Economics and Finance

Economics and finance occupy adjacent and mutually reinforcing territories. Economics provides the theoretical and empirical tools to understand how markets, firms, households, and governments make decisions, and how those decisions aggregate into outcomes at the level of whole economies. Finance applies and extends those tools to the management of money, investment, risk, and capital across time.

Together they offer a rigorous training in quantitative reasoning, mathematical modelling, and the analysis of data, grounded in frameworks that are fundamental to professional life in banking, investment, consultancy, and economic policy.

At the University of Leeds, you will study within Leeds University Business School, which has its own Applied Institute for Research in Economics. This three-year full-time programme includes a sandwich placement year and a year abroad, giving it a particularly strong professional and international dimension. The placement year takes you into a real working environment, where you apply the analytical tools of the degree in a live business or financial context.

The year abroad broadens your perspective and adds genuine international experience to your studies, which is increasingly valued in fields that operate across borders. Work placement opportunities are woven into the programme alongside these structural features.

You will develop skills in microeconomics and macroeconomics, econometrics, financial theory, and quantitative methods. You will learn to work with financial data, build and test economic models, and think rigorously about uncertainty and risk. The programme draws on active research within the Business School, so the connections between academic understanding and current real-world questions in economics and finance are evident throughout.

Graduates from economics and finance programmes enter a wide range of careers. Investment banking, asset management, corporate finance, economic consultancy, financial analysis, and roles in central banks and government economic departments are all common routes. The strong quantitative training also suits graduates well for careers in data analytics, technology, and policy research.

Further study, including masters degrees in finance, economics, or financial mathematics, is a natural progression for those who want to specialise further or move into research.