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102 Best Econometrics Research Topics

econometrics research topics

College and university professors require students to write about econometrics research topics to gauge their comprehension of the relationship between mathematical economics, statistics, and economics.

The purpose of this integration is to provide numerical values to economic relationships and parameters. Usually, econometrics involves economic theories and their presentation in mathematical forms and the empirical study of business. Perhaps, this integration explains why some students struggle to choose topics for research in econometrics.

What Is Econometrics?

As hinted, econometrics is an economics branch that focuses on the relationships between economics, statistics, and mathematical economics. Ideally, econometrics entails the quantitative application of mathematical and statistical models using data to test hypotheses and develop economic theories while forecasting future trends based on historical data. Econometricians subject real-world data to various statistical trials while comparing and contrasting the results against the idea under examination.

Writing an econometric research paper is a process that starts with the selection of an interesting topic. Once you’ve chosen a title and the supervisor approves it, embark on extensive research using the prompt from your teacher. Proceed by gathering and analyzing all relevant information from different sources. Engaging in in-depth study and comprehensive analysis will enable you to write an informative paper that will compel the educator to award you the best grade in your class. Below are the steps to follow to write a high-quality econometric thesis or essay.

Write the introduction: Introduce your econometrics topic and tell the audience why it’s crucial. Also, include a thesis statement summarizing the entire paper. Describe the theoretical model: Tell the readers about the theoretical models to structure the empirical work. Present the data: Describe the data, whether time series or cross-sectional. Use descriptive statistics data and graphics if possible. Present the empirical model: Explain the model you intend to estimate and the functional form you intend to use. Present your empirical results: This section presents empirical results using a table to summarize them. Conclude the paper: Describe lessons from the research and state whether it supports the theory. Also, suggest approaches for future research on the topic.

Your paper should also include a reference section comprising the information sources you used to gather data.

Interesting Econometrics Paper Topics

Maybe you know the process of writing a paper on an econometrics topic but don’t have an idea to explore. If so, consider these exciting econometrics paper ideas.

  • How privatizing public enterprises could affect economic development and policy
  • Cashless economy: How demonetization affects medium and small businesses
  • How Gini index dynamics reflect the income inequality problem
  • Consumption evolution over the last decade: Consumer behavior and trends
  • Investigating salary inequalities and the forces behind them
  • How income changes affect consumer choices
  • How does allowing the labor force to participate in public budgeting affect the economy
  • How the marital status affect the labor force composition
  • How consumption attitudes have changed over the last decade
  • How economic convergence relates to salary levels
  • How income affects life insurance
  • The consequences of leaving the rat race
  • Testing Okun’s Law in the U.S
  • Analysis of spending on disposable income and imports
  • Comparing the unemployment rate in the United States to the rest of the world
  • Regional labor mobility and unemployment
  • Stock market evolution: Analyzing the causes and effects
  • How internet productivity relate to connectivity in the workplace
  • How currency devaluation affects medium and small companies
  • How government spending and inflation relate in an economy
  • The relationship between stock prices and inflation in a country
  • How income tax revenue affects a developing economy
  • How government expenditure affects economic growth
  • Factors contributing to the global recession
  • How a country’s unemployment rate relates to economic growth

Any of these topics can be an excellent basis for an econometrics paper. However, you require extensive research about any of these topics to develop a winning thesis.

Undergraduate Econometrics Project Ideas

Maybe your school or faculty requires you to write an econometrics paper to graduate from university. In that case, consider these econometrics research topics for undergraduates.

  • Analyzing the impact of income inequality on the poverty level
  • Analyzing gender differences in education between developing and developed countries
  • How immigration affects unemployment in the European Union
  • How economic growth relates to trade
  • Are immigrants more in countries with a high income?
  • How high taxations affect GSP
  • Analyzing the relationship between local income level and house prices
  • How income, education, and life expectancy affect the human development index
  • How inflation affects national savings
  • How life expectancy relates to national income
  • How financial development affects the economic growth of a country
  • Crime index versus the average education years
  • Investigating the correlation between youth unemployment and minimum wage
  • How economic prosperity relate to government systems
  • Economic factors that affect housing prices in the United States
  • Economic factors contributing to homelessness in the U.S
  • Socioeconomic and economic determinants of infant mortality
  • Econometric analysis: Impact of trade barriers
  • Why matching methods are essential in econometrics
  • How a randomized experiment can aid econometrics
  • Why instrumental variables matter in econometrics
  • Can experts predict the future using econometrics?
  • Econometrics as a numerical estimates source for economic relationship variables
  • Ways of testing economic theories that econometricians present
  • Regression discontinuity: Describe its application

These are great ideas to consider for an econometrics project. Nevertheless, you require sufficient time to research any of these topics and write a winning essay or dissertation.

Easy Econometric Research Topics

Perhaps, you need an easy topic for an econometrics paper. Maybe you have a short time to complete your assignment. In that case, these econometrics topics are ideal for you.

  • Theory suggestion- The initial econometrics methodology step
  • Why estimating variables is important
  • The importance of Proof-reading once you have evaluated the variables
  • Why testing a hypothesis matters
  • The impact of poverty on education
  • How poverty relates to childhood obesity
  • Human development and income inequality
  • The link between religion and ideologies on a country’s economy
  • Income and importation- How do they connect?
  • Personal income and life expectancy- What is the connection?
  • The effects of minimum wage on unemployment
  • Investigating monetary policies and bank regulations
  • A study of the economies of scale
  • The impact and relevance of comparative institutional economics
  • Analyzing the effect of making a company international
  • Studying the macroeconomics of rare events
  • Investigating customer behavior towards green products
  • Trade patterns: Investigating different trade patterns and their applications
  • Different stochastic processes concepts
  • Accurate stochastic processes prediction

Any of these topics can be a sound basis of a simple paper. Nevertheless, you still require time to research the idea and analyze data to develop a quality paper.

Financial Econometrics Research Paper Topics

Perhaps, you want to write an academic paper about a financial econometrics topic. If so, consider these ideas.

  • How does bank regulation affect the economy?
  • A critical look into the loan markets
  • How a cashless policy affects the economy
  • Structure and implementation of the monetary policy
  • Lessons to learn from financial crises
  • Investigating regression models
  • Statistical tools in the financial econometrics

These are good topics to explore in financial econometrics. However, follow the prompt from your teacher to write an impressive paper.

Econometrics Empirical Project Ideas FExor Ph.D. Level

Maybe you’re pursuing your Ph.D. and want to write a dissertation about an econometrics topic. In that case, this category comprises excellent ideas for you.

  • Analytical statistics versus theoretical statistics
  • The effects of the low and high demand of labor on an economy
  • The arbitrage pricing theory
  • How goods production and productivity affect econometrics at a national level
  • Applied econometrics- Its essence in turning qualitative economic ideas into quantitative ones
  • Definition, relevance, and application of the general line model
  • Theoretical econometrics’ study and application
  • The macro behavioral theory
  • Panel data methods applications- A microeconomics subsection
  • The impacts of the spillover effect on econometrics
  • The impact of labor supply on a local economy
  • Why labor markets are essential to econometrics
  • What is micro-econometrics modeling?
  • Micro-econometrics methods and applications
  • Statistical tools and their use in financial econometrics

This list also has fantastic economics paper topic ideas. But like the topics in the other sections, each of these notions requires extensive research to write a quality paper.

Exciting Econometrics Questions

Maybe you need a question to serve as the basis of your econometrics research. In that case, here are exciting queries to inspire you.

  • What is the current state of your country’s economy?
  • What’s the difference between the current state of the local and international trades?
  • What are the latest forecasts for the global economy?
  • How do the foreign exchange market and the local businesses relate?
  • What’s the impact of exportation and importation on the local economy?
  • How do businesses monopolies affect a country’s economy?
  • What are the effects of international banks on the local banking sector?
  • How does population growth affect economic development?
  • How can a natural disaster affect an emerging economy?
  • What techniques do companies use to “nudge” consumers into spending more?

This comprehensive list has some of the best econometrics ideas for essays and research papers. Nevertheless, having a topic is not a guarantee that you’ll write a good essay. You might still need help with your assignment after choosing a topic.

Get Help With Thesis About Econometrics Topic

Our crew comprises the most skilled, talented, and experienced econometrics writers. These professionals have helped many students complete their econometrics papers on varied topics. If stuck with an econometric essay or an MBA thesis , for example, and require a cheap dissertation writing service , our native, educated experts can help you. We’re the most knowledgeable econometrics writers online. Contact us now to get a custom, high-quality research paper on any econometrics topic!

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70 Econometrics Research Topics for You

Econometrics Research Topics

Econometrics is an interesting area of research. However, picking econometric research topics may be a bit difficult. This is because it is a broad aspect of economics with increasing relevance by the day.

Economic relationships can be accurately measured and defined. This involves a certain statistical and mathematical approach known as econometrics. It is the foundation for economic forecasting.

In this article, you will find 70 interesting econometrics topics crafted for you! We have done the hard work, saving you the stress of picking the right topics for your presentation, research work, or seminar. Are you ready? Let’s get started!

Easy Econometrics Paper Topics

Need to write an econometrics research paper? Here are some econometrics research paper topics for you!

  • The suggestion of theory- the initial step in econometrics methodology
  • How Inflation affects National Savings
  • Estimating variables- why it must be done
  • The essence of Proof-reading after estimating variables
  • Why the need for testing a hypothesis
  • How Trade Relates to Economic growth: An in-depth look.
  • Analyzing how Income Affects Life Insurance

Econometrics Research Topics for Undergraduates

Need to write an undergraduate econometrics research paper? Here are some econometrics topics suitable for undergraduate research purposes.

  • How poverty affects education
  • Relationship between childhood obesity and poverty
  • Income inequality and human development
  • The link between ideologies and religion on the economy of a country
  • Importation and income- what is the relationship?
  • Life expectancy and personal income- the link
  • How minimum wage affects unemployment

Econometrics Topics for a Project

If you are studying something around econometrics at college, you’ll need to do a project! Here are some econometrics research paper topics for your project!

  • Can econometrics be used to predict the future?
  • Econometrics is a source of numerical estimates for the variables of economic relationships
  • How to test economic theories presented by econometricians using econometrics
  • What is regression discontinuity, and how can it be applied?
  • The role of instrumental variables in econometrics
  • How randomized experiments aid econometrics
  • The essence of matching methods in econometrics

Interesting Econometrics Research Topics

If econometric research is one of the things that gives you goosebumps, we have added to your excitement. We just saved you the stress of having to look for interesting econometrics research topics. Here are 7 interesting econometrics topics for you!

  • A study of customer behavior for green products
  • Trade patterns- a research on the various kinds and their applications today
  • A study on rare events and their macroeconomics
  • A study of the effect of making a business international
  • Comparative institutional economics- relevance and impact
  • Research on the economies of scale
  • A close look at bank regulations and monetary policies

Sports Econometrics Topics

The economics of sport is analyzed using sports econometrics. This makes it easier to make forecasts and accurate predictions. We have selected interesting econometrics topics in the sports niche for you. See them here:

  • How a sports team affects the local economy
  • The impact of discrimination in sports
  • Sports attendance and its economic relevance
  • Factors that affect competitive balance in sports and its effect on the economy
  • The relationship between threshold efficiency and market competition in sports
  • The economics of professional football contracts
  • Professional hockey- skill, performance, and earnings

Financial Econometrics Research Topics

There are numerous topics for econometrics research papers. We have made it hassle-free for you to pick one for your next research work. Here are some econometrics topics research papers below.

  • Latest statistical tools for financial econometrics
  • A study on multiple regression model and its applications
  • What to learn from recent financial crises
  • Monetary policy- structuring and implementation
  • Cashless policy and its impact on the economy
  • The loan markets-A critical look and survey
  • Bank regulation and policy-the impact on the economy

Micro Econometrics Topics Suggestions

Micro econometrics is an interesting area to make a presentation. To this end, we have picked out seven relevant topics in econometrics that pertain to micro econometrics. See them below!

  • The methods and applications of micro econometrics
  • Micro econometric modeling
  • The role of the labor market in econometrics
  • How labor supply impacts the local economy
  • What is the spillover effect, and how does it affect econometrics?
  • The application of panel data methods- a subsection of microeconomics
  • Micro behavioral theory

Advanced Topics in Econometrics

Need some advanced econometrics topics? Here are some advanced econometrics research topics just for you.

  • The study and application of theoretical econometrics
  • General line model- definition, application, and relevance
  • Applied econometrics- the key to converting qualitative economic statements into quantitative ones
  • How productivity and goods production affects econometrics at the national level
  • The theory of arbitrage pricing
  • The impact of high or low demand of labor on the economy
  • Theoretical statistics vs. Analytical statistics

Good Simple Econometric Research Topics

Need some good econometrics topics that are easy to work on? Below are some simple topics in econometrics for your research!

  • The various concepts of stochastic processes
  • Accurate prediction of stochastic processes
  • Line time series model- its definition, estimation, and application
  • The purpose of dynamic econometric models
  • Multiple time series model- a critical approach to determine its application
  • The relevance of vector autoregressive processes
  • Causality and impulse-response analysis

Receive Your Econometrics Research Paper

Want someone to hand over simple research paper topics to you? The following are econometric paper topics selected for you!

  • The state of the national economy
  • InterInternal trades and local economic status
  • The impact of importation and exportation on the local economy
  • Supply and demand forecast
  • A critique on international banks
  • The foreign exchange market-how it relates to local businesses
  • Business monopolies in the nation- a critical study

If you’re pursuing a thesis in the field of econometrics and find yourself in need of expert support, you might want to consider seeking professional assistance for writing your thesis. Our reputable academic writing services provide specialized help that can alleviate the challenges you may encounter during the thesis writing process. By requesting us to ‘ write my thesis for me ,’ you can tap into the expertise of experienced writers who possess in-depth knowledge of econometrics. Our experts will guide you through the intricacies of data analysis, statistical modeling, and hypothesis testing, ensuring that your thesis adheres to the highest academic standards

We believe you now have more than enough topics in econometrics in your arsenal. With these interesting econometric topics, you can make the best seminar presentations or research around econometrics! Have fun!

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Economics Dissertation Topics

Published by Alvin Nicolas at January 11th, 2023 , Revised On April 16, 2024

The field of economics has changed entirely in recent times. Today, the field holds an extremely important place in every economy, with individual choices, spending, borrowing, production, occupations, markets, trading, employment, and a lot more being predicted and planned by economists.

Today, economists view economics from a modern and slightly different perspective than traditional economics. Different approaches in economics include perspectives like anthropology, sociology, geography, and various institutions.

Studying economics involving these perspectives provides a clearer view of the issues and problems related to the modern economic world. In contrast, focusing on the traditional economic approaches while selecting a topic will result in vague outcomes according to modern economics.

The most difficult task with respect to economics dissertations involves the  collection of data . Mostly the data required by the researcher must be in quantitative form. However, once data is collected, the researcher can focus on performing the analysis.

There are a number of economic perspectives that can be studied in detail. As your final project, you will want to select the most recent and relevant economics topic for your dissertation.

To help you get started with brainstorming for economics topic ideas, we have developed a list of the latest topics that can be used for writing your economics dissertation.

These topics have been developed by PhD-qualified writers of our team , so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting  a brief research proposal  from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an  introduction  to the problem,  research question , aim and objectives,  literature review  along with the proposed  methodology  of research to be conducted.  Let us know  if you need any help in getting started.

Check our  example dissertations to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

You can review step by step guide on how to write your dissertation.

Check our  example dissertation to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

2024 Economics Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: the influence of price and brand on consumer preference during an economic recession: a case of the clothing market in greece.

Research Aim: The research will aim to examine the impact of prices and brands on consumer buying behaviour during an economic recession in Greece’s clothing market. During an economic crisis, not all types of products suffer the same consequences. During a recession, people are more sensible in their buying decisions, and they frequently continue to choose known product brands that meet their demands. The study will look at the impact of the recession on consumer purchasing preferences, taking into account variations in spending on various apparel brands based on price.

Topic 2: The financial and non-financial support of the family members in the growth of a successful entrepreneurship

Research Aim: The research will aim to investigate the importance of financial and non-financial support of family members in the growth of successful entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a driving force in economic growth, social transformation, and organizational change. Private businesses (entrepreneurship) not only support a state’s social and economic growth but it also develops intellectual competition and innovation. Family members who are involved in business ventures can influence individuals’ goals to start new businesses, and they can also be considered as a means of economic and motivational strength.

Topic 3: The impact of transaction cost on economic development

Research Aim: The research will aim to explore the impact of transaction cost on the economic development of a country. The study will try to find the impact by using different methods and analyses. This article will investigate the difficulties of economic growth as they relate to transaction costs and how the latter produce various sorts of market failures. The study also explores several major contributions to the field of economic development, including market failure and growth barriers. Alternative perspectives on the failure of government and the market-government duality will also be examined.

Topic 4: What effect does oil price fluctuation have on business activity in oil-importing and exporting states?

Research Aim: The research will aim to find the influence of oil rate fluctuation on businesses of oil-importing and exporting countries. Change has a significant influence on the production costs of oil-importing countries and changes in pricing levels changes. At the same time, oil price variations have a significant impact on energy export profits and government budget revenues in energy-exporting economies.

Topic 5: The impact of gender inequality on work productivity and economic growth: A case study on developing countries

Research Aim: The research will aim to find the impact of gender inequality on work productivity and economic growth in developing countries. Gender inequality is not solely a concern in developing countries. Males earn more than women in practically every society. Differences in health, education, and negotiating power within marriage, on the other hand, tend to be bigger in countries with low Per capita income. Gender inequality in the office contributes to females’ lower socio-economic standing. Furthermore, such gender inequality may be associated with human resource rules and human resource related decision-making.

Topic 6: Research to identify the impacts of Coronavirus on the economy

Research Aim: This study will focus on identifying the impacts of coronavirus on the global economy.

Topic 7: Research to study the impacts of Coronavirus on the real estate sector

Research Aim: This research aims at identifying the impacts of coronavirus on the real estate sector. Is real estate a better option for investment during COVID-19?

Topic 8: Research to study the impacts of Coronavirus on the stock market

Research Aim: This research aims at identifying the impacts of coronavirus on the stock market.

Topic 9: Research to identify the impacts of Coronavirus on banking and the future of banking after the pandemic

Research Aim: This research aims at identifying the impacts of coronavirus on banking and the future of banking after the pandemic. What are the predictions? What challenges may come across? How to overcome those challenges?

Dissertation Topics on Economics 2023

Topic 1: economic expansion in bioenergy: a case study.

Research Aim: This research aims to conduct a case study on the economic expansion in bioenergy

Topic 2: Factors responsible for job creation and job destruction in the UK

Research Aim: This research aims to identify the factors responsible for job creation and job destruction in the UK.

Topic 3: Impacts of wars on the economy of both nations

Research Aim: This research aims to address how do wars impact the economy of both nations?

