Programs & Courses › Specializations

Finance

  • Schulich’s PhD in Finance program focuses on developing ground-breaking research in the field of Finance. Through exposure to world-renowned faculty, strong preparatory coursework, and access to comprehensive data sources, the program prepares its graduates to discover and publish new research that can alter how financial markets, individuals, and corporations raise money and invest for the future.

Specialization Details by Category

Study Options

View details Hide details

Student admission is restricted to full-time study exclusively for the first four years. It is not recommended to be working outside of the PhD program during your studies. Students must be able to participate in the PhD program in Toronto.

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.

Choose a study option to view its details and requirements

Courses

View details Hide details

FIRST YEAR DOCTORAL STUDENTS: Please click on and review the attached program structure document, which relates to specialization requirements.

Doctoral students must complete the following components of the PhD program:

  1. Core Courses (finance seminars, microeconomic and macroeconomic theories and econometrics)
  2. Summer Research Papers
  3. Comprehensive Examination (Written and Oral Exam, Research Paper)
  4. Dissertation

Courses

  • PhD SEMINAR IN ASSET PRICING
  • PhD SEMINAR IN CORPORATE FINANCE
  • PhD TOPICS IN FINANCE

GS/ECON 5100 3.0: Microeconomics Theory
GS/ECON 6220 3.0: Advanced Econometric Theory I
GS/ECON 6250 3.0: Advanced Econometric Theory
GS/ECON 5110 3.0: Topics in Macroeconomic Theory
GS/ECON 6100 3.0: Topics in Microeconomic Theory

Two Elective Courses
These two courses are selected with the assistance of the Finance PhD program director from among those offered in other fields in Schulich or from other relevant postgraduate programs at York University.

Two Summer Research Papers
In the summer semester of first and second years students write a research paper under the supervision of a faculty member.

Comprehensive Examinations

The comprehensive field examination takes place in the summer of both first year and second year. Students must demonstrate clear and coherent writing ability, methodological mastery and a deep comprehension of the literature relevant to the topic. Their academic writing style should mimic what is expected by top journals in the field. Students receive a grade of pass or fail on their comprehensive exams. Those who fail have the opportunity to retake the exams once, within six months of the date of the first comprehensive exam. Those who fail to pass a second time are not allowed to continue in the PhD program.

The program regards the comprehensive examination as a pivotal point for deciding whether students should be allowed to proceed with their studies or be encouraged to withdraw from the program.

Dissertation Proposal and Oral Defence

Candidates must prepare a written proposal to conduct original dissertation research carried out under the supervision of a supervisory committee, and must defend this to the satisfaction of the thesis supervisor and members of the supervisory committee.

Dissertation and Oral Examination

Candidates must prepare a dissertation based on original research carried out under the supervision of a supervisory committee and submit the results in appropriate dissertation form. After the formal submission of the dissertation, an oral examination is held. It is expected that all or part of the dissertation will be published following professional or scientific review.

We recommend further consultation with your area Ph.D. rep concerning any impending changes to the program requirements and guidance on selecting appropriate optional courses.

Faculty

View details Hide details

  • PhD students have the opportunity to work with some of the top experts in the field of finance. Our faculty has published a variety of research on behavioural finance, corporate governance, executive compensation, personal finance, institutional behavior, and international finance in leading finance and economic journals.

    Through collaboration and mentorship with these leading researchers, our PhD graduates are well positioned to produce high quality research that will eventually lead to publications with high scholarly impact.

Selected faculty members

View all members

Career Opportunities

View details Hide details

  • Placement of Recent Graduates

    The PhD in Finance program will prepare you for an academic career at a top research university in Canada, the US, or the rest of the world. The program will help you build a strong theoretical and empirical foundation in finance. Combined with our faculty’s wide-ranging research expertise, our program will position you for a strong career in finance research.

