Our modern society of ever-diversifying philosophies and tastes is in urgent need of economics researchers with wide academic education and with the ability to conduct analyses that are objective and scientific. To meet such social needs, we offer four distinctive programs in the Department of Economics, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. In this system, the four educational programs of "Finance", "Economic analysis", "Public policy", and "Comparative economic systems" function synergistically to support the development of people with strong capabilities of theoretical thinking and professional knowledge, establishing responsibility in acceptance and education of graduate students.

Students are expected to attend lectures and seminars offered by each program in which they enroll, and are expected to compose and defend their own theses individually under the supervision of faculty members they choose.

"Finance" includes knowledge and skill that are fundamentally indispensable to people working in financial institutions in areas such as banking, securities, and insurance, needless to say, and in finance and accounting divisions of private enterprises and planning, finance, and accounting divisions of other businesses and public institutions.

Our Finance program is aimed at the training and enhancement of students with high expertise and aptitude to be able to perform business evaluations that private companies and local governments need, and to propose the precise drafting of strategy and risk management. These requirements derive from needs dictated by recent trends of increased securitization, widening of financial engineering, restructuring of capital markets, activation of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), globalization of enterprise activities, and development of information disclosure and investor relations (IR).

Power of intellect and judgment based on sophisticated economic theory and precise data analysis are indispensable for the comprehension of economic problems related to our highly complicated modern society.

In the "Economic analysis" program, students systematically learn knowledge of international standards in each economics field. In addition, students can obtain methods of statistics and econometrics used in advanced econometric analysis. Through analysis using theories of economy and econometric analysis learned in problems of financial services, finance, and labor economics, students can grasp the essence of complicated economic phenomena, understand problems, and resolve them to enhance their practical analytical capabilities.

In our "Public policy" program, we prepare students to embark on a career as professional economists who can actively contribute to the fields of policy making, policy analysis, and plan proposals.

We have adopted the latest outcomes of research in economics into a "Public policy" program, which includes economics of games and information, economics of transaction costs and institutions, evolutionary economics, public choice, and constitutional economics. They are naturally incorporated into study domains of, for example, political administration and financial systems, environmental policy, strategic action of oligopolistic firms, international trade, intellectual property rights, and issues of international finance. Consequently, our program particularly seeks students who have the personality, talent, and professional ability to conduct research that is suited to this latest study domain.

Modern economic systems are burdened with various issues. A long-term perspective and flexible intellectual power are necessary to comprehend and confront such problems and to seek solutions to them.

In the "Comparative economic systems" program, we emphasize the grasp of individual economic problems in relation to the whole economic system as an organic entity, taking advantage of a technique called comparative analysis. For example, through comparison of various economic systems in Japan and the rest of the world, the student can understand the characteristics of the respective systems. Additionally, by weighing philosophies of various economic schools, the student can acquire a flexible mode of thinking. Our program provides students with a broad academic background that is useful to confront and resolve problems that arise at the cutting edge of our society.