Topic 4: The role of banks in the economy of a country

Research Aim:  This research aims to highlight the role of Banks in the economy of a country. Students can choose any country to conduct the study.

Topic 5: Is an unhealthy country considered an emerging country?

Research Aim:  This research will answer the question: Is an unhealthy country considered a poor country?

Dissertation Topics Related to Economic Geography

Economic geography studies human economic activities with respect to various conditions such as location, distribution, production, consumption, exchange of resources, etc. Thus, studying the availability of all these resources, their development, and utilization is the main subject matter of economic geography.

In addition to studying these resources and their relationship with human economic activities, economic geography also helps study the interaction of these resources and variables with respect to nature and economic activities.

Economic geography is studied within different regions and localities in order to assess various human economic activities. Here are some economic geography dissertation topics to help you explore this field.

Topic 1: Role of local ethics and culture in shaping entrepreneurial economic development in various businesses.

Research Aim: This study will talk about the role of culture and ethics in shaping economic entrepreneurial attitudes in different fields of business.

Topic 2: Diversity in entrepreneurial approaches brought up by emigrants in the economics of a place: A critical analysis

Research Aim: This research will discuss whether entrepreneurial approaches be exported when emigrants move to a new place.

Topic 3: Assessing factors involved in facilitating knowledge transfer in a specific locality or place

Research Aim: This research will understand the various factors that play a role in transferring knowledge from one place or locality to another.

Topic 4: Economic opportunities provided within local boundaries. A case study of any specific area

Research Aim: This study will talk about the economic opportunities provided by local boundaries. This dissertation can be customised according to an area/region of your choice.

Topic 5: To discuss the role of the “European regional policy” in shaping or modifying places in the UK

Research Aim: This study will talk about the role of European regional policy in shaping and modifying UK places.

Topic 6: Location of top IT firms in the UK, the role of location on economics linked to a particular firm

Research Aim: This study will assess the economic geography of top IT firms in the UK that are linked to different firms.

Topic 7: Causes of regional diversity. Analysis and comparison between the richest and poorest places of the UK

Research Aim: This will be a comparative study between the richest and poorest places in the UK based on regional diversity.

Topic 8: Economics and expansion in bioenergy: A Case Study

Research Aim: This study will talk about economics and expansion in bioenergy, and a specific case will be under analysis.

Topic 9: Economic modifications faced by emigrants, causes and impacts

Research Aim: This research will talk about the various economic modifications that emigrants have to face and will also assess its causes and impacts.

Topic 16: A critical analysis of diversity in entrepreneurial attitudes in rural and urban areas

Research Aim: This will be a critical study that will assess diversity in entrepreneurial attitudes in both rural and urban areas.

How Can ResearchProspect Help?

ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service!

Dissertation Topics on Microeconomics

This branch of economics deals with economic perspectives on an individual level. It takes into account the allocation of various resources that are limited in nature. Different theories of microeconomics can be applied to markets where different products are bought and sold out.

In order to complete your graduation program, you will have to select the right economics topic that not only interests you but is relevant in today’s world. The suggested topics for you to choose from are listed below:

Topic 1: Difference in consumer attitudes in the UK over the past 15 years – Critical analysis of customer behaviour trends.

Research Aim: This research will compare the consumer attitude in the UK over the past 15 years and will study the trends.

Topic 2: Understanding to what extent does the concept of oligopoly exists in markets of the UK – A critical analysis

Research Aim: This study will first talk about oligopoly, and will then build and critically discuss how this concept exists in the UK market.

Topic 3: Laws and their impact on British firms.

Research Aim: This study will talk about the various laws in the UK that have an impact on various industries as a whole.

Topic 4: “European regional policy” and its effects on British small and medium enterprises

Research Aim: This research will study the European regional policy and the impacts this has on SMEs in the UK.

Topic 5: To discuss specific traits of the UK innovation organisation

Research Aim:  This research will understand the various traits of UK organisations that innovate.

Topic 6: Study of the characteristics of the energy market in the UK – A microeconomic approach

Research Aim: This study will undertake a microeconomic approach in order to understand the characteristics of the energy market in the UK.

Topic 7: Common traits of the top internet technology firms in the US – Analysis of the approaches adopted by different successful technology firms

Research Aim: This research will talk about the various traits of leading internet firms in the US and will analyse their different approaches

Topic 8: How is the concept of “economic convergence” linked to salary levels in the United States? – A critical analysis

Research Aim: This study will critically discuss economic convergence and how it is linked to salary levels in the US.

Topic 9: A Discussion on the use and role of various “pricing models” in making investment decisions.

Research Aim: This research will analyze the various pricing models that companies use to make decisions with respect to their investment.

Topic 10: Analysing salary inequalities in the United States and the forces behind such inequalities? – A Critical analysis

Research Aim: This study will talk about an important issue, i.e., salary inequalities in the US, and will also discuss the various forces that drive such inequalities.

Dissertation Topics on Employment Economics

Employment is a very important aspect that is studied in economics. Employment is interconnected with other academic subjects as well and affects people’s finances, which further determines their type of relationship with their environment or society.

Moreover, with the passage of time, technological advancements in various fields have impacted the labor market, which directly influenced the employment rate.  Dissertation topics  related to the field of employment economics are listed as under:

Topic 1: Factors responsible for the job creation and job destruction in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will talk about the different factors that are responsible for job creation and destruction in the United Kingdom.

Topic 2: Analysing to what extent the concept of self-employment prevails in the United Kingdom – Discuss the factors that determine it

Research Aim: This research will determine the extent to which the concept of self-employment prevails in the UK. Furthermore, the factors determining self-employment will also be explored.

Topic 3: Link between minimum wages and British employment. A critical analysis

Research Aim: This study will critically analyze the link between wages minimum wages and employment in Britain.

Topic 4: Understanding In what ways technological advancements have paved the way for a rise in British employment levels

Research Aim: This research will talk about the various ways through which technological advancements have helped increase employment in the British economy.

Topic 5: Exploring the value of labour in the United Kingdom– Skilled or unskilled labour? A Critical Analysis

Research Aim: This study will talk about the value of both types of labour, skilled and unskilled, in the UK. A critical analysis will be conducted as to which type of labour is more in demand in the economic system.

Topic 6: Analysing the levels and prevalence of self-employment in various parts of Europe. An Analysis of the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will discuss and analyse the levels and prevalence of self-employment in various parts across Europe. Special attention will be given to the UK in the study to understand the self-employment system.

Topic 7: In what ways does immigration affects British employment levels and productivity? Discuss

Research Aim: This research will talk about the various ways through which immigration affects British employment levels and productivity.

Topic 8: How can professional training impact British employment? Discuss

Research Aim: This study will talk about the impact of professional training on employment in the UK. The research will discuss if the impact was negative or positive.

Topic 9: Analysing the impact of gender inequality in employment on economic growth in the UK

Research Aim: This research will analyse the impact of gender inequality in employment on economic growth in the UK.

Topic 10: Economic productivity and Innovation – Are they both related? A study of the UK services industry

Research Aim: This research will help understand the relationship (if any) between economic productivity and innovation. The UK Services industry will be analyzed.

Dissertation Topics on Economic Sociology

This field refers to the study of sociological aspects from an economic perspective. Social networks are also one of the more important features in the economic world because they can contribute greatly to promoting a particular brand.

Different social gatherings are a source to highlight a particular industry, firm, and even a private setup. They can contribute greatly to building successful businesses. Following are some economic sociology dissertation topics for you to choose from:

Topic 1: Exploring Innovation Activities for the promotion of a particular firm/industry/brand

Research Aim: This research will talk about all the innovative activities that take place while promoting a brand or a company in an industry. This topic can be customised according to a brand/company of your choosing.

Topic 2: Understanding the role of families in funding a particular firm

Research Aim: This research will talk about the family funding of businesses, the whole process and how it takes place. You can choose an industry of your choice to base your dissertation on.

Topic 3: Can a blend of different cultures contribute to increasing the level of productivity? Evidence from a UK firm

Research Aim : This research will discuss how various cultures contribute to increasing productivity levels. A UK firm will be chosen for this research.

Topic 4: Social capital plays its role in the rural areas in the UK – A critical analysis

Research Aim: This research will talk about social capital and its role in the rural areas of the UK.

Topic 5: Youth as one of the biggest supports in the promotion of economic agents

Research Aim: This research will help understand the relationship (if any) between economic productivity and innovation. The UK services industry will be analysed.

Topic 6: Exploring the role of university networks in shaping entrepreneurial behaviours and actions

Research Aim: This study will help explore the role of university networks in shaping entrepreneurial actions and behaviours.

Topic 43: Role of social entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This study will talk about the role of social entrepreneurship in the UK and how it has emerged.

Topic 8: Diverse culture and productivity enhancement – How are the two related?

Research Aim: This study will talk about whether diverse culture has an impact on productivity enhancement in the UK or not.

Topic 9: Exploring the Impact of social networks on the success of Brands

Research Aim: This study will talk about the impact of social networks on the success of brands and how they impact businesses. You can choose a brand for this dissertation.

Topic 10: Understanding the ‘peer’ factor in setting up businesses

Research Aim: Setting up a business involves various factors, and an essential one is a support from peers. This research will explore this aspect of support when starting a business and the impact it has.

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Dissertation Topics on Institutional Economics

Institutional economics helps in understanding the role of institutions in shaping economic behaviour. Certain institutions promote certain values, beliefs and norms, and they impact the public in a certain way.

These institutions can affect the economics of a certain region and help shape economic life and behaviour. Institutional economics is still an emerging field. Following are some institutional economics dissertation topics that you can base your dissertation on.

Topic 1: Assessing the factors behind the power of a successful firm. How is it built?

Research Aim: This research will discuss the various factors that help companies build power in the industry and impact the economy.

Topic 2: Analysing the impact of cultural mix on the organisation of firms in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This study will analyse the impact of diverse cultures on organisations in the UK.

Topic 3: Evaluating the role of bureaucracy in the productivity levels of the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will help in evaluating the role of bureaucracy on productivity levels in the UK.

Topic 4: Understanding various methods to ensure economic efficiency in the property markets of the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This study will understand the different ways through which economic efficiency is ensured in the UK property markets.

Topic 5: Impacts of transaction costs on economic development?

Research Aim: This research will evaluate how economic development is impacted by transaction costs.

Topic 6: Analysing the major forces operating behind the concept of control and ownership in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This study will help analyse the major forces that control and own institutions in the UK and how they impact the economy.

Topic 7: Traits of British managers and investors. A Comparative analysis

Research Aim: This will be an interesting study as it will talk about the various traits of British managers and investors.

Topic 8: Role of educational aspects in entrepreneurship

Research Aim: This research will explore the role of education concerning entrepreneurship, i.e. how does education help build entrepreneurs, which in turn benefits the economy.

Topic 9: The concept of latent entrepreneurship – A comparison between the United Kingdom and Europe

Research Aim: This study will understand the concept of latent entrepreneurship by comparing the UK environment with that of Europe.

Topic 10: Is the profit of a firm dependent on its size? Evidence from the manufacturing firms in the UK

Research Aim: This research will help in understanding whether the profit of a company is dependent on the business’ size or not. The UK Manufacturing industry will be explored.

Dissertation Topics on Environmental Economics

Environment and economics share a unique and close relationship. The environment can affect economics in a good or bad way. There are various environmental economic issues that should be addressed. Following are some of the pressing issues pertaining to environmental economics that you can choose as your dissertation topic.

Topic 1: To what extent is the environment responsible for shaping business behaviours? A critical analysis

Research Aim: This research will talk about the extent to which the environment is responsible for building business behaviours.

Topic 2: Economics in relation to biodiversity and nature conservation. An evidence-based study

Research Aim: This research will discuss economics in relation to biodiversity and nature conservation.

Topic 3: Assessing the role of NGO’s and organizations to promote a healthy environment through fundraising programs

Research Aim: This research will help in assessing the role of NGOs and organisations in promoting healthy environments through various fundraising programs.

Topic 4: Willingness to pay for various recycling programs – A case study of the United Kingdom.

Research Aim : This research will help understand the different recycling programs by evaluating a UK-based case study.

Topic 5: Incentives regarding land and water management – A case study of the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will talk about various incentives relating to land and water management. A UK-based case study will be chosen.

Topic 6: Economic value of historical places: A critical analysis

Research Aim: This research will talk about the economic value of historical places and will present a critical analysis.

Topic 7: In which field is it cheapest to reduce or cut carbon emissions? Discuss.

Research Aim: This research will talk about the impacts of carbon emissions and will discuss in which field it will be cheapest to reduce or eliminate such emissions.

Topic 8: Ethanol production from an economic perspective. Discuss.

Research Aim: This research will help in exploring ethanol production with respect to economics.

Topic 9: Environmental improvements in regards to locational differences in communities Discuss in an economic approach

Research Aim: This research will present various environmental improvements with respect to locational differences in communities.

Topic 10: Climate change in relation to economics. Discuss

Research Aim: This research will talk about an important issue, i.e. climate change and the impact it has on economics.

Dissertation Topics on Regional Development

Economic growth can also be studied at a regional level. This field considers economic perspectives on a smaller level with a focus on trade between regions. Suggestions for dissertation topics in this field are listed as follows:

Topic 1: Evaluating the link between profit and regional development?

Research Aim: This research will evaluate the link between profit and regional development with respect to economics.

Topic 2: Assessing the “regional development policy” in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This study will talk about the regional development policy in the UK.

Topic 3: Discussing the role of learning or knowledge gaining involved in regional development?

Research Aim: This research will explore the role of knowledge and learning that helps promote regional development.

Topic 4: Assessing the existence of location theories that contribute towards the development and understanding of regional development

Research Aim: This research will assess the existence of locational theories that help contribute towards the development and understanding of regional development.

Topic 5: Evaluating the role that technology plays in regional development? A UK case study

Research Aim: This research will evaluate the role that technology plays in promoting regional development.

Topic 6: Exploring entrepreneurship and its regional aspects in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will help explore entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship network with respect to regional development in the UK.

Topic 7: Role of Institutional setups in regional development

Research Aim: This study will talk about the role of institutional setups in regional development.

Topic 8: Assessing the relationship between unemployment and entrepreneurship in the light of evidence from British relationship

Research Aim: This research will assess the relationship between unemployment and entrepreneurship in the UK.

Find 100s of dissertation topics for other research areas.

Topic 9: In what ways the UK and the European firms are different in terms of innovation – A critical analysis

Research Aim: This research will help in understanding the various ways in which the UK and European firms are different with respect to innovation.

Topic 10: Assessing the role of regional co-operation in developing sustainable advantage

Research Aim: This research will help in assessing the role of regional cooperation in developing sustainable advantage amongst regions

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Important Notes

As a student of economics looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment on existing economics theories – i.e., to add value and interest in your research topic.

The field of economics is vast and interrelated to so many other academic disciplines like civil engineering ,  construction ,  law , engineering management , healthcare , mental health , artificial intelligence , tourism , physiotherapy , sociology , management , marketing and nursing . That is why it is imperative to create a project management dissertation topic that is articular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic; it is the basis of your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in  writing your dissertation  as you may end up in the cycle of rejection at the very initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

Keeping our advice in mind while developing a research topic will allow you to pick one of the best economics dissertation topics that not only fulfil your requirement of writing a research paper but also adds to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalizing your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and can also be practically implemented. Take a look at some of our sample economics dissertation topics to get an idea for your own dissertation.

How to Structure your Economics Dissertation

A well-structured dissertation can help students to achieve a high overall academic grade.

  • A Title Page
  • Acknowledgments
  • Declaration
  • Abstract: A summary of the research completed
  • Table of Contents
  • Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems to be addressed. An outline of the structure of a dissertation  can also be added to this chapter.
  • Literature Review :  This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature available on the chosen research topic, in light of  research questions  to be addressed. The purpose is to highlight and discuss the relative weaknesses and strengths of the selected research area while identifying any research gaps. Break down of the topic, and key terms can have a positive impact on your dissertation and your tutor.
  • Methodology:  The  data collection  and  analysis  methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter which usually includes  research design, research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and  data analysis strategy .
  • Findings and Analysis:  Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include  graphs ,  charts, and  tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
  • Discussion  and  Conclusion: The researcher presents his interpretation of results in this chapter, and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section is to establish the link between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regards to implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
  • References:  Make sure to complete this in accordance with your University’s requirements
  • Bibliography
  • Appendices:  Any additional information, diagrams, graphs that were used to  complete the dissertation  but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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  • Seek topics aligning with your passion and career aspirations.

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Students in the School of Economics at the University of Nottingham consistently produce work of a very high standard in the form of coursework essays, dissertations, research work and policy articles.

Below are some examples of the excellent work produced by some of our students. The authors have agreed for their work to be made available as examples of good practice.

Undergraduate dissertations

  • The Causal Impact of Education on Crime Rates: A Recent US Analysis . Emily Taylor, BSc Hons Economics, 2022
  • Does a joint income taxation system for married couples disincentivise the female labour supply? Jodie Gollop, BA Hons Economics with German, 2022
  • Conditional cooperation between the young and old and the influence of work experience, charitable giving, and social identity . Rachel Moffat, BSc Hons Economics, 2021
  • An Extended Literature Review on the Contribution of Economic Institutions to the Great Divergence in the 19th Century . Jessica Richens, BSc Hons Economics, 2021
  • Does difference help make a difference? Examining whether young trustees and female trustees affect charities’ financial performance. Chris Hyland, BSc Hons Economics, 2021

Postgraduate dissertations

  • The impact of Covid-19 on the public and health expenditure gradient in mortality in England . Alexander Waller, MSc Economic Development & Policy Analysis, 2022
  • Impact of the Child Support Grant on Nutritional Outcomes in South Africa: Is there a ‘pregnancy support’ effect? . Claire Lynam, MSc Development Economics, 2022
  • An Empirical Analysis of the Volatility Spillovers between Commodity Markets, Exchange Rates, and the Sovereign CDS Spreads of Commodity Exporters . Alfie Fox-Heaton, MSc Financial Economics, 2022
  • The 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season and Labour Market Transitions . Edward Allenby, MSc Economics, 2022
  • The scope of international agreements . Sophia Vaaßen, MSc International Economics, 2022

Thank you to all those students who have agreed to have their work showcased in this way.

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Our PhD Program in Economics is widely recognized for our faculty, whose insights have changed the course of modern-day economic research.

The Chicago School of Economics. It all started here at the University of Chicago.

Fields of specialization in the Economics Stevens Doctoral Program include price theory, market design, industrial organization, behavioral economics, development economics, labor economics, public economics, health economics, urban economics, financial economics, and economic history.

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Chicago Booth faculty have been responsible for many of the pioneering economic concepts that inform today’s global businesses and policymaking. And they’ll be your teachers, mentors, and research collaborators. For our macroeconomics faculty, visit the Booth faculty directory  and select “Macro/International Business” under “Academic Area.”

