As the nature of the global economy continues to shift, studying finance allows individuals across the globe will interact with this changing reality. Old paradigms, the lasting ramifications of colonialism, emerging forms of government and the transcendent effect of the Internet are changing how finance has been viewed for centuries, and students now must learn how to critically analyze their views and traditional thought. Advanced degrees, such as a finance masters or doctorates, are becoming increasingly valuable.
The former paradigms of first world versus third world economies are beginning to break down. As China, India and much of South America and Africa are developing at a rapid rate, these regions are increasingly able to compete with the United States, western Europe, Japan and South Korea. Entrepreneurship in the developing world is booming. Particularly for those focused on individual and corporate investment, being able to analyze news and data from these regions is becoming increasingly important. Finance students will find a growing number of jobs pertaining to the analysis of global financing on all levels.
Changing population trends are having a major affect on the subjects finance students encounter in developed regions. Ideas that have persisted since the 1960s and 1970s are being replaced by recent trends in population. Japan, for example, is currently experiencing negative population growth; each year, there are fewer people in Japan. In western Europe, recent data suggests that countries are only experiencing population growth because of immigration. Financial paradigms focus on population and workforce growth over time, and these trends are forcing experts to rely on new financial strategies to accommodate the reality of population shifts in developed, industrialized nations.
A further aspect of the changing state of finance is the phenomenon of globalization. Various forms of so-called free trade are allowing the developed world to tap into the lower labour costs of developing nations. Globalization has supporters and detractors from both liberal and conservative analytical traditions, and finance students will need to be aware of how the economic realities and politics will affect their jobs in the future.
The study of finance has been considered similar to the study of accounting, business and other such fields. With the dynamics at play in the global economy, the field is shifting toward an emphasis on theory, which is causing it to be viewed more similarly to economics. Finance students are finding that their base of knowledge must grow substantially.
