Quantitative Economics and Finance Specialization

The curriculum of this specialization is jointly organized by Ecole Polytechnique, ENSAE and HEC Paris.

A Flexible and Comprehensive Curriculum

A unique feature of the QEF program is its flexibility.  

Students will join the program as in the tradition of other majors. At the end of the first year, HEC students will earn their HEC Master degree in Management (provided all other graduation requirements are fulfilled and the first year of the master is completed successfully).  

After the first year, students have the option to pursue their studies in economics at the highest level by choosing to follow the complete curriculum. They will then be enrolled in the second year of the Master in Economics and earn their Master degree in Economics from Institut Polytechnique de Paris.  

First year main courses: microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics..  

Second year main courses: econometrics, financial economics, game and decision theory, industrial organization and digital markets, labor economics and international trade, macroeconomics, public economics.                                                                                                                

Career Outlook

The one-year option of this specialization will be a valuable asset for a career in investment banking and consulting firms, as quantitative economics is a very popular expertise in these business sectors.  

100% of our annual graduates in Economics find employment within 3 months, especially in the financial sector.  

The two-year option will be a natural choice for students willing to do a PhD in Economics or Finance after their Master’s degree, or aim at an economic role in the private sector with a strong quantitative or research content.

The first year curriculum

The first year of the program emphasizes microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics. A project work in Applied Econometrics will be completed over the course of the year. Towards the end of the year, students do a research-oriented internship in a laboratory or in the private or public sector. Courses take place mainly on the Ecole Polytechnique campus.    

The first year curriculum includes:

Preparatory courses (Ecole Polytechnique)

Term 1 (September) 

• Mathematics 
• Foundations of Probability Theory for Economics and Finance
• Introduction to Stata

Mandatory courses (Ecole Polytechnique)

Term 1 (September to December):

• Microeconomics 1
• Macroeconomics 1
• Econometrics 1
• Introduction to Time Series Econometrics

Term 2 (December to March):

• Microeconomics 2 
• Macroeconomics 2
• Econometrics 2

Project in Applied Economics

Over the whole year, students should apply standard econometrics methods to a dataset using common statistical software (such as STATA, R, or SAS), and present the results in the form of a short dissertation.    

Research internship  

During the third term, from April onwards, students must complete a research internship of at least 16 weeks. Students can find their own internship or exploit a list of topics proposed by the academic departments. The internship will be concluded with an oral presentation.  

The second year curriculum  

The second year offers courses including advanced courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, research courses and specialization courses in the following fields: econometrics, game and decision theory, industrial organization and digital markets, labor economics and international trade, macroeconomics, public economics.  

Courses take place mainly at ENSAE and at HEC Paris.  

Courses offered  

There are no compulsory courses, students are free to choose among the list of courses offered provided the course schedules are compatible and the course credits obtained over the entire year is at least 40 ECTS and at most, 42.  

Term 1 (October to January) 

1. Advanced

• Advanced Econometrics: Panel Data and Duration Models
• Advanced Macroeconomics: Recursive Methods
•  Advanced Microeconomics: Game Theory and Applications

2. Econometrics 

• Macroeconometrics: Advanced Time-Series Analysis
• Macroeconometrics and Machine Learning  
• Statistical Methods of Econometrics

3. Financial Economics

• Asset Pricing: Theoretical Foundations (HEC Paris)
• Banking and Financial Intermediation (HEC Paris)
• Corporate Finance Theory (HEC Paris)

4. Game and Decision Theory

• Experiments in Economics and Social Sciences

5. Industrial Organization and Digital Markets   

• Empirical Industrial Organization  
• Theory of Industrial Organization

6. Labor Economics and International Trade   

• International Trade
• Labor Economics
• Microeconometric Evaluation of Public Policies
• Randomized Methods and Policy Evaluation

7. Macroeconomics 

• Monetary Economics   
• Information and Expectations in Macroeconomics (HEC Paris)    

8. Public Economics  

• Catastrophic Risks, Cyber Risk and Insurance Markets
• Environmental Economics: Analysis and Modelling
• Health Economics  
• Political Economy
• Public Economics

9. Research courses CREST 

• Evolutionary Game Theory
• Natural Language Processing

Term 2 (February to May)  

1. Advanced

• Advanced Econometrics: Semi-Parametric and Simulations 
• Advanced Macroeconomics: Numerical Methods
• Advanced Microeconomics: Design and Study of Markets    