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Emir Kamenica

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Jacob Leshno

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Andrew McClellan

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Jack Mountjoy

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Sendhil Mullainathan

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Matthew Notowidigdo

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Alumni have written dissertations in industrial organization, labor economics, microeconomics, and other related areas. Upon graduation, they go onto Career Outcomes in academics, government, and industry.

Olivia Bordeu, MA '24, PhD '24

2024-2025: Postdoctoral Scholar; 2025: Assistant Professor of Economics 2024-2025: International Economics Section (IES), Princeton University; 2025: Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley Olivia studies topics in urban and spatial economics. She is currently focused on understanding the mechanisms behind different geographic costs or frictions, such as the determinants of commuting costs in cities and frictions to the mobility of capital across cities. Her dissertation area is in economics.

Nick Tsivanidis, PhD '18

Assistant Professor in the Real Estate Group Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley Nick researches topics related to urbanization in developing countries. His current interests center on policy issues around transport and housing, with projects in India, Nigeria, Colombia and Brazil. His dissertation area is in economics.

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Doctoral students at Booth have access to the resources of several high-powered research centers that offer funding for student work, host workshops and conferences, and foster a strong research community.

Becker Friedman Institute for Economics Bringing together researchers from the entire Chicago economics community, the Becker Friedman Institute fosters novel insights on the world’s most difficult economic problems.

George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State Dedicated to examining issues at the intersection of politics and the economy, the Stigler Center supports research by Doctoral students and others who are interested in the political, economic, and cultural obstacles to better working markets.

Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation Committed to making the world more equitable and sustainable, the Rustandy Center works to solve complex social and environmental problems. The center’s student support includes fellowships, research funding, and networking opportunities.

Fama-Miller Center for Research in Finance Tasked with pushing the boundaries of research in finance, the Fama-Miller Center provides institutional structure and support for researchers in the field.

Center for Research in Security Prices CRSP maintains one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive stock market databases. Since 1963, it has been a valued resource for businesses, government, and scholars.

The Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets Enhancing the understanding of business and financial market globalization, the Clark Center for Global Markets positions Chicago Booth as a thought leader in the understanding of ever-changing markets and improves financial and economic decision-making around the world.

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The Journal of Labor Economics presents international research on the relationship between labor and the economy.

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Spotlight on Research

Our faculty and PhD students continually produce high-level research. The Chicago Booth Review frequently highlights their contributions in economics.

To Keep Students Focused, Try Paying Their Parents

A study of subsidized training programs and incentives. Research from Hamna Ahmed (Lahore School of Economics), Zunia Tirmazee (Lahore), Rebecca Wu (UChicago PhD), and Emma Zhang (Chicago Booth PhD), suggest that including parents in decision-making may be most effective.

How Demolishing Public Housing Increased Inequity

A study by Chicago Booth's Milena Almagro, Eric Chyn (University of Texas), and Bryan A. Stuart (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) investigate what happened to Chicago's public housing system and find that demolishing public housing increased inequality.

Why Medical Tourism Could Be Good Policy

Rather than investing in putting more medical facilities in remote areas, it could be more effective to pay for patients to visit healthcare facilities, according to research by Chicago Booth's Johnathan Dingel, Joshua D. Gottlieb (UChicago Harris School), Maya Lozinski (Harris PhD) and Pauline Mourot (Chicago Booth PhD). 

NBER Dissertation Fellowship in Consumer Financial Management

The National Bureau of Economics (NBER) awarded PhD Student, Benedict Guttman-Kenney, a dissertation fellowship to support his research in the economics of credit information.

Inside the Booth PhD Experience

Nick Tsivanidis, PhD ’18, talks about the culture of interdisciplinary study he found at Booth.

Nick

Video Transcript

Nick Tsivanidis, ’18: 00:03 My PhD thesis was about how commute costs shape economic organization in cities. Billions of people over the next 50, 100 years, they're going to be moving into mostly developing cities. Governments are going to spend huge amounts of money on providing new infrastructure to try and accommodate them. My project had both macro and applied micro elements. One of the benefits of Booth is that you have access to people from a wide range of areas who are very happy to encourage you to work on interdisciplinary topics.

Nick Tsivanidis, ’18: 00:38 I've always been interested in development and in particular how cities and countries can use evidence-based policy to try and improve welfare of their citizens. I've decided that pursuing a PhD would allow me to research and help translate that research into policy. What attracted me to the PhD program here at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business was this culture of interdisciplinary study. People at Chicago certainly aren't scared or will shy away from trying to think at the intersection of different areas. This is where a lot of very fruitful and productive new research actually takes place, which is at the border of frontiers. That really attracted me to come here.

Current Economics Students

From the effects of government regulation on economies to the impact of urban transit infrastructures, our PhD students examine a wide range of economic issues. When they graduate, they go on to positions at some of the top universities and companies in the world.

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Franco Calle Hannah Case

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The Stevens Doctoral Program at Chicago Booth is a full-time program. Students generally complete the majority of coursework and examination requirements within the first two years of studies and begin work on their dissertation during the third year. For details, see General Examination Requirements by Area in the Stevens Program Guidebook below.

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econometrics dissertation

134 Economics Thesis Topics: Ideas for Outstanding Writing

econometrics dissertation

Writing a thesis is not an easy task. For most of the students, it can be even intimidating, especially when you do not know where to start your research.

Here, we have provided an economics thesis topics list. After all, everyone knows that choosing the right idea is crucial when writing an academic paper. In economics, it can combine history, math, social studies, politics, and numerous other subjects. You should also have solid foundations and a sound factual basis for a thesis. Without these elements, you won’t be able to master your research paper.

The issue is:

It is not always clear what could be seen as an excellent economics thesis topic. Our experts can assist you with this challenge. This list contains some outstanding examples to get you started.

  • ⭐ Thesis in Economics
  • 🔥 Supreme Thesis Topics
  • 👍 Bachelor’s Thesis
  • 😲 Master’s Thesis

📊 Microeconomics

📈 macroeconomics.

  • 🤔 Developmental
  • 👨‍💼 Behavioral
  • 💼 Financial
  • 🌱 Agricultural
  • 🤝‍ Sociology
  • 📚 Ph.D. Topics
  • 📝 How to Pick a Topic

⭐ What Does a Thesis in Economics Look Like?

A good thesis in economics is a blend between an empirical paper and a theoretical one. One of the essential steps in choosing a topic in economics is to decide which one you will write.

You may write, research, analyze statistical data and other information. Or build and study a specific economic model.

Or why not both!

Here are some questions you can ask when deciding what topic to choose:

  • What has already been written on this topic?
  • What economic variables will my paper study?
  • Where should I look for the data?
  • What econometrics techniques should I use?
  • What type of model will I study?

The best way to understand what type of research you have to do is to write a thesis proposal. You will most probably be required to submit it anyway. Your thesis supervisor will examine your ideas, methods, list of secondary and primary sources. At some universities, the proposal will be graded.

Master’s thesis and Bachelor’s thesis have three main differences.

After you get the initial feedback, you will have a clear idea of what to adjust before writing your thesis. Only then, you’ll be able to start.

🔥 Supreme Economics Thesis Topics List

  • Fast fashion in India.
  • The UK housing prices.
  • Brexit and European trade.
  • Behavioral economics.
  • Healthcare macroeconomics.
  • COVID-19’s economic impact.
  • Global gender wage gap.
  • Commodity dependence in Africa.
  • International trade – developing countries.
  • Climate change and business development.

👍 Economics Bachelor’s Thesis Topics

At the U.S. Universities, an undergraduate thesis is very uncommon. However, it depends on the Department Policy.

The biggest challenge with the Bachelor’s Thesis in economics concerns its originality. Even though you are not required to conduct entirely unique research, you have to lack redundant ideas.

You can easily avoid making this mistake by simply choosing one of these topics. Also, consider visiting IvyPanda essays database. It’s a perfect palce to conduct a brainstorming session and come up with fresh ideas for a paper, as well as get tons of inspiration.

  • The impact of the oil industry on the economic development of Nigeria. The oil industry is vital for the economic development of Nigeria. In this thesis, students can discuss the notion of the resource curse. Analyze the reasons why general people are not benefiting from the oil industry. Why did it produce very little change in the social and economic growth of the country?
  • Sports Marketing and Advertising: the impact it has on the consumers.
  • Economic opportunities and challenges of investing in Kenya .
  • Economic Development in the Tourism Industry in Africa. Since the early 1990s, tourism significantly contributed to the economic growth of African countries. In this thesis, students can talk about the characteristics of the tourist sector in Africa. Or elaborate on specific countries and how their national development plans look like.
  • Globalization and its significance to business worldwide .
  • Economic risks connected to investing in Turkey .
  • The decline in employment rates as the biggest American economy challenge .
  • The economics of alcohol abuse problems. In this thesis, students can develop several essential issues. First, they can examine how poverty is connected to alcohol abuse. Second, they can see the link between alcohol consumption and productivity. To sum up, students can elaborate on the economic costs of alcohol abuse.
  • Causes and solutions for unemployment in Great Britain.
  • Parallel perspective on Global Economic Order: China and America. This thesis can bring a comparative analysis of the economies to a new level. China and The US are the world’s two largest economies. These two countries have a significant impact on the global economic order. So, looking at the set of institutions, policies, rules can be constructive.
  • The new international economic order after COVID-19
  • Financial stability of the banking sector in China.
  • New Electronic Payment Services in Russia.
  • The influence of culture on different entrepreneurial behaviors.
  • The impact of natural cultural practices on entrepreneurial activity.
  • The relationships between national culture and individual behavior.
  • The main reasons for salary inequalities in different parts of the U.S.

😲 Economics Master’s Thesis Topics

Student life can be fascinating, but it comes with its challenges. One of which is selecting your Master’s thesis topic.

Here is a list of topics for a Master’s thesis in economics. Are you pursuing MPhil in Economics and writing a thesis? Use the following ideas as an inspiration for that. They can also be helpful if you are working on a Master’s thesis in financial economics.

  • The impact of visual aid in teaching home economics.
  • The effect of income changes in consumer behaviors in America.
  • Forces behind socio-economic inequalities in the United States. This thesis can explore three critical factors for socio-economic differences in the United States. In the past 30 years, social disparities increased in the United States. Some of the main reasons are technology, trade, and institutions.
  • The relationships between economic growth and international development.
  • Technological innovations and their influence on green and environmental products.
  • The economics of non-solar renewable energy .

Renewable energy is beneficial for various economic reasons.

  • The economic consequences of terrorism . Terrorism not only takes away lives and destroys property but also widely affects the economy. It creates uncertainty in the market, increases insurance claims, slows down investment projects, and tourism. This thesis can address all of the ways in which terrorism can affect economies.
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) implementation in the Oil and Gas Industry in Africa.
  • Use of incentives in behavioral economics.
  • Economic opportunities and challenges of sustainable communities .
  • Economics of nuclear power plants.
  • Aid and financial help for emerging markets. This topic is very versatile. Students can look at both the positive and the adverse effects that funding has on the development. There are plenty of excellent examples. Besides, some theories call international help a form of neocolonialism.
  • Multinational firms impact on economic growth in America .
  • The effect of natural disasters on economic development in Asia.
  • The influence of globalization on emerging markets and economic development.

📑 More Economics Thesis Topics: Theme

For some students, it makes more sense to center their search around a certain subject. Sometimes you have an econ area that interests you. You may have an idea about what you want to write, but you did not decide what it will be.

If that’s the case with you, then these economics thesis topics ideas are for you.

  • An analysis of the energy market in Russia.
  • The impact of game theory on economic development.
  • The connection between minimum wage and market equilibrium.
  • Gender differences in the labor market in the United States. This topic can shed light on gender differences in the labor market in the United States. In the past years, the overall inequality in labor in the markets decreased. However, there is still a lot of work that can be done.
  • Economic reasons that influence the prices of oil .
  • Relationship between the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient.
  • Challenges of small businesses in the market economy.
  • The changes in oil prices: causes and solutions . Universal economic principles do not always apply to the sale and purchase of the oil. The same happens with its cost. In the thesis, talk about what affects the prices. What are the solutions that can be implemented?
  • The economic analysis of the impact of immigration on the American economy.

Immigration has a little long-run effect on Americans’ wages.

  • Economic inequality as a result of globalization . Economic inequality becomes even more apparent on the global level. There is a common belief that globalization is the cause of that. Discuss what can be the solutions to these problems. This topic is vital to minimize the gap between the rich and the poor.
  • The economic explanation of political dishonesty .
  • Effect of Increasing Interest rates costs in Africa .
  • The connection between game theory and microeconomics.
  • Marketing uses in microeconomics.
  • Financial liability in human-made environmental disasters.
  • Banks and their role in the economy. Banks are crucial elements of any economy, and this topic covers why. You can explain how banks allow the goods and services to be exchanged. Talk about why banks are so essential for economic growth and stability.
  • Inflation in the US and ways to reduce its impact.
  • The connection between politics and economics.
  • Income Dynamics and demographic economics.
  • US Market Liquidity and macroeconomics.
  • Macroeconomics and self-correction of the economy .
  • The American economy, monetary policy, and monopolies .
  • The importance of control in macroeconomics. One of the central topics in macroeconomics is grouped around the issue of control. It is quite reasonable that control over money and resources should become a topic of discussion.
  • Analysis of Africa’s macroeconomics and its performance.
  • Economics of education in developing markets.
  • Problems and possible solutions for Japan macroeconomics .
  • Comparative analysis of British macroeconomics concerning the US .
  • Public policies and socio-economic disparities.
  • The world problems through macroeconomic analysis. Indeed, macroeconomics is very complicated. There are many influences, details, and intricacies in it. However, it allows economists to use this complex set of tools to examine the world’s leading problems today.

There are four main problems in macroeconomics.

  • The connection between employment interest and money.

🤔 Development Economics

  • Economics of development . This topic is very rich in content. First, explain what it is. Then pay particular attention to domestic and international policies that affect development, income distribution, and economic growth.
  • The relation between development and incentive for migration.
  • The impact of natural disasters on the economy and political stability of emerging markets.
  • The economic consequences of population growth in developing countries.
  • The role of industrialization in developing countries . The industrialization has been connected with the development. It promotes capital formation and catalyzes economic growth in emerging markets. In this thesis, you can talk about this correlation.
  • Latin American economic development.
  • Gender inequality and socio-economic development .
  • Problems of tax and taxation in connection with economic growth.
  • The economic impact of terrorism on developing markets.
  • Religious decline as a key to economic development. Not everyone knows, but a lot of research has been done in the past years on the topic. It argues that decreased religious activity is connected with increased economic growth. This topic is quite controversial. Students who decide to write about it should be extra careful and polite.

👨‍💼 Behavioral Economics

  • Risk Preferences in Rural South Africa.
  • Behavioral Economics and Finance .
  • Applied behavioral economics in marketing strategies. If you want to focus your attention on marketing, this topic is for you. Behavioral economics provides a peculiar lens to look at marketing strategies. It allows marketers to identify common behaviors and adapt their marketing strategies.
  • The impact of behavioral finance on investment decisions.
  • Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs in North Texas.
  • Guidelines for Behavioral Economics in Healthcare Sector.
  • Cognitive and behavioral theories in economics .
  • Cross-cultural consumer behavior and marketing communication. Consumers are not only affected by personal characteristics, but also by the culture they are living in. This topic focuses on the extent it should determine marketing strategy and communication.
  • Behavior implications of wealth and inequality.

The richest population holds a huge portion of the national income.

  • Optimism and pessimism for future behavior.

💼 Financial Economics

  • Financial Economics for Infrastructure and Fiscal Policy .
  • The use of the economic concept of human capital. Students can focus on the dichotomy between human and nonhuman capital. Many economists believe that human capital is the most crucial of all. Some approach this issue differently. Therefore, students should do their research and find where they stand on this issue.
  • The analysis of the global financial crisis of 2020s. Share your thoughts, predictions, ideas. Analyze the economic situation that affects almost everyone in the world. This thesis topic will be fresh and original. It can help to start a good and fruitful conversation.
  • The big data economic challenges for Volvo car.
  • The connection between finance, economics, and accounting.
  • Financial economics: Banks competition in the UK .
  • Risk-Taking by mutual funds as a response to incentives.
  • Managerial economics and financial accounting as a basis for business decisions.
  • Stock market overreaction.

🌱 Agricultural Economics

  • Agricultural economics and agribusiness.
  • The vulnerability of agricultural business in African countries.
  • Agricultural economics and environmental considerations of biofuels .
  • Farmer’s contribution to agricultural social capital.
  • Agricultural and resource economics. Agricultural and resource economics plays a huge role in development. They are subdivided into four main characteristics which in this topic, students can talk about: – mineral and energy resources; – soil resources, water resources; – biological resources. One or even all of them can be a focus of the thesis.
  • Water as an economic good in irrigated agriculture.
  • Agriculture in the economic development of Iran.
  • The US Agricultural Food Policy and Production .
  • Pesticides usage on agricultural products in California.

The region of greatest pesticide use was San Joaquin Valley.

  • An analysis of economic efficiency in agriculture. A lot of research has been done on the question of economic efficiency in agriculture. However, it does not mean there is no place for your study. You have to read a lot of secondary sources to see where your arguments can fit.

🤝‍Economic Sociology

  • Theory, approach, and method in economics sociology.
  • Economic sociology of capitalism. While economists believe in the positive effect capitalism has on the economy, the social effect is quite different. The “economic” part of the issue has been studied a lot. However, the sociology of it has been not. This thesis can be very intriguing to read.
  • Political Economy and Economic Sociology.
  • Gender and economic sociology .
  • Progress, sociology, and economics.
  • Data analysis in economics, sociology, environment .
  • Economic sociology as a way to understand the human mind.
  • Economic sociology of money.
  • Economics, sociology, and psychology of security.
  • Major principles of economic sociology. In the past decade, economic sociology became an increasingly popular field. Mainly due to it giving a new view on economics, human mind, and behavior. Besides, it explores relationships between politics, law, culture, and gender.

📚 The List of Ph.D. Topics in Economics

If you decide to go to grad school to do your Masters, you will likely end up getting a Ph.D. as well. So, with this plan in mind, think about a field that interests you enough during your Masters. Working with the same topic for both graduate degrees is easier and more effective.

This list of Ph.D. Topics in Economics can help you identify the areas you can work on.

  • Occupational injuries in Pakistan and its effect on the economy. Injuries are the leading cause of the global burden of disability. Globally, Pakistan was ranked 9th populated country with a large number of unskilled workers. In this dissertation, consider the link between occupational injuries and their effects on the economy.
  • The study of the Philippines’ economic development.

The Philippine economy is projected to continue on its expansionary path.

