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Finance Thesis Topic Selection: Corporate Finance/Investment/Financial Engineering Directions

How to choose finance thesis topics? This guide provides selected topics in corporate finance, securities investment, insurance, financial engineering directions.

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What this page helps you do first

  • Corporate finance/investment/insurance topics
  • Finance data acquisition channels
  • Empirical research methods introduction

Finance thesis topic characteristics

Finance thesis divides into three categories: theoretical research, empirical research, financial market analysis. Empirical research needs to collect listed company or financial market data; corporate finance topics have relatively easier data access.

Finance thesis emphasizes data support and scientific analysis methods; evaluate data accessibility and analysis difficulty when selecting topic.

Corporate finance direction topics (60+ recommended)

  • Listed company capital structure optimization research — with XX as case
  • Corporate cash holdings influencing factors empirical research
  • Listed company M&A performance research
  • Equity incentive impact on enterprise innovation research
  • Corporate debt financing cost influencing factors research
  • Listed company dividend policy influencing factors research
  • Enterprise growth and financing constraints research
  • Private listed company governance structure research

Securities investment direction topics (50+ recommended)

  • A-share market return rate influencing factors empirical research
  • Fund performance evaluation and influencing factors research
  • Quantitative investment strategy effectiveness research
  • Individual investor behavior bias research
  • Asset pricing model test in Chinese stock market
  • Stock volatility and trading volume relationship research
  • Institutional investor impact on stock price volatility
  • STAR Market listed company value evaluation research

Financial engineering direction topics (40+ recommended)

  • Options pricing model empirical research
  • Risk management tools application in enterprises
  • Financial derivatives pricing research
  • VaR model application in commercial bank risk management
  • Futures hedging effectiveness research
  • Credit derivatives pricing research
  • ETF arbitrage strategy research
  • Digital currency pricing research

Banking and insurance direction topics (50+ recommended)

  • Commercial bank profitability influencing factors research
  • Internet finance impact on traditional banking
  • Commercial bank credit risk assessment research
  • Insurance company solvency research
  • Life insurance demand influencing factors research
  • FinTech application in insurance industry
  • Commercial bank intermediate business development research
  • Rural finance development problem research

Data acquisition channels

  • Listed company data: CSMAR, Wind, RESSET financial databases
  • Stock trading data: RESSET, Tonghuashun, Eastmoney
  • Macro finance data: Peoples Bank of China, National Bureau of Statistics
  • Research reports: Wind reports, Huibo Investment Research

Frequently asked questions

Does finance thesis need programming ability?
Not necessarily. But for quantitative investment and financial engineering topics, Python, MATLAB and other programming ability needed. Traditional corporate finance topics can use Excel + SPSS/Stata.
What software is used for finance empirical analysis?
Commonly used SPSS, Stata, EViews. Econometric models most convenient with Stata, time series analysis with EViews, cross-sectional data with SPSS.
How long does data need to be?
Usually need 5-10 years of data. Panel data is more convincing than cross-sectional data. Recommend using latest year data but historical length must be sufficient.
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