    Xinyao Joseph Zhou Assistant Professor, Finance, OntarioTech Business & IT
    Michael Densmore Assistant Professor of Finance, Faculty of Management, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
    Rui Duan Assistant Professor, Institute for Finance and Banking, WU Vienna
    Daniel Tut Assistant Professor, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson
    Rejo Peter CEO of DeepR Analytics
    Shiu-Yik Au Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Manitoba
    Yelin Zhang Assistant Professor of Finance, Gonzaga University
    Jie Zhu Industry
    Andreanne Tremblay Simard Assistant Professor of Finance at Universite Laval
    Minjie Zhang Assistant Professor, Odette School of Business, University of Windsor
    Jisok Kang Post-doctural Researcher at Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance (CERF)
    Markus Broman Assistant Professor at Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University
    Feng Zhan Assistant Professor in Finance, Boler School of Business, John Carroll University (Ohio)

     

Research Requirements

View details Hide details

  • Students must work as research assistants for the first three years of the program in order to receive financial support and be prepared for their dissertation.

    When they are at the dissertation stage, 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 or present their research at 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.

    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.

Student Research

View details Hide details

  • Research is the most critical element of the development of student’s careers. Schulich’s Finance PhD program supports student’s research through interaction with faculty, access to major databases, and other research support.

    Selected Publications

    Markus Broman (Forthcoming), “The Geography of Sub-advisors, Managerial Structure, and the Performance of International Equity Mutual Funds,” Review of Asset Pricing Studies (with Densmore, M. and Shum Nolan, P.)

    Michael Densmore (Forthcoming), “The Geography of Sub-advisors, Managerial Structure, and the Performance of International Equity Mutual Funds,” Review of Asset Pricing Studies (with Markus Broman and Pauline Shum Nolan)

    Xinyao Joseph Zhou (Forthcoming), “Does Social Interaction Spread Fear among Institutional Investors? Evidence from COVID-19,” Management Science (with Au, S. and Dong, M)

    Shiu-Yik Au (Forthcoming), “Does Social Interaction Spread Fear among Institutional Investors? Evidence from COVID-19,” Management Science (With Zhou, X. J., and Dong, M)

    Shiu-Yik Au (Forthcoming), “How Much Does Workplace Sexual Harassment Hurt Firm Value?” Journal of Business Ethics (with M. Dong, and A. Tremblay)

    Andreanne Tremblay (Forthcoming), “How Much Does Workplace Sexual Harassment Hurt Firm Value?” Journal of Business Ethics (with M. Dong, and S. Au)

    Andreanne Tremblay (2022), “Does Board Gender Diversity Reduce Workplace Sexual Harassment?” Corporate Governance: an International Review (with You, L. and Au, S.)

    Shiu-Yik Au (2022), “Does Board Gender Diversity Reduce Workplace Sexual Harassment?” Corporate Governance: an International Review (with You, L. and Tremblay, A.)

    Andreanne Tremblay-Simard (2022), “Global weather-based trading strategies,” Journal of Banking and Finance 143(C), 106558 (with Dong, M.)

    Daniel Tut (2022), “Policy Uncertainty and Cash Dynamics,” Journal of Financial Research, 45(2), pp.422-444.

    Daniel Tut (2022), “Debt Dynamic, Debt Dispersion and Corporate Governance,” International Journal of Managerial Finance

    Daniel Tut (2022), “Investment, Q and Diseases,” Finance Research Letters 47, 102943

    Markus Broman (2022), “Naïve Style-level Feedback Trading in Passive Funds,” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, May 2022, pp. 1083 – 1114.

    Andreanne Tremblay (2021), “Employee Flexibility, Exogenous Risk, and Firm Value,” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 56(3), 853–884 (with Au, S. and Dong, M)

    Shiu-Yik Au (2021), “Employee Flexibility, Exogenous Risk, and Firm Value,” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 56(3), 853–884 (with Tremblay, A. and Dong, M)

    Andréanne Tremblay (2021), “Does the Weather Influence Global Stock Returns?” Critical Finance Review 10(2): 207-249 (with Dong, M.)