  • Financial derivatives and climate change .
  • Econometric Analysis of Financial Markets.
  • Islamic Banking and Financial Markets .
  • Health economics and policy in the UK.
  • Health insurance: rationale and economic justification. In this dissertation, students can find different ways to explain and justify health insurance. Starting to philosophical to purely economic grounds. In the past years, there was a lot of discussion regarding the healthcare system for all. What are some of the economic benefits of that?
  • Colombian economy, economic growth, and inequality.
  • Benefits of mergers and acquisitions in agribusiness.
  • Methods to measure financial risks when investing in Africa.
  • The significance of financial economics in understanding the relationship between a country’s GDP and NDP.
  • Network effects in cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are not new anymore. However, it is still an original subject for a dissertation. Students can decide to choose several crypto coins and evaluate the importance of the network effect. This effect is particularly significant for Bitcoin. Explain why.
  • The comparison of the Chinese growth model with the American growth model.
  • An economic justification versus political expediency.
  • Pollution Externalities Role in Management Economics .

📝 How to Select an Economics Thesis Topic

As your academic journey is coming to an end, it’s time to pick the right topic for your thesis. The whole academic life you were preparing to undertake this challenge.

Here is the list of six points that will help you to select an economics thesis topic:

  • Make sure it is something you are genuinely interested in. It is incredibly challenging to write something engaging if you are not interested in the topic. So, choose wisely and chose what excites you.
  • Draw inspiration from the previous student’s projects. A great place to start is by looking at what the previous students wrote. You can find some fresh ideas and a general direction.
  • Ask your thesis advisor for his feedback. Most probably, your thesis advisor supervised many students before. They can be a great help too because they know how to assess papers. Before meeting with your professor, do some basic research, and understand what topic is about.
  • Be original, but not too much. You do not want to spend your time writing about a project that many people wrote about. Your readers will not be interested in reading it, but your professors as well. However, make sure you do not pick anything too obscure. It will leave you with no secondary sources.
  • Choose a narrow and specific topic. Not only will it allow you to be more original, but also to master a topic. When the issue is too broad, there is just too much information to cover in one thesis.
  • Go interdisciplinary. If you find yourself interested in history, philosophy, or any other related topic, it can help you write an exceptional thesis in economics. Most of your peers may work on pure economics. Then, the interdisciplinary approach can help you to stand out among them.

Some universities ask their students to focus on topics from one discipline.

Thank you for reading the article to the end! We hope this list of economics thesis topics ideas could help you to gather your thoughts and get inspired. Share it with those who may find it useful. Let us know what you think about it in the comment section below.

🔗 References

  • Economics Thesis Topics List: Seminars Only
  • How To Pick A Topic For Your Economics Research Project Or Master’s Thesis: INOMICS, The Site for Economists
  • What Do Theses and Dissertations Look Like: KU Writing Center, the University of Kansas
  • Writing Economics: Robert Neugeboren with Mireille Jacobson, University of Harvard
  • Economics Ph.D. Theses: Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School, IDEAS_RePEc
  • World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018: United Nations
  • Undergraduate Honors Theses: Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
  • Economics Department Dissertations Collection: Economics Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Topics for Master Theses: Department of Economics, NHH, Norwegian School of Economics
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The dilemma I faced in getting Thesis proposal for my M Phil programme is taken away. Your article would be a useful guide to many more students.Thank you for your guidance.

Thanks for the feedback, John! Your opinion is very important for us!

I wants it for msc thesis

These are very helpful and concise research topics which I have spent days surfing the internet to get all this while. Thanks for making research life experience easier for me. Keep this good work up.

Thank you, Idris!

Glad to hear that! Thank you for your feedback, Idris!

Excellent research

For research

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The Economics Network

Improving economics teaching and learning for over 20 years

Undergraduate Dissertations in Economics

A practical guide

1. Introduction

2. the uk experience, 3. the dissertation life-cycle, 4. an alternative to the dissertation.

Emeritus Professor Peter Smith, University of Southampton  First published 2009  Revised version July 2016

https://doi.org/10.53593/n169a

For many students, the dissertation is the culmination of their undergraduate careers, and a rewarding and satisfying experience that gives them the opportunity to undertake an in-depth study of a topic that interests them. However, it can also become a traumatic and disillusioning venture for students who do not engage with the research, or who have a bad experience with some aspect of the dissertation process.

This chapter sets out to share good practice and provide guidance for co-ordinators, curriculum planners and supervisors, highlighting danger areas and providing discussion of some of the more contentious aspects of the dissertation process.

A key aim of any honours degree programme in the UK is to encourage students to become independent learners. This is no easy task in an environment in which many students arrive from school or college with preconceived notions of what is meant by study, and an array of expectations about the support they will receive from academic staff, not to mention the feedback and interaction with staff that they can expect.

The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) in August 2008 set out the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland , which contains the following descriptor for a Bachelor’s degree with honours:

‘Bachelor's degrees with honours are awarded to students who have demonstrated:

  • a systematic understanding of key aspects of their field of study, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of a discipline
  • an ability to deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within a discipline
  • to devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of a discipline
  • to describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline
  • an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge
  • the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (e.g. refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).’

(Source:   http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/Framework-Higher-Education-Qualifications-08.pdf  )

In the context of an economics programme, where in many cases students can arrive at university with no prior knowledge of the discipline, it is ambitious to think that students will be able to use ideas and techniques ‘at the forefront’ of the discipline after only three years of study, especially if this is really to be the aim for all honours students. On many programmes, the dissertation has become the prime vehicle by which students find an opportunity to become independent learners and to confront current research. For many students, the dissertation is the culmination of their undergraduate careers, and a rewarding and satisfying experience that gives them the opportunity to undertake an in-depth study of a topic that interests them. However, it can also become a traumatic and disillusioning venture for students who do not engage with the research, or who have a bad experience with some aspect of the dissertation process.

After a brief investigation of the current experience in the UK, this chapter is organised around the typical life-cycle of a dissertation, divided into a series of stages:

  • laying the foundations
  • topic selection
  • early practicalities
  • supervision
  • progress monitoring
  • data issues
  • dissertation structure
  • academic integrity.

As background to this chapter, a brief email survey was undertaken to gather information about the role of the undergraduate dissertation in economics departments across the UK. A report on this survey may be found in Appendix 1 .

From the survey it seems that dissertations are a part of the majority of Economics programmes in the UK. However, there are significant differences in the way in which the dissertation module is organised, and the way that students experience the dissertation.

A particular issue is whether all students should be required to complete a dissertation as part of their undergraduate programme. In some institutions, the dissertation is indeed compulsory for everyone, but elsewhere it is restricted to single honours students, or to those students who obtain an average of 60% or more in their second year. The QAA’s descriptor quoted above suggests that all students should receive some exposure to research, but clearly joint honours students are likely to find this more challenging than the specialists, having acquired less in-depth familiarity with either of their chosen disciplines.

Where joint honours students are required to take the dissertation, it may be necessary to adjust the expectations in terms of content. For example, whilst a single honours student with some exposure to econometrics may be expected to undertake some empirical work, it would be unreasonable to expect a joint honours (e.g. Politics and Economics) student to have the same familiarity with econometric methods. It has been known for students to try to teach themselves econometrics, which can prove disastrous.

Whether the dissertation should be limited to the better students is a moot point. On the one hand, it could be argued that weaker students should have equal access to the dissertation option; it may even be that there are some students who may achieve a better result on the dissertation where they can immerse themselves in a topic and produce a polished piece of work, than they could produce under examination conditions or in a problem-set-oriented assessment. On the other hand, experience suggests that weaker students require more supervision, and are more likely to resort to practices that breach academic integrity guidelines.

For these reasons, it may be necessary (or desirable) to provide alternative ways of exposing joint honours and weaker students to research methods. This will be discussed later in section 4 .

Where the dissertation is compulsory for all students, the organisation of the module causes concern. When there are large numbers of students requiring supervision, the load on individual staff members becomes heavy – especially given that some topic areas (and some staff members) tend to be more popular with students than others. It may then be necessary to find some way of spreading the supervision load across available staff or accommodating differences through a workload management system. Spreading the load evenly may result in inconsistency in the supervision provided, which can be very difficult to monitor effectively.

Another major impact on the dissertation has been the rise of the internet, and the ease with which students are able to find material. This can lead to excessive reliance on sites such as Wikipedia, and makes it imperative to be able to monitor standards of academic integrity. Almost all of the survey respondents reported using TurnitinUK, whether as routine for all dissertations submitted, for a random sample or for suspect cases. The traditional remedy of holding vivas for all student dissertations becomes extremely costly when large numbers of students are involved (one institution reported that more than 500 dissertations are submitted in a typical year). Nonetheless, this practice appears to have survived in some economics departments.

3.1 Laying the foundations

3.2 topic selection, 3.3 some early practicalities, 3.4 supervision, 3.5 early progress monitoring and the dangers of the last minute rush, 3.6 data issues, 3.7 dissertation content and structure, 3.8 submission, 3.9 assessment, 3.10 academic integrity.

There is a sense in which the whole of learning and teaching in a programme can be seen as preparation for the dissertation, as it provides the opportunity for students to draw holistically upon the range of material that they have studied during their programme. However, the dissertation is a very different exercise from anything else that they will have been required to undertake and specific preparation is needed.

First, some training in research skills will need to be provided. This may or may not take place as part of a specific module within the programme that is devoted to preparation for the dissertation, perhaps in the penultimate year of study. This needs to include general discussion of research in economics, and the ways in which economists undertake research and scholarship. It is important to remember that this is likely to be a wholly new experience for most students, who may be well drilled in problem solving and mathematical exercises, but who may not have had much exposure to the practicalities of economic research.

The booklets by Greenlaw (2006) and Neugeboren (2005) may be useful references for students at this stage of the process, or they may wish to visit the "Doing a dissertation" tab of the Studying Economics website run by the Economics Network.

Included in this research training it is important to provide some guidance in library skills and the use of evidence in economics research. Being able to evaluate evidence, to weigh up the importance of a set of results and to be aware of the limitations of the evidence produced are challenging skills for students to develop.

There are different approaches to providing such research methods training. It may be that library staff will be able to provide sessions in library skills. It may be wise to incentivise students by awarding a small percentage of the dissertation marks for a library skills exercise. For example, students could be required to undertake an online literature search related to their chosen topic and produce a preliminary reading list. This has the added benefit for forcing them to start their research at an early stage of proceedings.

Depending on programme structure, some students may have had extensive exposure to statistical and econometric methods, so may be accustomed to handling data and interpreting results. However, there may still be a difference between running some regressions in response to a specific exercise during an econometrics module and devising a model to allow testing of a specific hypothesis.

Where students have not been exposed to econometrics, this will clearly affect the scope and nature of research that they can undertake. It may be that they are restricted to a theoretical approach or a literature review style of project, or that they need to find alternative ways of presenting evidence. Where there is a mixture of single and joint honours students it may well be that there are students working on similar topic areas, some of whom know some econometrics and others not. This can create particular pressures on the joint honours students, who may feel obliged to try to use techniques with which they are unfamiliar. This is almost always disastrous. It also becomes important that the skills base of students is taken into account during the assessment process, so that students without training in econometrics are not unduly penalised by markers.

It is increasingly crucial to provide clear guidance on academic integrity at an early juncture. Section 3.10 explores this issue in more depth.

Where there are large numbers of international students, support may need to be provided in academic writing. Indeed, such support may be necessary more generally, given that so many economics assessments are based on problem sets and exercises, rather than on extended continuous prose. There is some evidence that the writing skills of UK students may also need to be further developed in this context.

From a student perspective, finding a topic for the dissertation is a critical step. One of the key strengths of the dissertation is its capacity to engage the student by arousing interest and motivating through a sense of discovery. However, it can also be a stressful part of the process, especially for some weaker students who may not have strong ideas about topics that might inspire interest, and who may be daunted by the prospect of undertaking the task. Failure to find the right topic can be a recipe for a weak dissertation that does not fulfil the intended outcomes.

When the numbers of students looking for dissertation topics are relatively small, then it may be that students can be left to choose their own topics – probably subject to the availability of an appropriate supervisor or the submission of a coherent research proposal. With large numbers of students, this laissez-faire approach may not be feasible.

An alternative approach is to provide students with a list of topics from which they can choose. These topics may be closely circumscribed, or may simply offer a general topic area, leaving the student to focus on a specific research question within that topic area.

The advantage of providing very general topics is that that it leaves the responsibility of formulating a specific research question with the student. This is a key part of research in economics, of course, so it is good (albeit challenging) for the student to have to think about how to go about it. It also has the benefit of giving the student ownership of the question to be investigated, which helps to provide motivation.

Where there are large numbers of students, topic choice can be handled online.

Students can submit their preferences through a webpage, and asked to specify their top four choices and rank them. Students can then be allocated to topics and supervisors, with no guarantee that they will get their first choice – depending on whether certain topics are over-subscribed.

It is helpful for students if a selection of past dissertations is made available to current students to provide some guidance on what is expected of them. However, if the same topics appear for too many successive years, there may be the obvious danger of plagiarism. Even where this does not extend to actual copying, there is the danger that students will simply adopt the same dissertation structure as used by previous students rather than working through this part of the process on their own.

Top tips: dissertation topics

There are several ways in which students can find (or be allocated) the topic for their research.

Students find their own topic, and then look for a supervisor

This may work where the number of students is limited, but may be more difficult to manage when numbers increase. Some staff members are likely to be overwhelmed with requests, especially if they happen to have taught popular second year modules.

Students may also congregate around topics of recent interest – the financial crisis, the impact of migration, or the economics of Brexit…

Others may delay thinking about their topic until it is too late, or may choose topics that prove to be impracticable.

Staff declare topic areas in which they are prepared to supervise projects

This seems to work for a number of institutions. Topics here may be defined broadly – labour economics, development economics, or monetary economics. This may also produce bunching around some staff members.

A list of topic areas is provided

This entails listing key areas of economics – public economics, behavioural economics etc. Students are then allocated a supervisor, where possible a supervisor with a specific interest in that area. Bunching can be ameliorated by not guaranteeing that the allocated supervisor will be an expert in that field. After all, at undergraduate level, detailed knowledge of the topic area may not be crucial.

A list of topics is provided

More specific titles could be provided, rather than general areas. Some staff may prefer this, but others may not. Too specific a topic may attract no students at all (there are only so many undergraduates burning to undertake research into theoretical issues in econometrics).

For example, a topic such as ‘Child labour in less developed countries’ offers wide scope for tackling the issue in different ways and different contexts. A more specific topic such as “Are household members altruistically linked? an examination based on the Mexican anti-poverty programme Progresa’ is much more prescriptive, and may deter students.

There will always be students with fixed ideas about what they wish to research, and these should be accommodated where possible and plausible.

Legislation impinges on the dissertation process, and students may all be required to complete risk assessments before they start their research. The impetus from this comes from Health and Safety legislation in place since 1992, and many universities require such assessments for undergraduate and postgraduate students undertaking research. The need for this is perhaps more obvious where students are carrying out experiments in the physical sciences, but may also be important in the social sciences. There may also be a need to seek ethics approval, especially where research involves the use of human subjects, for example, where students intend to undertake surveys or to conduct experiments using human participants.

Given that most economics dissertations tend to be desk studies that do not involve the use of human subjects, the bureaucracy may be viewed as superfluous. Nonetheless, compliance with the law is essential. This may be especially important where economics as a discipline is part of a wider School of Social Sciences. Sociologists who decide to interview local drug dealers as part of their dissertation research clearly face rather different risks and ethical issues than an economist who decides to estimate a consumption function from macro data.

Sample forms can be viewed in Appendix 2 . The ethics form is designed for a School of Social Sciences. The expectation is that the vast majority of economics projects will qualify to skip from question 1 to question 15, thus minimising the paperwork whilst still complying with the demands of the legislation.

Given the requirements of the Data Protection Act, it is also advisable to ask students to give permission for their completed dissertations to be made available within the university for succeeding generations of students. This then allows a database of previous dissertations to be mounted on an internal website or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) such as Blackboard or Moodle.

It is also important at the outset to be absolutely clear about some aspects of the dissertation. In particular, students seem to get very exercised about word length. In many UK undergraduate economics programmes, the dissertation counts as a double module in the final year – for example, 15 ECTS, or a quarter of the assessment for the year. Given the importance of this piece of work (especially where the final year carries a heavy weight), it is probably appropriate for the dissertation to carry a word length of 7,500 to 10,000 words. Notice that this may depend on institutional demands set by your School, Faculty or at University level.

Top Tips on the word limit

  • Be explicit from the start about what is included and not included in the word count. When students get near to submission time, the chances are that they will be hitting the limit, and will want to exclude as much as possible from the count. To remove ambiguity, it is wise to be clear.
  • Acknowledgements
  • Table of contents
  • Bibliography
  • Figures (i.e. diagrams, maps)
  • Tables of data
  • Prohibit the widespread use of appendices – otherwise, students will simply carve chunks of material out of the main text and stash it away at the back in the hope that it will not count. Make it clear that appendices will be part of the word count (perhaps allowing some appendices to be exempt, e.g. raw data, with the express permission of the supervisor).
  • Then state that everything else counts. Students will still find questions to ask (what about footnotes?), but if you have been explicit you will be on reasonably firm ground – and you can point out that the rules are the same for everyone.
  • In order to enforce the word limit, you will probably need to impose penalties for exceeding it. A sliding scale is probably best – say, 1 percentage point per 100 words (or part thereof) by which the dissertation exceeds the limit. This provides students with the incentive to learn to be selective and to avoid waffle in presenting their report. And it seems to work!

The provision of good supervision is crucial to the success of the dissertation. In many institutions facing increasing student numbers, the amount of contact between staff and students on a one-to-one basis is in decline. Indeed, it may be that the supervision of the dissertation provides the single most important opportunity for students to interact on a personal basis with a member of the academic staff. Some students may be intimidated by this, but if the relationship works, it can be mutually rewarding as an educational experience.

As in many other areas of learning and teaching, it is important to manage student expectations of the supervision process. It is helpful for students to be told clearly what they can expect from their supervisor. This may be expressed in terms of an entitlement, rather than being left open-ended. Such an entitlement could be expressed in terms of a number of meetings that each student is entitled to have with their supervisor or it could be expressed in hours. Experience with operating such a system is that although some students may request assistance above their entitlement – and this need not be prohibited within the scheme – others may choose not to avail themselves of their full entitlement. In the context of encouraging students to become independent learners, it may not be desirable to insist that all students attend for a given number of sessions. It is this that makes the entitlement system an attractive way of specifying what is the normal expectation for supervisory contact.

Such an approach has the added benefit of helping to manage the supervisors’ expectations of the process. Supervisors need to know what is expected of them in terms of reading drafts, marking, length and frequency of meetings, and so on. It is also crucial that both supervisors and students have the same expectations of what is involved. Being explicit about this is thus crucial for both groups.