2. General

• Topics in the History of Applied Economics    

3. Econometrics  

• Machine Learning for Econometrics 
• Structural Econometrics of Education    

4. Financial Economics  

• Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies (HEC Paris)
• Empirical Asset Pricing (HEC Paris)  
• Empirical Corporate Finance (HEC Paris)    

5. Game and Decision Theory 

• Behavioral Decision Theory
• Business Economics, Organization and Incentives
• Social Choice and Voting    

6. Industrial Organization and Digital Market

• Competition Policy in Practice: Cases
• Digital Economics    

7. Labor Economics and International Trade

• Applied Labor Economics
• Urban Labor and Housing Markets    

8. Public Economics

• Development Economics
• Economics of Energy Markets
• Economics of Inequality: Measures and Findings   
• Public Finance
• Topics in Applied Public Economics    

9. Research courses CREST 

• Biases, Discrimination and Fairness
• Dynamic Factor Models

Dissertation

This has to be completed over the course of the year. Students are required to determine a research topic with their supervisor and the bibliographic research and data sources. The dissertation will be concluded with an oral defence.

Academic Team

The courses are taught by academic professors from HEC and from partner institutions involved in the Master program, but also by professionals working in leading firms.

Directors

•    Gaetano GABALLO, Associate Professor HEC Paris
•    Laurent DAVEZIES, Professor, ENSAE
•    Jean-Baptiste MICHAU, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique

Professors    

• Mohammed Abdellaoui, Research Director CNRS, HEC Paris
• Marie-Laure Allain, Researcher CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique
• David Bardey, Professor, University of Los Andes
• Matteo Barigozzi, Professor, University of Bologna
• Christian Belzil, Research Director CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique
• David Benatia, Assistant Professor, ENSAE
• Jean-Marc Bourgeon, Assistant Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Pierre Boyer, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique, ENSAE
• Benoît Campagne Adjunct Professor, ENSAE
• Arthur Charpentier, Professor, University of Quebec, Montreal
• Béatrice Cherrier, Associate Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Julien Combe, Assistant Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Philippe Chone, Professor, ENSAE
• Gregory Corcos, Associate Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Bruno Crepon, Professor, ENSAE
• Xavier d’Haultfoeuille, Professor, ENSAE
• Laurent Davezies, INSEE Administrator, Professor, ENSAE
• Matthias Efing, Associate Professor, HEC Paris
• Thierry Foucault, Professor, HEC Paris
• Gaetano Gaballo, Associate Professor, HEC Paris
• Bertrand Garbinti, Assistant Professor, CREST ENSAE
• Robert Gary-Bobo, Professor, ENSAE
• Olivier Gossner, Research Director CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique
• Caroline Hillairet, Professor, ENSAE
• Guillaume Hollard, Research Director CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique
• Thierry Kamionka, Research Director CNRS, ENSAE
• Frederic Koessler, Professor, HEC Paris
• Yukio Koriyama, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique 
• Yves Le Yaouanq, Assistant Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Jeremy L’Hour, Researcher, CREST 
• Laurent Linnemer, Professor, ENSAE
• Olivier Loisel, Assistant Professor, ENSAE
• Stefano Lovo, Professor, HEC
• Franck Malherbet, Professor, ENSAE
• Eric Mengus, Associate Professor, HEC Paris
• Jean-Baptiste Michau, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Stefania Minardi, Associate Professor, HEC Paris
• Hugo Molina, Research Fellow, INRAE
• Alain Monfort, Professor, ENSAE
• Matias Nunez, Research Fellow, CREST
• Pierre Picard, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Aurélien Poissonnier, INSEE Administrator, ENSAE  
• Julien Prat, Researcher CNRS, ENSAE
• Roland Rathelot, Associate Professor, ENSAE
• Alessandro Riboni, Associate Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Giovanni Ricco, Associate Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Michelangelo Rossi, Assistant Professor, Télécom Paris
• Pauline Rossi, Associate Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Benoît Schmutz, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique 
• Anna Simoni, Professor, ENSAE
• Anthony Strittmatter, Assistant Professor, CREST ENSAE
• Maxime Tô, Senior Researcher, Institut des Politiques Publiques
• Anne Uhlendorff, Researcher, CNRS ENSAE   
• Thibaud Vergé, Professor, ENSAE
• Guillaume Vuillemey, Associate Professor, HEC Paris
• Jorgen Weibull, Professor, Stockholm School of Economics
• Pablo Winant, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique
• Irina Zviadadze, Associate Professor, HEC Paris

Professionals

• Benoît Campagne, Direction Générale du Trésor