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The Economics and Finance program in the School of Business offers both an Economics major and a Finance major, as well as minors in Economics, Finance, Personal Finance, and Real Estate.

All majors in the program are required to achieve a grade of C or greater in all courses required in their major.

Economics is the study of people in the ordinary business of life. Economists study how individuals make decisions, how businesses and governments interact, and how decisions made on the other side of the globe affect everyday life close to home. The knowledge and skills gained while earning a bachelor’s degree in economics will prepare you for careers in finance, law, business, and government.

Students majoring in Finance develop the strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills necessary for success in today’s global business environment. The UA Little Rock finance program is one of only two programs in the state to have received University Recognition from the CFA Institute. UA Little Rock received this distinction for developing an ethics-based investment curriculum aimed at developing serious investment professionals. Finance students manage the $400,000 Joe Ford Trust investment portfolio, complete cooperative education internship programs with leading financial firms, and meet financial and business leaders from Central Arkansas.

General Information

Economics Educational Objectives

Students completing the economics degree should accomplish the following educational objectives:

• Understand, explain, and identify how markets work with respect to the determination of prices, quantities, and allocation of resources.
• Collect economic data and be able to analyze and forecast economic activity.
• List various supply and demand shocks and identify how they affect economic activity in a complete, traditional macroeconomic model. Understand models of economic growth.
• Understand and be able to differentiate between market structures and explain their implications for pricing, output, and efficiency issues.
• Understand and explain the theory of the firm including, but not limited to, pricing, optimal input mix, and marginal analysis.

Finance

The finance curriculum provides a theoretical framework of the environment in which financial institutions operate. Individual courses deal with financial institutions, the financial management of business firms, investments, and particular institutional areas of banking, real estate, and insurance. Emphasis is on the decision-making, or analytical, aspects of the subject areas. The program offers three degree options (emphases) in the finance area.

• Emphasis I (General Finance) provides training in business finance, financial decision-making within the firm, and the financial and banking systems.
• Emphasis II (Real Estate) provides a broad background in real estate analysis, investment, and financial decision making.
• Emphasis III (Financial Services and Risk management) provides training in the management of financial service firms such as banks, insurance firms, and wealth management firms.

To graduate, students majoring in finance must make a grade of C or greater in FINC 3310  as well as in all courses that constitute the major.

Finance Educational Objectives

Students completing the finance degree should be able to:

• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the time value of money (TVM) concepts by solving representative problems. This includes calculating present values, future values, and rates of return.
• Identify and explain the role and functioning of financial markets. Students should be able to explain the determination of interest rates, the role of financial intermediaries, the impact of risk, and the connections across international markets. Value financial assets. This involves being able to explain risk-return trade-offs, asset pricing models, market efficiency, and international valuation. The student should be exposed to modern portfolio theory and option pricing theory.
• Identify and explain the investment and financing decisions of the firm, and how these decisions affect value. Students should be exposed to estimating the cost of capital, should be able to identify factors affecting the capital structure and financing alternatives (domestic and international), and be exposed to firm valuation.
• Be exposed to the ethical issues involved in finance. In particular, the student should be exposed to agency theory and its implications for financial managers. This includes exposure to fiduciary issues.

Real Estate and Financial Services Educational Objectives

Students specializing in real estate, insurance, or financial planning should:

• Be exposed to the theoretical concepts and principles of each.
• Be able to apply the principles to real problems.
• Be exposed to the professional and institutional aspects of each.

Programs

• Economics, B.B.A.
• Finance, Financial Services and Risk Management Emphasis, B.B.A.
• Finance, General Finance Emphasis, B.B.A.
• Finance, Real Estate Emphasis, B.B.A.

• Economics Minor
• General Finance Minor
• Real Estate Minor