Achieving consistency of supervision provision is one of the challenges, especially when large numbers of students are in need of supervision. Just as some students may need more help than others, it is also important to be aware that some supervisors may be more comfortable in the role than others, or more prepared (or able) to make themselves available.

It is also common for certain topic areas to be more popular than others – and for some supervisors to be more popular than others. If unregulated, this can lead to a situation in which some members of staff find that they have much heavier loads than their colleagues.

Some fair way of allocating supervisory responsibilities may thus be needed. One possibility is to ensure that supervisory loads are recognised as part of a workload management system, in which there is a trade-off between supervisory responsibilities and other forms of teaching contact. An alternative is to allocate loads evenly across available staff. This may require allocating students to topics that are not their first choice, or requiring supervisors to oversee topics of which they have little specialist knowledge. This needs to be monitored carefully to safeguard the student experience. However, at the undergraduate level, specialist knowledge of topic areas may be less crucial than at masters’ or doctoral level.

There may be benefits from group supervision of students following similar topics, not only in terms of economies of scale, but also because the students may be able to learn from each other. Economies of scale may arise because much of the advice given to students will be common – the central importance of economic analysis, the need for a literature review, the interpretation of evidence, how to avoid plagiarism and so on.

At my university, each supervisor is responsible for between six and ten students. It may be highly time-consuming to meet each supervisee separately on a one-to-one basis, but there are some issues that can be readily communicated in group sessions, perhaps even in combination with a colleague supervising in similar topic areas.

A first meeting could take place early in the year, or at the end of the penultimate year, when students have been allocated their topics and supervisors. This would be a preliminary briefing meeting, to answer questions and concerns, highlight some key relevant readings and data sources, and explain how the supervision will be conducted. Some preliminary explanation of how to structure a good dissertation is also provided, together with some discussion of what is meant by academic integrity.

At a second meeting each student could be asked to talk about their topic, outline their progress to date, identify their research question (if they have formulated it) and comment on any problem areas that they have encountered.

A third meeting could be held towards the end of the first term. By this time, students will have been required to submit an interim report, in which they sketch out their proposed research, including an explanation of their research question, and the methodology that they propose to use in order to investigate their question. This is an opportunity to provide feedback and progress to date, to suggest future directions and to identify potential problems.

A fourth meeting could be held towards the end of the second term. Before this meeting, you could invite each student to submit an extract from the first chapter, including their explanation of their research question. In the meeting, you could comment on writing styles and referencing, and provide an opportunity for questions. The importance of maintaining standards of academic integrity also needs to be stressed.

Students should also be encouraged to meet up on a one-to-one basis if they have questions that are specific to their own research.

In some institutions, this is taken one step further, through the provision of a whole module (normally in the second year) that deals with research methods. The economies of scale in doing this are even greater, of course, as one individual (or a relatively small number of staff) can provide the generic advice that all students need in approaching the dissertation. Such dedicated modules are not always popular with students, who may see the material as being fragmented and of little relevance to them at the time. In other words, they may need to be convinced that they really will need this material at a later stage. Such modules are not always popular with the staff either. They may not be appealing to teach, and also put pressure on the curriculum. When so much other material has to be covered in the second year, there may be a reluctance to use up a whole module on research methods that could have been used to provide more micro theory or econometrics.

A frequent complaint about students undertaking undergraduate dissertations is that they leave everything until the last minute. The pressures of other coursework items and mid-term or mid-year examinations may encourage students to devote their time to these, as the dissertation seems less urgent.

There are various ways of trying to encourage students to start work on their research early, and not to rely on a late rush. It may be worth drawing an analogy in early discussions with them. Few students would think of arriving at an exam with only a few minutes to go, and thus finding they have no time to answer the questions. So, why should they think they can fritter away their dissertation time and start work on it when it is too late to do it justice?

However, as economists, we understand about incentives, and thus realise that exhortation alone will not suffice. We need to provide good incentives if we expect students to start work early.

One possibility is to require students to give a presentation of their intended research at an early stage of proceedings. This could be a presentation to their peers with a member of academic staff present. It would even be possible to designate a discussant for each presentation or for a small percentage of the overall mark to be attached to it. However, as soon as numbers begin to grow, this option begins to become very costly in time and effort. Ensuring consistency in the assessment becomes problematic – although if it is a very small percentage of the overall mark, this may be less crucial. If the presentation becomes more than a small percentage, then the logistics of enabling appropriate external examining becomes a potential issue.

An alternative is to introduce an interim report or research proposal that has to be submitted at an early stage. Again, attaching a modest percentage of the overall marks to this report has good incentive effects, and provides an early check to identify students that are not engaging with the process, or who have unrealistic grandiose plans for solving the world’s problems in 10,000 words. It is also a good opportunity to provide formal feedback – an important consideration when the paucity of feedback is a common criticism emerging from questionnaire surveys.

It may be helpful to ask students to submit draft material (or even chapters) to provide a framework for discussion in supervisory meetings – and to do so before the meeting takes place. There is nothing worse than having a student arrive to discuss their work clutching their precious draft, only to find that the time is mainly spent in the supervisor reading it, rather than being able to discuss it. It should be made clear that this is not for the purpose of proof-reading, which is not the supervisor’s responsibility. It may be worth setting a timetable for such discussions at the beginning of the year – which then forces the student into a regular schedule of work. Of course, your institution’s rules may prohibit the reading of draft material. You may also think that it is possible to go too far in helping the student, as this may militate against encouraging independent work and time management. However, it can make for more productive supervisory meetings – and anything that highlights that you are providing feedback may pay dividends in national student surveys.

The other task that must be tackled at an early stage is data hunting. Students embarking on empirical work – probably for the first time – almost always have over-optimistic views of the data that are likely to be available. Perhaps a student has been to a course in development economics that has stressed the importance of human capital formation in stimulating improvements in agricultural productivity. An interesting project might be to examine the effect of primary schooling on agricultural productivity in rural Zanzibar. Or to examine the effect of overseas assistance on the provision of health care in Papua New Guinea. Panic then sets in when it transpires that, with only a few weeks remaining, there are no data to be found.

Again, this is partly a question of managing student expectations – and of getting students to hunt for their data as early as possible.

Of course, there is a time inconsistency problem here. We tell the students that they must look for data as soon as possible… but we also tell them that they should think about the underlying economics of their topic first, in order that they know what data they will require. Without this proviso, the danger of data-mining is high. Students told to look for data early may well see what they can find, run a few regressions and then see if they can find a theory that will match their results.

There is a lot of data readily available on the internet. This brings good and bad news. The good news is that there are more data accessible on a wide range of economic topics that students can readily obtain. This expands the range of topics on which they can undertake empirical work – and they are aided and abetted in this by the software at their disposal to enable them to produce lots of results. The bad news is that the scope for doing foolish things and getting nonsense results is also much expanded. The ease of use of today’s software makes it very easy to produce results that go way beyond the competence and understanding of the students. Indeed, a key part of the supervisor’s role may be to rein in the over-enthusiastic student to ensure that the work undertaken is appropriate for the topic being investigated, and the reasonable ambition of the student given knowledge and understanding of statistical and/or econometric methodology. This reining in has to done in a sensitive way, so as not to discourage or dishearten. A fine line to tread.

Provide web links to the most relevant data sources.

Providing web links to key recommended data sources is wise. This can be accomplished through a dedicated dissertation webpage or VLE. The links can then be tailored to the needs of a particular cohort of students. There is also a helpful section on the Economics Network website that provides links to freely available data .

One obvious situation in which this can be an issue is where a student has received no training in econometrics, but has heard of ‘regression’ and perceives that no dissertation is complete without it. There may be some bright students out there who can teach themselves regression along the way and produce sensible results. But for every one such student, there are likely to be countless others who will be unable to produce coherent results. For the econometrically untrained, more modest objectives need to be set for the analysis of empirical data. However, the collection of data, and the marshalling of evidence in support (or not) of an hypothesis, is a central part of research in economics. In some cases, students may sign up for an optional course in econometrics for which they are ill-prepared. This has a doubly damaging impact, as they may fail the module as well as finding themselves no better off for the research.

Another pitfall is where a student with some econometric training collects data and runs some regressions, but is unable to produce results that are consistent with any known economic theory. Panic then sets in. Can economic theory really be so wrong? It takes confidence for a novice researcher to look at a set of seemingly meaningless results with equanimity. It may then be for the supervisor to reassure, and to point out how many possible explanations there are for seemingly contradictory results. Perhaps the data do not measure what the model demands. Perhaps a more sophisticated econometric methodology is required. Perhaps there are omitted variables. And so on. The student researcher may then need to be persuaded that it is perfectly OK to present weak results, so long as some awareness is shown that the analysis has limitations, and that there are many possible reasons for the seeming contradictions.

It is important to remind students of the key objective of the dissertation – namely, to showcase what they have assimilated during their degree programme. If they can show competence in applying economic analysis and (perhaps) econometric techniques in a topic area of their choice, then they are on their way to a reasonable mark. They will not be submitting their dissertation to Econometrica .

‘The secret of happiness lay in limiting the aspirations.’ Thomas Hardy in The Woodlanders .

Students who have spent most of their undergraduate careers solving problems and tackling exercises are likely to need specific help in constructing a coherent argument through continuous prose and appropriate structuring of material. Furthermore, the dissertation will require them to move beyond the descriptive to analysis and evaluation. These are also key skills that may only be developed through the dissertation in many economics undergraduate programmes.

There are several guides available providing advice to students on how to structure a report on a piece of economic research (e.g. Neugeboren (2005); Greenlaw (2006) ).

A typical structure

Introductionpose an interesting question or problem
Literature reviewsurvey the literature on your topic
Methods/dataformulate your hypothesis and describe your data
Resultspresent your results with the help of graphs and charts
Discussioncritique your method and/or discuss any policy implications
Conclusionssummarise what you have done; pose questions for further research

From Neugeboren (2005)

Students need further guidance to keep an appropriate balance between the key components. The temptation is to use up too many words in the early sections in introducing the topic and describing the background. This is especially tempting in relation to some projects. For example, a student investigating a question in the context of a particular country may begin by describing the economic conditions of that country, so that the report comes to resemble something more appropriate for economic history or geography than economics. On the other hand, there may be a temptation to take some of the economic analysis for granted, thus missing the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of economic analysis and thereby showcasing their skills to the examiner. This question of knowing what to include and what to omit is a tricky one, and an area in which supervisors will need to be ready to offer guidance. Another challenge is for students to be evaluative and analytic, going beyond description.

At the outset, students often find it intimidating to launch themselves on writing an 8,000 or 10,000 word report. It is important to find a way of overcoming this. One way is to encourage students to draw up a chapter plan at an early stage. This could be based on the general pattern set out above, with the students being asked to draft a few sentences describing the intended content of each chapter, and a target word count. This has the advantage of breaking the overall task into a sequence of shorter pieces of work, which may be less intimidating. Making some examples of previous dissertations available for students to consult may also be helpful, as they are able to see what can be achieved, as well as getting a feel for how to structure a long report.

Make sure there is no ambiguity about the deadline for submission and the penalties for missing it.

Another danger point comes at submission time. Be clear about the conditions under which an extension might be granted and how and whether this might be authorised. In addition, be clear about the conditions in which an extension will not be granted. For example, you might want to be explicit that extensions will not be granted for frivolous reasons or because ‘my computer crashed’. There are good reasons for being strict about this. One of the skills that students derive from producing a dissertation is project management. Meeting deadlines will give students the opportunity to practise time management. A student who does not understand the need to keep back-up copies of files will have a rude awakening in the world of work. Furthermore, a student granted an extension is likely to find that there are knock-on effects in terms of exam preparation.

Assessment is a crucial part of the dissertation process and entails a number of problematic issues.

It is important that students have a clear idea of what is expected of them in producing a dissertation. Unlike the problem sets and exercises that characterise much of assessment in economics, there cannot be a specific mark scheme for the dissertation. However, it is possible to provide a set of grade descriptors designed for the dissertation, showing the characteristics that markers will be looking for in allocating marks to the final product. This helps in forming student expectations and provides transparency. A sample set of descriptors is available in Appendix 3 . These descriptors can be tailored to local requirements. Asking markers to highlight a copy of the descriptors for each student being assessed indicating how well they have performed on each aspect is a good way of reaching comparability of standards across markers, and providing feedback to students afterwards.

There is no universal agreement that this approach is desirable. It has been argued that marking to descriptors enforces too much conformity and inhibits markers from examining with their own personal and professional judgement. However, this may be an argument for framing the descriptors in such a way that they are not overly prescriptive, but yet identify the intended outcomes on which the assessment of the dissertation should be based. When large numbers of students are involved, it may be that personal and professional judgement has to be harnessed in order to ensure equity in treatment.

Another way of trying to manage student expectations is through some element of peer- or self-assessment – not necessarily as part of the summative assessment. For example, students could be encouraged to evaluate a fellow student’s research proposal or presentation. Alternatively, a self-assessment checklist could be required as part of the dissertation submission, itemising key aspects of the dissertation. A sample self-assessment form is available through the Appendices .

Students may also gain confidence in their work if some portion of the summative assessment is derived from interim pieces of work, such as the research proposal, a presentation or library skills project. This can also incentivise students to manage their time and receive feedback on how they are progressing.

Achieving consistency in assessment is challenging, especially where the number of dissertations to be marked is large so that marking has to be spread between a relatively large number of staff members. Consistency is also difficult because of the wide range of dissertation topics that is possible. The use of descriptors can help here, as they are cast in general terms that do not vary across topics. The danger is that some markers will be more diligent than others in giving marks based on the descriptors. At department level, this could be monitored by constructing a spreadsheet to compare mean marks (and the standard deviation) for each pair of markers. This may help to reassure external examiners that marking has been carefully undertaken — as well as ensuring equality of treatment for students.

The nature of the dissertation is such that it is difficult to maintain anonymity in the marking, so this is one type of assessment where double-blind marking must be retained, rather than some form of sample moderation process.

Where the economics dissertation can be taken by both single honours students and those following joint honours, it is important for markers to be aware of what is reasonable for particular students to produce. A politics and economics student should not be penalised for avoiding econometric work, nor should a single honours economics student be penalised for lacking background in political science.

One of the issues on which practice varies between universities is the question of whether the supervisor should or should not be one of the markers of the dissertation. Some argue that the supervisor should be excluded from the assessment process in order to ensure independence of the marking, whereas others argue that the supervisor is able to identify the extent to which the student had received assistance as part of the supervisory process. Consistency may be more likely where marking is organised to mix up the pairings of first and second markers.

Given the ubiquity of the internet, it has become impossible to discuss undergraduate dissertations without also discussing the greater opportunities for student plagiarism. The internet provides students with access to a vast range of material, and anecdotal evidence suggests that many students arrive at university with at best a sketchy understanding of methods of scholarship and standards of academic integrity.

Inculcating a sense of what constitutes academic integrity at an early stage in the degree programme is critical. This approach – stressing that there are expected standards for student work – is to be preferred to instructing students simply to ‘avoid plagiarism’. The notion of avoiding plagiarism is almost tantamount to telling students not to get caught, whereas setting expected standards is a more positive tack to take.

The importance of academic integrity is reflected in the fact that there is a whole chapter in this Handbook by Jeremy Williams devoted to the topic. The detail of this discussion will not be repeated here, where the focus will be on academic integrity in the dissertation.

Jeremy Williams identifies three types of plagiarist. The ‘lazy plagiarist’ takes the work of another author and puts his or her own name to it, and may use a ‘cheat’ site in order to purchase a dissertation or part thereof. The ‘cunning plagiarist’ uses the work of another author or authors, but changes things sufficiently to avoid detection. ‘Cut-and-paste’ characterises this approach. The ‘accidental plagiarist’ does not even realise that they are plagiarising – for example, they may have taken notes on a journal article in the early stages of their research without realising that they were simply noting down the original author’s words. They then construct their dissertation from those notes. In some cases, students from a Confucian tradition may believe that in reproducing the words of the experts they are paying them a compliment, and may find it culturally difficult to criticise or even amend what has been printed in a textbook. The use of anti-plagiarism software will throw up examples of all three types.

In the email survey of UK economics departments, most made use of TurnitinUK as a way of identifying whether plagiarism has taken place. The convenience of this is that a dissertation submitted via a VLE can be automatically screened for overlap with TurnitinUK’s growing database. The disadvantage is that the output produced by the software requires very careful interpretation. The software produces a Similarity Index (SI), which quantifies the degree of overlap with material in the database. A high SI does not necessarily indicate plagiarism, but it does help to highlight which dissertation submissions are suspicious.

An important practical point to remember is that when students submit their dissertation they should not only be asked to sign a declaration stating that the work is their own, but also that they understand what is meant by academic integrity and that their dissertation will be checked by TurnitinUK.

Sample declaration for students to sign on submission:

I understand that by signing the declaration below, I have read and accepted the following statements:

  • I have read and understood the University’s Academic Integrity Statement for Students, including the information on practice to avoid given the Statement and that in the attached submission I have worked within the expectations of this Statement.
  • I am aware that failure to act in accordance with the Academic Integrity Statement for Students may lead to the imposition of penalties which, for the most serious cases, may include termination of the programme.

I consent to the University copying and distributing any or all of my work in any form and using third parties (who may be based outside the EU/EEA). This may include the use of anti-plagiarism software (e.g. TurnitinUK) to verify whether my work contains plagiarised material, and for quality assurance purposes.

Perhaps more valuable than its diagnostic properties is the deterrent value of TurnitinUK. The very fact that all dissertations are to be screened may encourage students to take care in their work. If this does not suffice, then a practical demonstration may be effective.

Encouraging good academic practice

Find a brief paper written by a member of staff in the department and submit it to TurnitinUK. Then hack the article about. Include some quotations (some with, some without quotation marks), paraphrase some passages, introduce some new material. Submit the revised version to TurnitinUK.

Arrange a session for all students writing a dissertation, and show them the TurnitinUK output on the amended version. Let them see what we see as examiners. Point out the key examples of bad practice that we can readily recognise.

This exercise can have a dramatic effect. In one academic year, I (as the School’s Academic Integrity Officer) had to investigate 10 breaches of academic integrity in economics dissertations. Penalties were imposed in all cases. The following year, having demonstrated the examiner’s eye view of the TurnitinUK output, not one single case emerged.

More difficult to detect is where students commission a third party to produced their dissertation for them – either to order, or off the peg from subscription websites. TurnitinUK may or may not identify these cases, although I have known one case where the dissertation that had been purchased was picked up because some paragraphs from it were used as an advert on the website, and were thus caught by TurnitinUK. The risks of being caught may be lower for this form of cheating – but the penalties are likely to be more severe.

An important part of the fight for academic integrity is to make sure that all supervisors are familiar with your university’s procedures for dealing with breaches of academic integrity, and with how to interpret the TurnitinUK output. This is a key part of ensuring consistency in supervision and equity of treatment across students. It is wise to make sure that the general principles of academic integrity are covered in joint sessions to all students, rather than this being left as part of the responsibility of the individual supervisor. Student handbooks also need to carry clear guidance on your institution’s policies and procedures.

