lower division requirements for the Economics or Business Economics Major, a student in this concentration must also take Economics 101, 102, and 103/103L, and Mangement 120A and Management 120B.

Upper Division Electives: A student completing this concentration must complete four courses from the following list:

Econ 106F (Corporate Finance) Parick Convery and Ed McDevitt

Econ 106P (Pricing and Strategy) John Riley

MGMT 180 (Real Estate Finance and Investment) Mark Karlan

MGMT 126 (Financial Statement Analysis) various

Econ 165 (History of Capitalism in the American Economy) Lee Ohanian

Econ 181 (Development of Economic Institutions in Western Europe) Michela Giorcelli

Econ 187 (History of Financial Crises) Andy Atkeson and William Simon

Econ 187-2 (Value Investing) William Simon

Capstone Course:

Applied Value Investing:  Econ 187-3 William Simon

Associated Bruin Development Academies to be shared by the two concentrations in finance:

– Financial modeling with Excel

– Valuation

Associated Internship Programs to be shared by the two concentrations in finance:

– Sharpe Fellows

– Simon Fellows

Associated Support for Faculty and Graduate Student Research:

UCLA has a strong tradition in Macroeconomics, Economic History, and Industrial Organization and in the integration of these fields. We see it as particularly important that students in this concentration be able to draw insights from all of these disciplines in understanding the drivers of economic value from a macroeconomic, historical, strategic, and regulatory perspective. We need funding to support and grow our faculty and graduate programs in these areas to meet the tremendous demand from students in this area.