    Jisok Kang (2021), “Why is Stock Market Concentration Bad for the Economy?” Journal of Financial Economics 140, 436-459. (with Bae, K. and Bailey, W.)

    Markus Broman (2020), “Local Demand Shocks, Excess Co-movement and Return Predictability,” Journal of Banking and Finance, Volume 119, 105910.

    Rejo Peter (2020), “Public‐to‐private buyouts and innovation,” British Journal of Management, 31(4), 811–829. (with Cumming, D. and Tarsalewska, M.)

    Rejo Peter (2020), “Market manipulation and innovation,” Journal of Banking & Finance, 120, 105957, 1-17 (with Cumming, D., Ji, S. and Tarsalewska, M.)

    Xinyao Joseph Zhou (2020), “The Dynamic Effect of Macroeconomic News on the Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate,” Journal of Forecasting, vol. 39-1, 2020, pp. 84-103. (with Omrane, W. B. and Welch, R.)

    Jisok Kang (2019), “Nominal Stock Price Anchors: A Global Phenomenon?”  Journal of Financial Markets 44, 31-41. (with Bae, K., Bhattacharya, U., and Ghon Rhee, S.)

    Minjie Zhang (2019), “Angel investors around the world,” Journal of International Business Studies, 50, 692–719. (with Cumming, D.)

    Rejo Peter (2019), “Pre-going private ownership around the world,” British Journal of Management, 30(3), 692-711. (with Cumming, D., Sannajust, A. and Tarsalewska, M.)

    Xinyao Joseph Zhou (2019), “Time-varying Effects of Macroeconomic News on the Euro-Dollar returns,” North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 50, pp. 1-20. (with Omrane, W. B., Savaser, T. and Welch, R.)

    Yelin Zhang (2019), “What is mutual fund flow?” Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 62, 222-251 (with Cumming, D. and Johan, S.)

    Yelin Zhang (2019), “Governance in entrepreneurial ecosystems: venture capitalists vs. technology parks,” Small Business Economics, 52, 455–484 (with Cumming, D. and Werth, J.C.)

    Yelin Zhang (2019), “The role of due diligence in crowdfunding platforms,” Journal of Banking & Finance (with Cumming, D. and Johan, S.)

    Recent Dissertation Topics

    2023: Alireza Mahalati Rayeni – Essays on Innovation

    2022: Xinyao Joseph Zhou – Three Essays in Empirical Asset Pricing

    2021: Michael Densmore – Essays in Asset Management and Corporate Liquidity Management

    2021: Rui Duan – Three Essays in Corporate Finance

    2020: Daniel Tut – Essays on Creditor Rights Protection, Corporate Debt and Corporate Liability

    2018: Rejo Peter – Empirical Essays on Finance and Innovation

    2018: Shiu-Yik Au – Essays on Corporate Intangibles and Misconduct

    2018: Yelin Zhang – Empirical Essays on Entrepreneurial Finance

    2017: Jie Zhu – Two Essays on Investments: Corporate and Institutional Perspective

    2017: Andreanne Tremblay Simard – Three Essays on Finance, Culture and Investor Behavior

    2017: Minjie Zhang – Empirical Studies in International Entrepreneurial Finance

    2016: Jisok Kang – Essays on International Corporate Finance

    2015: Markus Broman – Essays on Exchange-Traded Fund Mispricing and Liquidity

    2014: Feng Zhan – Essays On International Market Efficiency And Manipulation

    Current PhD students in the Finance Area:

    as of Fall 2023

    • Ali Ahmadi
    • Ray Bawania
    • Sunny Chen
    • Afshin Cheraghi
    • Arshia Farzamfar
    • Seyedeh Dorsa Ghamkhar
    • Hosein Hamisheh Bahar
    • Chengcheng Huang
    • Aman Khan
    • Hossein Naderi Khorshidi
    • Mohammadreza Nafissi
    • Samir Mourad
    • Seyyedeh Elham Tabatabaei
    • Linyang Yu