More discussion on academic integrity may be found in the Handbook chapter by Jeremy Williams and the more recent chapter by Carlos Cortinhas .

If it is accepted that all honours students should be exposed to ‘current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline…’ (QAA), then can the dissertation be avoided?

It could be argued that if we provide research-led teaching , then this in itself ensures that students will fit the bill in terms of exposure to research. But what do we mean by ‘research-led teaching’? Does it mean that academic staff are given the opportunity to teach in their specialist research areas? Is that enough? How do we ensure that students engage with this process? If we cannot be sure about the answer to these questions, then is the dissertation the only solution?

To some extent, a research-led approach can be embedded within the normal curriculum. Modules can be designed in such a way as to enhance the students’ ability to develop critical and evaluative thinking skills and thereby support and promote independent learning. This approach can be reinforced by a research-led approach to assessment and may be most straightforward in econometric or other quantitative methods modules, where students can be required to find, analyse and interpret their own data. A similar approach can be adopted for other modules. A development economics module can require students to prepare a report on a particular country; students could be required to evaluate a recent report from the CMA . Such exercises can encourage and engender a sense of discovery and engage students in a reflective and self-critical process. There is much more discussion or undergraduate research in economics in KimMarie Goldrick’s chapter in this Handbook .

An alternative approach would be to run a seminar or tutorial-based module, in which students are required to provide critical evaluation of recent research, probably through the vehicle of appropriate journal articles. This sort of exercise can also provide students with the opportunity to develop their presentation skills, and could be part of a module that also includes sessions on aspects of research in economics. Such presentations could be given in a quasi-conference setting, if the number of students permits.

A well-organised dissertation can be the most rewarding part of the student experience. However, this may require careful thought and planning if it is not to turn into a nightmare. Here are some key points to remember as the dissertation life-cycle unfolds:

  • Think about how research training will be provided
  • Ensure that students are guided towards a feasible topic
  • Be aware of the legislative context
  • Give early rules on word length
  • Manage student and supervisor expectations of the supervisory process
  • Look for a coherent way of allocating students to supervisors
  • Set intermediate targets to prevent students leaving too much to the last minute
  • Be aware of data issues
  • Provide guidance in terms of how to structure a dissertation
  • Offer clear guidelines for the assessment process, so that students know what is expected of them
  • Be unambiguous in setting deadlines and the rules for extensions
  • Explain academic integrity and monitor adherence

Students can benefit greatly from undertaking a dissertation. The process can capture their interest and give them confidence to engage in independent work. The finished product can be used to sell their abilities to potential employers, by showcasing their skills. Supervisors can add to the experience by making sure that students are aware of these benefits. Furthermore, students often enjoy their dissertation work.

Greenlaw, S. A. (2006) Doing Economics: A guide to carrying out economic research. Boston: Houghton Miffin. ISBN 9780618379835

Neugeboren, R. (2005) The Student’s Guide to Writing Economics. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415701235

"Doing a dissertation" in the 'Studying economics' section of the Economics Network website.

If you Google 'dissertations in economics' you will find many websites that claim to provide help and guidance. Some of these will be helpful to students e.g. the guide by Paul Dudenhefer ; other links take you to guides provided by various Universities for their students. However, care is needed here, as students may also find offers from tutors prepared to write their dissertations at a price...

Other chapters in the Handbook for Economics Lecturers augment this guide. In particular:

KimMarie McGoldrick, Undergraduate Research in Economics

Jeremy B. Williams, Plagiarism: Deterrence, Detection and Prevention

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Economics Dissertations

Dissertations from 2024 2024.

ANALYZING THE DETERMINANTS OF INWARD, OUTWARD, AND BILATERAL FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN MENA COUNTRIES: THE ROLE OF TRADE OPENNESS , Hailah Alfadhel

DETERMINANTS OF EXTENSIVE AND INTENSIVE MARGINS IN FEMALE OWNERSHIP OF BUSINESSES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY , Arwa Althobaiti

Essays on Economic Effects of the Monetary Union of the West African Monetary Zone , Collins Kelechukwu Anosike

REMITTANCES IN NEPAL; LANDLOCKEDNESS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE , Thaman Prasad Bastola

GROWTH AND VOLATILITY RELATIONSHIPS REEXAMINED: THE ROLE OF AGGREGATION , Haya Khan

Export Quality, Trade, and Environment , Shahroo Malik

Dissertations from 2023 2023

ESSAYS ON FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT AIDS AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN EMERGING ECONOMIES , Adebukola Adeleke

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ASYLUM-SEEKING, MIGRATION AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE , Olawale David Adisa

THE ROLES OF INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION , Wafa Naif S Binmahfuth

Essays on Free Senior High School Policy, Household Behavior, and Environmental Tax Revenues , Prince Fosu

Haircut, Overborrowing, and Growth , A. M. Muhib Morshed Ami

THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF ATTITUDES, BELIEFS, AND BEHAVIOR , Hope Lotsha Muronga

Social Attachment and House Prices as Determinants of Mobility Among the Elderly in the US: An Empirical Study Using Longitudinal Data , Wilder R. Pimentel

ESSAYS ON RISK PREFERENCES, ALTRUISM, AND LIFE EVENTS , Fitri Safira

DETERMINANTS OF FINANCIAL ANXIETY, COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND POVERTY IN THE U.S.: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY WITH MICRO DATASETS , Daniel VanOverbeke

Dissertations from 2022 2022

Essays on Development in Nigeria , KOREDE ODUNAYO AJOGBEJE

TRADE, INDUSTRIAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES IN OLIGOPOLISTIC MODELS: PIECEMEAL POLICY REFORMS AND THE CHOICE OF INSTRUMENTS , Aroni Kabita Porna

Determinants of Happiness in the U.S.A: an empirical study with longitudinal data , Ling Zhang

Dissertations from 2021 2021

ESSAYS ON EFFICIENCY AND TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES , Omotara Oluwatosin Adeeko

ESSAYS ON VALUE ADDED TRADE AND BUSINESS CYCLE SYNCHRONIZATION: AGGREGATE AND SECTOR LEVEL ANALYSIS , Christian Isaac Darfah

HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS OF TRADE AGREEMENTS ON TRADE , Oksana Grabova

ENVIRONMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE: A MULTICOUNTRY EMPIRICAL STUDY , Nneamaka I. Ilechukwu

IMPACT OF BROADBAND ON RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND EMPLOYMENT , YAGHA RAJ JOSHI

ESSAYS ON HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES IN IRAQ: GENDER BIAS IN EDUCATION EXPENDITURE AND THE ROLE OF REMITTANCES , Erfan Jaleel Kareem

UNITED STATES’ DOMESTIC TRADE AND DOMESTIC MIGRATION DURING 1993 - 2017 : THE ROLE OF POLITICS, FOREIGN IMPORT, AND SIZE , Nawaraj Sharma Paudel

ESSAYS ON ETHNIC FAVORITISM ACROSS AFRICAN COUNTRIES AND OVER TIME , Erickosowo Nsan Tiku

Dissertations from 2020 2020

The role of economic diversification in controlling macroeconomic volatility and stimulating total factor productivity growth , Abdella Eldarassi

DETERMINANTS OF BILATERAL FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY , Di Wang

Dissertations from 2019 2019

Tax Competition for Foreign Direct Investment: A Study of Greenfield Investment and Cross-border Merger and Acquisition , Xiaoxuan Ji

Labor Market Experiences of Hispanic and Black Immigrants in the United States , Hared Mah

CREDIT CONSTRAINTS, EXPORTS, AND GREEN TECHNOLOGY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN BANGLADESH , Sungida N/A Rashid

Essays On Sovereign Debt, Governance And Inequality , Nachiket Jayeshkumar Thakkar

EARRNINGS MANAGEMENT AND PATENTING DISCLOSURES , Shucui Zheng

Dissertations from 2018 2018

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION: THE CASE OF SAUDI ARABIA WITH REFERENCE TO RICH NATURAL RESOURCE COUNTRIES , Raed Ali algowear almestneer

STOCK MARKET RETURNS AND VOLATILITY: MACROECONOMIC NEWS ANNOUNCEMENTS, INTERACTIONS, AND MARKET RISK ANALYSIS , Mansour Alharaib

INDIA’S EXPORT PERFORMANCE 1996-2015: THE ROLE OF PRODUCT QUALITY , AMRITA BHATTACHARYA

REGIONAL WAGE DIFFERENTIALS, INTRA-NATIONAL TRADE, AND INDUSTRY-LEVEL INTERNATIONAL TRADE, IN INDIA , Jeeten Krishna Giri

Corruption and Education in Iraqi Kurdistan , Jihan Sabah Hamzany

MAKE OR BUY DECISION AND TECHNOLOGY CHOICE , Junaidah Hasan

The Many Functions of Commercial Banking: Liquidity Management, Mergers, and Retail Lending , Todd Gregory Moe

Allocation Mechanisms in Partially Linked Secondary Spectrum Markets: A Theory And Experiment , Dmitrii Pianov

Essays on Taxation and Fiscal Policy , Nana Quaicoe

THE ROLE OF SUPPLY SHOCKS AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ON PRICE DISPERSION IN NIGERIA , Olajide Idris Sanusi

Dissertations from 2017 2017

Regional Welfare and Female Schooling: Do Microfinance and Female Stipends Matter in Bangladesh? , Ishraq Ahmed

ESSAYS ON HOSPITAL REIMBURSEMENT AND QUALITY OF HEALTHCARE PROVISION , GENEVIEVE AKU ALORBI

Determinants of Sports Performance: Case Studies on Olympics & Major League Soccer , Taurean D. Hutchinson

ESTIMATING THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER WAGE DISCRIMINATION IN ETHIOPIA , Mulugeta A. Jemberie

ESSAYS ON DOMESTIC FACTORS DRIVING ATTITUDES TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS AND EMIGRATION , Maliha Nazir

Dissertations from 2016 2016

EFFECT OF FOREIGN PRESENCE ON DOMESTIC PERFORMANCE: THE CASES OF EDUCATION IN THE US AND MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN ETHIOPIA , Melaku Teklea Abegaz

ESSAYS ON FOREIGN AID EFFECTIVENESS: THE ROLE OF MONITORING PROCEDURES IN IMPROVING AID EFFECTIVENESS AND THE IMPACT OF AID-RECIPIENT GOVERNANCE ON AID ALLOCATION AND WELFARE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES , Abdelmonaem Abunnur

Environmental Sustainability: A Three Part Essay of The Value Relevance of Cost Management , Ouadie Akaaboune

MACROECONOMIC ASPECTS OF COMMODITY PRICE DYNAMICS , Md Rafayet Alam

A THREE PART ESSAY ON THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES ON FIRM LEVEL INNOVATIVE CAPACITY A SYNTHESIS OF EFFECT, PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY. , ASSYAD Al-Wreikat

Rural Credit Markets in Ethiopia: Coexistence, Persistence, and Demand , Bizuayehu Getachew Bedane

Trading in exogenous networks: a theoretical application and experimental results , Lisa Breger

The formation and impact of formal and informal mentoring upon undergraduate academic performance and attitudes , Kent Dolezal

Natural Resources, Conflicts, and Conflict Management , Md. Didarul Hasan

ESSAYS ON REAL EXCHANGE RATE DYNAMICS AND PRICE CONVERGENCE , Erick M. Kitenge

ESSAYS ON DIGITAL CURRENCY , Hio Loi

CHANGES IN HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR DURING THE BUSINESS CYCLE , Mohammad Sediq Sameem

Skilled Migration and Remittances: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses , Dambar Uprety Uprety

Dissertations from 2015 2015

INEQUALITY, GROWTH AND CONGESTED EXTERNALITIES: A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS , BABATUNDE AIYEMO

PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR PRODUCT INNOVATING R&D IN A GAME-THEORETIC SETTING , Pavlo Buryi

CONVERGENCE IN SECTORAL LABOR PRODUCTIVITY AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE , Bisrat Temesgen Kinfemichael

MACROECONOMIC ASPECTS OF CONFLICT , Eric Daniel Lenz

Oil Price Movements and Equity Returns: Evidence from the GCC Countries , Fathi M. Mohalhal

Dissertations from 2014 2014

An Empirical Analysis of Foreign Aid Heterogeneity According to Donors for Pakistan , Suleman Abdiah

Growth, Poverty, and Capital Structure Effects of Financial Development , Ficawoyi Donou-Adonsou

An Empirical Analysis Of The Relationship Between Corruption And Inflation , Hussein Elkamel

An Empirical Approach to Social Networks , Markum L. Reed

The Effects of Foreign Aid on Government Policies: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses , Hyeon Joon Shin

ESSAYS ON MIGRATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION , Xu Xu

Dissertations from 2013 2013

THE ECONOMICS OF CHILD ADOPTION: THEORY AND EVIDENCE , Channary Khun

ESSAYS ON MONETARY ECONOMICS , HUIQING LI

ESSAYS ON A SMALL OPEN ECONOMY WITH CROSS-BORDER LABOR MOBILITY , Sokchea Lim

Analysis and Identification of Determinants of Economic Crises , Gabriel Pino Saldias

On the Analysis of Firm Value and Idiosyncratic Volatility , Yuqin Wang

Dissertations from 2012 2012

INVESTMENTS IN PRODUCT QUALITY WITH HETEROGENEOUS FIRMS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM BANGLADESH , Kazi Sabbir Ahmed

A study of corruption in transition countries , Aboubacar DIABY

EMPIRICAL ESSAYS ON ECONOMIC POLICIES , Zheng Du

DIRECT VIS-À-VIS INDIRECT MODE OF EXPORT IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION , Seifu Gebrehanna

Tax Revenue and Financial Development: Theory and Evidence , Bojan Ilievski

A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL STUDY OF PRODUCT QUALITY IN TURKEY: THE ROLES OF COMPETITION, CREDITS AND TRADE POLICIES , Fatma Nur Karaman

POSSIBLE LINKAGES BETWEEN TRADE RESTRICTIONS AND WORKPLACE SAFETY , Areerat Kichkha

PRIVATIZATION POLICY UNDER FOREIGN COMPETITION AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN CHINA , Yi Liu

Microcredit and Savings , Shaila Parveen

TAXATION OF UNITED STATES GENERAL AVIATION , Joseph Bernard Sobieralski

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE IN LABOR SEARCH MODEL AND MONEY DEMAND , Gerard Ghislain Tano

Trade Networks under Asymmetric Information , Sabri Yilmaz

U.S. Housing Market Volatility , Xibin Zhang

Dissertations from 2011 2011

DOES DEMOCRATIZATION AFFECT GROWTH ACROSS TIME OR SPACE? , Andreas Andonis Assiotis

ON GLOBAL LINKAGES OF ECONOMIES AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN LATIN AMERICA , Hem Chandra Basnet

Women, Fertility and Labor Market , Ghazal Bayanpourtehrani

Mergers and Acquisitions with a Flexible Policy Regime: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis , Mahelet Getachew Fikru

ASSASSINATION AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE , Wei Gao

FOREIGN AID FOR TRADE POLICY REFORMS , Malokele Nanivazo

Dissertations from 2010 2010

ESSAYS ON HOUSEHOLD DEMAND FOR CREDIT CARDS, BANKRUPTCY AND OVER-SPENDING , Sofyan Yosof Azaizeh

Essays on Imperfections in Money and Capital Markets , Fassil Negussie Fanta

ESSAYS ON MONEY AND FINANCE: THE CASE OF SELECTED SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES , Hasan Muhammad Mohsin

THE EFFECTS OF REAL EXCHANGE RATE UNDERVALUATIONS UPON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT , Guangjun Qu

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--> (2021) Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

) -->

This dissertation consists of three chapters and is inspired by current economic issues affecting the majority (if not all) of economic agents, such as recession tracking, matching algorithms and, economic inequality.

In the first chapter, I measure the uncertainty affecting estimates of economic inequality in the US and investigate how accounting for properly estimated standard errors can affect the results of empirical and structural macroeconomic studies. While focusing on income and wealth shares within the top 10 percent, my results suggest that ignoring uncertainties in estimated shares can lead to statistically imprecise conclusions about the past and current levels of top income and wealth inequality, and therefore, lead to inaccurate predictions and potentially ineffective policy recommendations.

In the second chapter, Professor Jean-Francois Richard and I propose a hybrid version of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium models with emphasis on parameter invariance and tracking performance at times of rapid changes (recessions). Our methodology is illustrated by an application to a pilot Real Business Cycle model for the US economy from 1948 to 2019, where we highlight the model’s parameters invariance, tracking, and 1- to 3-step ahead forecasting performance, outperforming those of an unconstrained benchmark Vector AutoRegressive model.

In the third and final chapter, Professor Alistair J. Wilson and I analyze an existing matching procedure designed to solve a complex constrained assignment problem for one of the most successful pan-European ventures: the UEFA Champions League. Relying upon a combination of theory, structural estimation, and simulation, we outline a quantitative methodology aimed at assessing a highly transparent (but combinatorically complex) tournament’s assignment procedure and provide evidence that the UEFA assignment rule is effectively a "constrained-best" in terms of pairwise independence.

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Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
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CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Boczon, Marta mjb249
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairRichard, Jean-Francois fantin
Committee MemberWilson, Alistair alistair
Committee MemberBeresteanu, Arie arie
Committee MemberLiesenfeld, Roman N/A

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Economics > Theses and Dissertations

Economics Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Natural Disasters and Human Capital: Empirical Evidence from Indonesia , Lei Lv

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Two Essays in Applied Microeconomics: Retirement, Income Inequalities, and other Economic Indicators of Health and Life Satisfaction , Zahra Akbari

Exploring Unobserved Heterogeneity of Stated Preferences Through Latent Class Modeling: Application in Health and Insurance Demand , Suzana Karim

The Impact of Critical Illness Insurance among Older Adults in China , Jiaosi Li

Essays on Opioid Related Issues , Minglu Sun

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Essays on SNAP Participation, BMI, and Food Purchasing Decisions , Samaneh Ghadyani

Reference-Dependent Choice on Digital Platforms , Joshua K. Kaisen

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Effects of the 340B Drug Pricing Program on Hospitals’ Prescribing Behavior, Patient Mix, and Quality of Care , Yilu Dong

Does Hedging Success Matter? An Empirical Study of Jet Fuel Hedging in the U.S. Airline Industry , Brian Hornung

Essays in Applied Public Policy and Health Economics , Stephen W. Poteet

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Essays in Applied Microeconomics , Lijuan Feng

Essays on Health, Healthcare, Job Insecurity and Health Outcomes , Ichiro Nakamoto

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Essays in Applied Microeconomics , John Hartman

Essays on Family-Friendly Policies, Child Planning and Children’s Early-Age Outcomes , Stefani Milovanska-Farrington

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Education and Health Impacts of an Affirmative Action Policy on Minorities in India , Robin Dhakal

Testing the Medical Arms Race Hypothesis: a Spatial Approach , Robyn M. Kibler

Essays in Health Economics , Olga Petrova

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Impact of Health Insurance for the Poor on Labor Market Out comes: Evidence from Indonesia. , Youssef Fassi Fehri

Essays in Health and Development Economics , John Bosco Oryema

Assessing Property Value Impacts of Access to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): Case Study of the Cleveland HealthLine , Victoria A. Perk

An Exploration of Adolescent Obesity Determinants , Anastasia King Smith

The Impact of Criminal Justice Interventions and Social Policies on Family Violence: Theory and Evidence , Sianne Diana Vijay

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Two Essays Examining Organizational Performance , Stacey Alexis Gelsheimer

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Generic Competition and Price Regulation in the European Union Pharmaceutical Market: The Case of Cardiovascular Medicines , Berna Colak

Social Interactions In Breast Cancer Prevention Among Women In The United States , Natallia Gray

Discrepancies in Labor Market Outcomes From Migration Evidence From Colombia , Liza Beatriz Pena

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Bayesian Estimation of Panel Data Fractional Response Models with Endogeneity: An Application to Standardized Test Rates , Lawrence Kessler

Essays in Happiness Economics , Boris Nikolaev

Measuring Technical Efficiency of the Japanese Professional Football (Soccer) League (J1 and J2) , Dan Zhao

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Essays in Sports Economics , Daniel Mark Chin

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Modeling Endogenous Treatment Eects with Heterogeneity: A Bayesian Nonparametric Approach , Xuequn Hu

Internet Use and Economic Development: Evidence and Policy Implications , Joseph J. Macdougald

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

The Interaction Between Urban Form and Transit Travel , Sisinnio Concas

The Effect of Land-Use Controls on Urban Sprawl , Marin V. Geshkov

The Role of Rater Motivation in Personnel Selection Validation Studies , Dan Ispas

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Globalization, Migration and the U.S. Labor Market for Physicians: The Impact of Immigration on Local Wages , Finnie B. Cook

Medicare Part D Program: Prescription Drug Plan Copayment Structure and Premium Sensitivity , Rui Dai

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

The Effects of Depressed Mood on Academic Outcomes in Adolescents and Young Adults , Robert Christopher Jones

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

Malaria, Labor Supply, and Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa , Taiwo Abimbola

Determinants of female labor force participation in Venezuela: A cross-sectional analysis , Betilde Rincon de Munoz

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Home > Electronic Theses and Dissertations > Economics ETDs

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Economics ETDs

For information about submitting your thesis or dissertation, or its availability here, please see the Overview of Thesis & Dissertation Policies and Procedures or contact the Office of Graduate Studies .

Theses/Dissertations from 2024 2024

Essays on Cancer Patients, Quality of Life, and Social Support: Evidence from Nepal , Muhammad Adnan Shahid

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

CONCENTRATED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH , Suraj Ghimire

Essays on the Economics of Grid Modernization , Jesse Kaczmarski

Essays on the Child Health and Education Benefits of Government Programs , Abhradeep Karmakar

THREE ESSAYS ON DISABILITY CLAIMING AND MENTAL HEALTH , Samsun Naher

THREE ESSAYS ON THE ECONOMICS OF CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND EDUCATION IN NEPAL , Khusiman Pun

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION IN THE PERMIAN BASIN , Aditi Sarkar

Essays on human capital, labor, and gender , Kritika Sen Chakraborty

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

ACQUIRED AND USEFUL ABILITIES: THREE ESSAYS ON HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT , Rajan Bishwakarma

Return Migration, Human Capital, and Labor Outcomes , Avinandan Chakraborty

Three Essays in Risky Health Behavior and Racial Discrimination , Aakrit Joshi

The Health and Socioeconomic Burdens of Air Pollution and Public Preference for Air Quality Improvement , Niraj Khatiwada

Three Essays on Student Enrollment Responses to General Household and Education-Specific Assistance Programs , Usamah Wasif

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Essays on Human Capital , Soumyajit Chakraborty

AN EXPLORATION OF UNINTENDED EFFECTS OF EDUCATION POLICIES IN THE UNITED STATES , Kevin Estes

Three Essays in Development and Environmental Economics , Michael Benjamin Goodwin

Stronger Transition: Coping with Natural Disasters, and Health-Economic Investment for Adolescents in Developing Countries , Mengqi Liu

Assessment of preference, health issues, and spatial dependence in a solid waste management system , Mohammad Mashiur Rahman

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

IMPACT OF POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS , Bibek Acharya

Three Chapters on Transportation and its Impact on Employment and Health Visits for Low-income Adults in the Southwest , Michael Hensley

ASSESSING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF URBANIZATION IN SIDDHARTHANAGAR, NEPAL , Bishal Raj Khanal

Chad: Human Fertility, Crop Production and Changing Weather Patterns , Jake Organ

Essays on Emotional Well-being, Health Insurance Disparities and Health Insurance Markets , Disha Shende

Adolescent Mental Health In the Developing World: Three Economic Analyses on Stressors, Coping, and Support , Siobhan K. Yilmaz

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

ESSAYS ON NUTRITION AND COGNITIVE PRODUCTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: EVIDENCE FROM ETHIOPIA & NEPAL , Mohammad Ali

Interdependencies Between Energy, the Environment, and Stakeholder Choices , Saleh Nur Muhammad Al Mamun

Migration, Return Migration, and Economic Development in Latin America , Jose R. Bucheli

THREE ESSAYS ON THE SOCIETAL IMPACT OF HEALTH POLICIES AND LAWS , Xuanhao He

Dynamic and Integrated Models of the Energy-Water-Land Nexus: Economic and Environmental Evaluation of Policy Decisions , Elmira Kalhor

Labor Market Implications on the Uptake of the Earned Income Tax Credit in New Mexico post Great Recession: 2008-2015 , James Kaminsky

FRESHWATER CONSERVATION, DRINKING WATER QUALITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: A CASE STUDY ON NEPAL , Samrat B. Kunwar

Essays on Agricultural Water Pollution and Human Health , Na Lu

Market and Non-Market Valuation of Renewable Energy , Jamal Mamkhezri

A Systematic Investigation of the effect of wildfire events and risks on property values , Qiuhua Ma

Ostromian Lessons For Post-disaster Resilience: Evidence from the 2015 earthquake in Nepal , Veeshan Rayamajhee

The impact of exogenous shocks and heterogeneity on demand and preferences environmental and resource goods in the Southwestern United States , Kara A. Walter

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Transitions from higher education to the labor market: merit aid, time to degree signals, and major choice , Christopher P. Erwin

Essays on Energy Economics and Environmental Policies , Janak R. Joshi

ESSAYS IN THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH AND PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY , Glen Vincent McDermott

Three Essays On Understanding Municipal Water Demand In The Western United States , Michael J. O'Donnell

Understanding and Modifying Health Behaviors , Kristina N. Piorkowski

AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF CANCER IN NEPAL , Soumi Roy Chowdhury

Essays on the Factors that Contribute to Body Mass Index , Veronica Salinas

Effects Of Exposure To Violence On Health In Iraq Between 2006-2007 , Fatemeh Shahandeh

Water and healthcare access disparities: Impacts on health, wealth and education. , Justin Whetten

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Spatial and Temporal Intricacies of Natural Resource Use: Studies in Water, Forests, and Hydrocarbons , Dadhi Adhikari

Individual and household-level effects of energy poverty on human development , Brandon Bridge

REACTIONS TO MARKET FAILURE AND APPROACHES TO REDUCE MARKET FAILURE , Yingzhe Cheng

INVESTIGATING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE LABOR MARKET, HEALTH OUTCOMES, HEALTH CARE QUALITY, AND TO REDUCE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT UTILIZATION AND COSTS: A STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES, PATIENT-CENTERED COMMUNICATION, AND ENHANCED ACCESS TO CARE , Juliette GUEMMEGNE TAYOU

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Essays on Risky Health Behavior , Bern Dealy

Food Security, Climate Change, and Poverty Reduction in Rural Nepal , Wenmei Guo

HEALTH OUTCOMES AND OPTIMAL CHOICES IN URBAN AREAS IN RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL SHOCKS AND CHANGES IN FOREST AMENITIES , Benjamin Jones

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

DIFFERENTIAL RETURNS TO EDUCATION ACROSS COGNITIVE ABILITY LEVELS: EVIDENCE FROM CEBU LONGITUDINAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION SURVEY DATA , Tej Gautam

COLLABORATING TO RUIN? US NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND THE IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS , Gerald Hendrickson

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO'S LIVING WAGE ORDINANCE AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES OF WORKERS IN LOW-WAGE OCCUPATIONS' , Justin B. Hollis

Towards Reaching Sustainable Urban Development in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal: An Economic Analysis of Solid Waste Management, Recycling, and the Health Impacts of Air Pollution. , Menuka Karki

ETHNO-RACIAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTH OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM THE AGING POPULATION , Olufolake Odufuwa

ESSAYS ON GENDER, ETHNICITY, AND HEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES AND TURKEY , tunay oguz

Economic Analysis of Infrastructure Investment and Irrigation Budget Issues in a Southwestern U.S. Water Utility , Heidi Pitts

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Socio-Economic and Demographic Predictors of Mammography and Pap Smear Screening in US Women , Curtis Christensen

Examining the Influence of Landscape on Natural Resource Management in the American West: A Geospatial Approach , Robert Fonner

The Value of Wildlife Watching Recreation and Techniques for Addressing Nonresponse in Nonmarket Valuation Surveys , Jee Hwang

A Geospatial Approach to Wildlife and Wilderness Management , Naresh Nepal

How do the Public's Environmental Attitudes affect Recreation Demand for National Forests and Grassland in the Southwest? , Alejandro Prera

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

The Economics of Entrepreneurship: Subsidies, Risk and Tax Evasion , Dennis H. Barber III

Evaluating Simulated Military Training Exercises , George Boese

ARE GRADUATE STUDENTS RATIONAL? MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF GRADUATE ENROLLMENT AND COMPLETIONS IN THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES , John Clack

Temporal and Spatial Analysis of Forest Management: A Case Study of Kam Cha i, Thailand , Jeff Felardo

The Law of One Price and Virtual Worlds , Michael Morrison

An Economic Analysis of Evolving Health Hazards , Justin Tevie

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Household Food Security in Developing Countries: Understanding the Role of Dynamic Natural and Social Systems , Steven Archambault

The Effects of International Remittances on Child Schooling in Ecuador , José Bucheli

Medicare Part D Coverage Gap: Who Falls In and What Beneficiaries Do to Avoid Entry , Danelle Callan

A New Approach To State Corporate Taxation , Swaroop Chary

Demand for Water Quality: Empirical Evidence from a Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior, and Choice Experiment Survey about the Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal , Hari Katuwal

Responding to Natural Hazards: The Effects of Disaster on Residential Location Decisions and Health Outcomes , James Ian Price

The Landscape of FDI Flows , Nicholas Rohl

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Optimal Land Use for Watershed Management—a Case Study in the Feitsui Watershed , Chi-Hsin Chang

Computational Methods in Natural Resource Economics: Agent-Based Modeling and Hotelling's Rule , David S. Dixon

VALUING CHANGES IN THE PROVISION OF A PUBLIC GOOD: EMPIRICAL APPLICATIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH ECONOMICS , German Muchnik Izon

Estimated Business Interruptions Losses of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill , Vanessa Vargas

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Minimum Wage States During Recession , Leila Burrows

Adoption of Renewable Portfolio Standards in the United States: Which Factors Matter? , Angely Andrea Cárcamo Gallardo

A Juxtaposition of rational choice and socio-cultural approaches to explain changes in family size throughout the process of economic development using household survey data from Brazil , Daniel Delfino

MEASURING EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY REGULATIONS IN U.S. HOUSEHOLDS , Bishwa Koirala

Schooling in Mexico: An Evaluation of Private Costs as a Determinant of Household Demand for Education, and the Benefits of a Free Textbook Program , Lauren Kelly Moore

An Application of Dynamic Economic Systems to the Gold Market , Rohnn Sanderson

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Perceptions and Misperceptions of Health Among Different Groups in the United States , Katherine Bass

Park Amenities and Crime: Do Neighborhood Parks Contribute to Crime? , Elizabeth Cota

The economics of urban water policy : infrastructure, scarcity, and conservation , Jason Hansen

The Welfare Effects of International Remittance Income , Michael Milligan

Consumer willingness to pay for water conservation in the framework of renewable energy projects , Amber Riter

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

Poverty, Inequality, Violent Conflict, and Welfare Loss: Micro-Level Evidence from Nepal , Mani K. Nepal

Theses/Dissertations from 1979 1979

An Analysis of the Structural Causes of Poverty in New Mexico , Nikolaos Athanassios Stergioulas

Western Water Market Sophistication , John C. Tysseling

Theses/Dissertations from 1978 1978

Impacts of Reduced Water Allocations to Irrigated Agriculture in the Estancia Basin, New Mexico , Douglas Richard Franklin

Natural Resource Taxation in the Four Corners States , Mark Cahill Resta

An Analysis of Potential Feasible Effective Rates of Coal Taxation in the State of New Mexico , James Samuel Shortle

Theses/Dissertations from 1977 1977

Mineral Extraction Taxes On The Uranium Industry In New Mexico , William Joseph Clifford

The Albuquerque Police Strike , Mark Alan Engelbrecht

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Honors Theses

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Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Posted with permission of the author. © 2019-2022 by the individual author. All rights reserved.

  • "The Causal Effect of ACA Subsidies on Insurance Coverage Status Among California Adults"  - William Vereyken
  • "Economic Impacts of Immigration Detention Centers Built Between 1990-2016 on U.S. Commuting Zones"  - Ekaterina Yudina

Spring/Summer 2022

  • "The Impact of Indiv. Mandate on High-Income, Non-elderly Indiv. Health Insurance Coverage Rates and Racial/Ethnic Disparities"  - YeJin Ahn
  • "An Economic Analysis of the 1997 Amhara Land Redistribution in Ethiopia"  - Ezana Anley
  • "Affirmative Action's Effect on Educational and Wage Outcomes for Underrepresented Minorities"  - Vishnu G. Arul
  • "Are the Effects of Racism Really That Black and White? A Study on the Effect Racism Has on the Productivity of Black   Footballers in the Premier League"  - Advik Banerjee
  • "An Empirical Analysis of Industrial Concentration and Prices: Can We Blame Inflation on Corporate Greed?"  - Anton Bobrov
  • "Tax Revenue Cyclicality and Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Counties From 1989 to 2019"  - Yiyang Chen
  • "The Impact of Economic Opportunities on African American Migration Patterns in Oakland"  - Fernando Cheung
  • "Impact of Tech Companies on Wages in the Local Economy"  - Niki Collette
  • "Warm Welcome: Evidence for Weather-based Projection Bias in College Choice"  - Maria Cullen
  • "Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Bilateral Trade with China"  - Pedro de Marcos
  • "Renaissance of the Black Homeowner: Impact Evaluation of Michigan's Renaissance Zones"  - Rupsha Debnath
  • "Lockdown Blues: The Effect of Social Norms on the Psychological Cost of Unemployment During the COVID-19 Pandemic"  - Dylan Hallahan
  • "How Education Affects Health Outcomes Across Genders"  - Jessica Li
  • "Is Increasing Diversity Inclusion Effective in Improving Companies' Performance in the Financial Services Industry?"  - Miranda Li
  • "The Future Financial Status of the Social Security Program"  - Chloe Manouchehri
  • "Does Recreational Marijuana Legalization Affect Hard-Drug Use? - Evidence from Cocaine Prevalence and Treatment Admissions"  - Arthur Weiss
  • "Relationship Between Economic Status and Money Spent on Private Education Leading to Economic Inequality in South Korea"  - Jiho Lee
  • "The Impact of Migrant Remittances on Rural Labor Supply: Evidence from Nepal"  - Amanda Wong
  • "Confirmation Bias: The Role of Messages and Messengers"  - Hongyu (Randol) Yao

Spring 2021

  • "Gender Equality and Economic Growth: Solving the Asian Puzzle"  - Zoya Ali
  • "Women in STEM: Moving Up or Falling Off the Academic Career Ladder?"  - Sophia J. Bai
  • "Time Dependence in Okun's Law at the State Level" - Sarah Baig
  • "Labor Regulation and the Impact on Firm Behavior in India" - Vatsal Bajaj
  • "Gender Representation in Academia: Evidence from the Italian Education System Reform" - Oyundari Batbayar
  • "Money & Marriage on the Elementary Mind: A High-Level Analysis of Inequitable Child Development in LA County" - Matthew J. Chang
  • "Unanticipated Unemployment Rate News on the Stock Market" - David Chi
  • "Should Physicians Be More Collaborative? Determining the Relationship Between Patient Participation and Treatment Plan Confidence Across a Spectrum of Illness Severity in the State of California" - Saif Chowdhury
  • "Modeling Optimal Investment and Greenhouse Gas Abatement in the Presence of Technology Spillovers" - Sabrina Chui
  • "Understanding the Influence of Marginal Income Tax Rates on Retirement Investment Habits"  - Daniel Cohen
  • "Infrastructure in India's Internal War: A District-Level Analysis of the Naxalite-Maoist Conflict" - Krunal Desai
  • "Do Eucalyptus Trees Increase Wildfires?"  - Lila Englander
  • "Understanding the Labor Outcomes of Hurricane Sandy" - Kevin Fang
  • "Does TikTok Show Viewers the Content Relevant to them?" - Ekaterina Fedorova
  • "The Impact of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Care Provision on Long-term Young Adult Labor Market Choices" - Anne Fogarty
  • "Orchestra Sex Disparity: Experimental Evidence from Audience Members" - Richard Gong
  • "The Big Three Medical Price Indexes: A Comparative Review and Analysis"  - Robert Hovakimyan
  • "Effect of Value-Added-Services on Customer Reviews in a Platform Marketplace" - Shankar Krishnan
  • "COVID19 Recession: Gender Layoff Gap Explodes" - Ember Lin-Sperry
  • "The Gender Wage Gap in China: Learning from Recent Longitudinal Data" - Donghe Lyu
  • "Local Graduation Policies as a Tool for Increasing College Eligibility: Evidence from Los Angeles" - Dan L. Ma
  • "Trust in Government and Lockdown Compliance in Sub-Saharan Africa" - Charles McMurry
  • "I Do (or Don't): The Impact of Same-Sex Marriage Laws on International Tourism" - Oliver McNeil
  • "International Shipping Consequences of a Navigable Arctic" - Jack Melin
  • "Investigating Dollar Invoicing Trends Using United Kingdom Export Data" - Aneesh Nathani
  • "Micro-Level Impact of Initial Public Offerings on Bay Area Housing Inflation" - Mina Nezam-Mafi
  • "Explaining EU's Oil Dependency Through the Response of the Portuguese Sector Indexes to Brent Oil Prices Fluctuations" - Pedro S. Nunes
  • "Dynamic Incentives and Effort Provision in Professional Tennis Tournaments" - Ruiwen Pan
  • "Examining the Effects of Minimum Wage Laws on Part-Time Employment" - Odysseus Pyrinis
  • "The Great Indian Identity Crisis? Exclusions & Intersectionality in the Indian Aadhaar System" - Aditi Ramakrishnan
  • "The 'Clutch Gene' Myth: An Analysis of Late-Game Shooting Performance in the NBA"  - Can Sarioz
  • "Estimating the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Jobs Within the Healthcare Industry" - Sidharth Satya
  • "Factors Influencing Telehealth Utilization: Evidence from California" - Emily Schultz
  • "Cash and Conflict: Evidence from the Indian Banknote Demonetization" - Nachiket Shah
  • "Determinants of the Number of Anti-Government Demonstrations: Evidence from OECD Countries" - Nina Singiri
  • "Hygiene Heroes: A Process Evaluation of Promoting Hygiene Practices in Tamil Nadu Schools" - Malika Sugathapala
  • "Exploring the Labour Patterns of Women and Mothers Through the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact of School Closures and a New Kind of Recession"  - Renee Isabel Utter
  • "How Have Socioeconomic Achievement Determinants Changed in the Past Decade for First-Generation Chinese Immigrants in the U.S." - Haolin Wang
  • "The Impact of Quarantining on School Enrollment: Evidence from the Ebola Epidemic in Sierra Leone" - David Willigrod
  • "Weeding out Needy Households and Welcoming the Better Off? Impacts of Transactional Barriers on SNAP Participation Rates" - Kevin Woo
  • "Are Soccer Teams Being Inefficient? An Analysis of Sunk Cost Fallacy and Recency Bias Using Transfer Fee" - Junru Lyu
  • "The Effects of Access to Family Planning Facilities on Female Labor Market Outcomes"  - Marcus Sander
  • "Macroeconomic Volatility at the Zero Lower Bound: Evidence from the OECD" - Anthony Swaminathan
  • "How are Society's Conditions and Demographics Related to the Popularity of Chief Executive Carrie Lam  and the Hong Kong Government"  - Peter To

Spring/Summer 2020

  • "Parental Involvement: The Differential Impacts of Consent and Notice Requirements for Minors' Abortions" - Angela Ames
  • "Examining Local Price Levels and Income Distribution Over Time" - Josh Archer
  • "Estimating the Effect of Grandparent Death on Fertility" - Jason Chen
  • "Democracy in the Face of COVID-19: Have Less Democratic Countries Been More Effective at Preventing the Spread of This Pandemic ?" - Yi Chen
  • "Understanding the Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers on Indigenous People in Mexico" - Arushi Desai
  • "Microfinance and Payday Lending: Are they Solving a Problem or Creating One?" - Sophia Faulkner
  • "The Risk-Taking Channel of Monetary Policy and Foreign Banks" - Noah Forougi
  • "Ride of Die? Metropolitan Bikeshare Systems and Pollution" - Sean Furuta
  • "Internet's Important Involvement in Information Industry Integration in Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana (and others): How the emerging internet affected the economic geography of the information industry" - Keming (Alex) Gao
  • "The Relationship between Economic Crises and Long-Run Wealth Inequality" - Renuka Garg
  • "Voter Bias in the Associated Press College Football Poll : Reconducting a 2009 study with new data in a $1 Billion-dollar industry that has seen significant changes in the past decade"  - Brent Hensley
  • "Monopsony Exploitation in Major League Baseball: Using Wins Above Replacement to Estimate Marginal Revenue Product" - Jacob C. Hyman
  • "The Relationship Between Currency Substitution and Exchange Rate Volatility" - Jewon Ju
  • "Efficiency, Bias, and Decisions: Observations from a Sports Betting Exchange" - Alexander Kan
  • "The Effect of Medicaid Expansion on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Utilization: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act" - Christy Kang
  • "Analyzing the Relationship between Personal Income Tax Progressivity and Income Inequality" - Gevorg Khandamiryan
  • "The Effects of Occupancy Taxes on the Short-Term Rental Market: Evidence from Boston" - Alan Liang
  • "Corporate Types and Bank Lending in Contractionary Era: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies" - Zishen Liu
  • "Financial Constraints on Student Learning: An Analysis of How Financial Stress Influences Cognitive Function in Children" - Simone Matecna
  • "The Effect of Workplace Inspections on Employment and Sales - A Regression Discontinuity Analysis" - Jeseo Park
  • "Lending Sociodynamics, Economic Instability, and the U.S. Farm Credit Crisis" - Erfan Samaei
  • "The Effect of Intangible Assets on Value Added: Evidence from microdata across small and large firms in Europe" - Tamara Sequeira
  • "Price Efficiency Differences Between Public and Private Utilities: An Empirical Analysis of US Electric Utilities" - Yechan Shin
  • "Effect of Campus Shootings on Academic Achievement: Examination of 2014 Isla Vista Killings" - Min Joo (Julie) Song
  • "First-Degree Price Discrimination: Evidence from Informal Markets in India" - Rishab Srivastava
  • "Who Benefits From Gentrification? A Case Study of Oregon Public High Schools" - Namrata Subramanian
  • "Estimating the Economic Impacts of Wealth Taxation in France" - Jeffrey Suzuki
  • "Transit-Oriented Development or Transit-Oriented Displacement? Evaluating the Sorting Effect of Public Transportation in Los Angeles County" - Yeeling Tse
  • "How State Abortion Policy Restrictiveness is Associated with Unintended Pregnancy Outcomes in the United States from 2014-2018" - Ruhee Wadhwania
  • "Global Food Security and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation"  - Aidan Wang
  • "The Relationship Between Pharmaceutical R&D Spending and NME Development" - Taylor Wang
  • "The Role of Individual Risk Attitude in Occupational Inheritance" - Yi Wang
  • "Labor Market Segmentation: Evidence from U.S. Janitorial Jobs Advertised in English and Spanish" - Zijun Xu
  • "Bias on the Brain: How Patient Gender Influences Use of Emergency Room Diagnostic Imaging" - Abigail Zhong
  • "Age Effects, Irrationality and Excessive Risk-Taking in Supposedly Expert Agents" - William Aldred
  • "Pricing Disparities for Minority Communities in Chicago: Rideshares and Taxis" - Matthew Cleveland
  • "Where My Negros At? Evaluating the Effects of Banning Affirmative Action on Black College Enrollment" - Ellie Koepplinger
  • "Race and Recession: How Minorities May Affect Downturns" - Alexander Szarka
  • "Understanding the Effects of Canadian International Food Aid on Production and Trade" - Patrick D. Tagari
  • "Urban Property Rights and Labor Supply in Peru: Heterogeneity Analysis by Gender and Educational Attainment" - Juan Sebastián Rozo Vásquez
  • "Effect of High-Speed Rail on City Tourism Revenue in China: A Perspective on Spatial Connectivity" - Lingyun Xiao

Archives (2009-2019)

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Dissertation in methodology of econometric modeling

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The significance of econometric methods is that it has large-scale application in different areas like engineering, sciences, medical science, agriculture science etc. To summarize, the econometric methods are helpful in order to know about the stochastic relationship in mathematical format and identifying the relation between the different variables. The figure given below gives an idea of writing a dissertation in econometric methodology. Contact: www.tutorsindia.com [email protected] Whatsapp: +91-8754446690 (UK): +44-114352002

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Abdella Mohammed Ahmed (M.Sc.), 2024

Ragnar Frisch is credited with literally coining interpreted, the econometrics means “economic measurement”, but described by leading econometricians. An econometrician has to be a competent mathematician and statistician who is an economist by training. Fundamental knowledge of mathematics, statistics and economic theory are a necessary prerequisite for this field. As Ragnar Frisch (1933) explains in the first issue of Econometrica, it is the unification of statistics, economic theory and mathematics that constitutes econometrics. Each view point, by itself is necessary but not sufficient for a real understanding of quantitative relations in modern economic life. Econometrics aims at giving empirical content to economic relationships. The three key ingredients are economic theory, economic data measurement’, nor ‘measurement without theo phenomena. It is as Frisch emphasized their union that is the key for success in the future development of econometrics. In general, Econometrics is the science which integrates economic theory, economic statistics, and mathematical economics to investigate the empirical support of the general schematic law established by economic theory. It is a special type of economic analysis and research in which the general economic theories, formulated in mathematical terms, is combined with empirical measurements of economic phenomena. Starting from the relationships of economic theory, we express them in mathematical terms so that they can be measured. We then use specific methods, called econometric methods in order to obtain numerical estimates of the coefficients of the economic relationships. [ In short, econometrics may be considered as the integration of economics, mathematics, and statistics for the purpose of providing numerical values for the parameters of economic relationships and verifying economic theories. What is a model? A model is a simplified representation of a real-world process. For instance, ‘the demand for oranges depends on the p there are a host of other variables that one can think of that determine the demand for oranges. These include:  Income of consumers  An increase in diet consciousness (e.g. drinking coffee causes cancer; so better switch to orange juice)  Increase or decrease in the price of substitutes (e.g. that of apple) However, there is no end to this stream of other variables! Many have argued in favour of simplicity since simple models are easier:  to understand  to communicate  to test empirically with data The choice of a simple model to explain complex real-world phenomena leads to two criticisms:  The model is oversimplified  The assumptions are unrealistic For instance, to say that the demand for oranges depends on only the price of oranges is both an oversimplification and an unrealistic assumption.  To the criticism of oversimplification, many have argued that it is better to start with a simplified model and progressively construct more complicated models.  As to the criticism of unrealistic assumptions, the relevant question is whether they are sufficiently good approximations for the purpose at hand or not. In practice we include in our model:  Variables that we think are relevant for our purpose.  A ‘disturbance’ or ‘error’ transmitted which well as all unforeseen forces.

econometrics dissertation

Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 1984

Methodology in Economics Cover Page

What is econometrics? • Literally speaking, the word ‘econometrics’ means measurement in economics. • In general, econometrics is the application of statistical and mathematical methods to the analysis of economic data with a purpose of giving empirical content to economic theories and verifying or refuting them. • More specifically, it is concerned with the use of statistical methods to attach numerical values to the parameters of economic models and also with the use of these models for prediction. • The techniques of econometrics consist of a blend of economic theory, mathematical modelling and statistical analysis. Before any statistical analysis with economic data is performed, one needs a clear mathematical formulation of the relevant economic theory. For example, saying that the demand curve is downward sloping is not enough. We have to write the statement in mathematical form as: q = a + b p, b < 0 or , b < 0 Where q is the quantity demanded and p is the price. One major problem: economic theory is rarely informative about functional forms. Thus, we have to use statistical methods to choose the functional form as well. Putting it differently, we are often presented with no more than the data themselves and the theory behind the data generation process is non-existent or far from being complete. Thus, what we do in practice is: • Investigate the important features of the observed data • Construct an empirical model (incorporating as much available background theory as possible) • Check that the constructed model is capable of capturing these important features The model construction phase is facilitated by specifying a fairly wide class of models within which some optimal search technique may then be applied. The main aim of this course is to provide a good understanding of the properties of linear econometric models and techniques. Although some features of macroeconomic time series cannot be adequately described and analysed using linear techniques, much econometric model building is dominated by linear models. The reasons include: • The theory of statistical inference is most developed for linear models. • Linear approximations to economic relationships have been quite successful in empirical work. Economic and econometric models The first task an econometrician faces is that of formulating an econometric model. What is a model? A model is a simplified representation of a real-world process. For instance, ‘the demand for oranges depends on the price of oranges’ is a simplified representation since there are a host of other variables that one can think of that determine the demand for oranges. These include: • Income of consumers • An increase in diet consciousness (e.g. drinking coffee causes cancer; so better switch to orange juice) • Increase or decrease in the price of substitutes (e.g. that of apple) However, there is no end to this stream of other variables! Many have argued in favour of simplicity since simple models are easier: • To understand • To communicate • To test empirically with data The choice of a simple model to explain complex real-world phenomena leads to two criticisms: • The model is oversimplified • The assumptions are unrealistic For instance, to say that the demand for oranges depends on only the price of oranges is both an oversimplification and an unrealistic assumption. • To the criticism of oversimplification, many have argued that it is better to start with a Simplified model and progressively construct more complicated models. • As to the criticism of unrealistic assumptions, the relevant question is whether they are sufficiently good approximations for the purpose at hand or not. In practice we include in our model: • Variables that we think are relevant for our purpose. • A ‘disturbance’ or ‘error’ term which accounts for variables that are omitted as well as all unforeseen forces. This brings us to the distinction between an economic model and econometric model. An economic model is a set of assumptions that approximately describes the behaviour of an economy (or a sector of an economy). An econometric model consists of the following: a) A set of behavioural equations derived from the economic model. These equations involve some observed variables and some ‘disturbances’. b) A statement of whether there are errors of observation in the observed variables. c) A specification of the probability distribution of the ‘disturbances ‘. With these specifications, we can proceed to test the empirical validity of the economic model and use it to make forecasts or use it in policy analysis. Methodology of econometric research The aims of econometrics are: a) Formulation of econometric models, that is, formulation of economic models in an empirically testable form (specification aspect). b) Estimation and testing of these models with observed data (inference aspect). c) Use of these models for prediction and policy purpose.

ECONOMETRICS HANDOUT AND LECTURE NOTE FOR UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMICS STUDENTS` HANDOUT FOR STUDENTS TEACHING MATERIALS Cover Page

Management Science is very much crucial in management decision making. The primary purpose of decision-making is for effective and efficient utilization of scarce or the limited resources for which there are both private and public sectors of that economy. The present article helps the USA, the UK, Europe and the Australian students pursuing their master’s degree to identify the best data analysis, which is usually considered to be challenging. Tutors India offers UK dissertation in various Domains. When you Order any reflective report at Tutors India, we promise you the following Plagiarism free Always on Time Outstanding customer support Written to Standard Unlimited Revisions support High-quality Subject Matter Experts. Contact: Website: www.tutorsindia.com Email: [email protected] United Kingdom: +44-1143520021 India: +91-4448137070 Whatsapp Number: +91-8754446690 Reference: http://bit.ly/3bIMnzo

Dissertation Data Analysis in Management Science- TutorsIndia.com for my Management Dissertation Help Cover Page

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Curriculum and Thesis

In their first and second years, PhD students are required to complete a series of core classes, coursework in their major and minor fields of study, and an advanced research methods course before proceeding to the thesis-writing stage.

Core courses

Students must satisfy the requirements in at least 10 of 12 half-semester first-year core courses (14.384 and 14.385 are considered second-year courses). The requirements can be met by earning a grade of B or better in the class or by passing a waiver exam.

Waiver exams are offered at the start of the semester in which the course is offered and graded on a pass-fail basis. Students who receive a grade of B- or below in a class can consult the course faculty to determine whether to take the waiver exam or re-take the course the following year. These requirements must all be satisfied before the end of the second year.

Course list

  • 14.121: Microeconomic Theory I
  • 14.122: Microeconomic Theory II
  • 14.123: Microeconomic Theory III
  • 14.124: Microeconomic Theory IV
  • 14.380: Statistical Methods in Economics
  • 14.381: Estimation and Inference for Linear Causal and Structural Models
  • 14.382*: Econometrics
  • 14.384*: Time Series Analysis (2nd year course)
  • 14.385*: Nonlinear Econometric Analysis (2nd year course)
  • 14.451: Dynamic Optimization Methods with Applications
  • 14.452: Economic Growth
  • 14.453: Economic Fluctuations
  • 14.454: Economic Crises

*Courses 14.382, 14.384, and 14.385 are each counted as two half-semester courses.

Most students will also take one or more field courses (depending on whether they are waiving core courses) during their first year. Feel free to ask your graduate research officer, field faculty, and advanced students for advice on how you structure your first-year coursework.

Second year students must also successfully complete the two-semester course 14.192: Advanced Research Methods and Communication. The course, which is graded on a pass-fail basis, guides students through the process of writing and presenting the required second-year research paper.

Major field requirement

By the end of year two, PhD students must complete the requirements for two major fields in economics. This entails earning a B or better in two designated courses for each field. Some fields recommend additional coursework or papers for students intending to pursue research in the field.

Major fields must be declared by the Monday following the spring break of your second year. Your graduate registration officer must approve your field selections.

Minor field requirement

PhD students are also required to complete two minor fields, taking two courses in each field and earning a grade of B or better. Your graduate registration officer must approve your field selections.

Minor coursework is normally completed by the end of year two, but in some cases students can defer the completion of one field until after general exams. Students must consult with their graduate registration officer before making a deferment.

Options for minor fields include the eleven economics major fields, plus computation and statistics (from the interdisciplinary PhD in Economics and Statistics).

Students who wish to satisfy one of the minor field requirements by combining two courses from different fields–for example, environmental economics and industrial organization II–can petition the second-year graduate registration officer for permission.

At least one minor field should be from the department’s standard field list.

The fields in which the Department offers specialization and the subjects that will satisfy their designation as a minor field are given in the chart below. Some fields overlap so substantially that both cannot be taken by a student. In any event, the same subject cannot be counted towards more than a single minor field. Students must receive the approval of their Graduate Registration Officer for their designated major and minor fields.

List of fields

Behavioral economics.

  • Development
  • Econometrics
  • Industrial organization
  • International
  • Macroeconomics
  • Organizational
  • Political economy
  • Public finance
  • Computation and statistics (minor only)

Subjects satisfying major and minor requirements

Advanced economic theory.

Major: At least two of 14.125, 14.126, 14.281, and Harvard Ec 2059. Recommended for major: 14.126, 14.281, and at least one of 14.125, 14.127, 14.130, 14.147, and Harvard Ec 2059.

Minor: Any subset adding up to two full semesters from 14.125, 14.126, 14.127, 14.130, 14.137, 14.147, 14.160, 14.281 and Harvard Ec 2059. 

*Effective academic year 2025-26, students may also complete a minor in economic theory by completing all four micro core courses 121-124 plus one of 125, 126, 281

Major and minor: 14.160 and 14.163

Econometrics and Statistics

Major: Any one of 14.386, 14.387, 14.388 in addition to one of 14.384 or 14.385. Recommended for major: 14.384 and 14.385. 

Minor: 14.382 in addition to one of 14.384 or 14.385. 

*Dual PhD in Economics and Statistics has an additional requirement of 14.386.

Economic Development

Major and minor: 14.771 and 14.772 or 14.773

Major: 14.416J and 14.441J

Minor: Any two of 14.416J, 14.440J, 14.441J, 14.442J.

Industrial Organization

Major: 14.271 and 14.272 or 14.273. Recommended for major: 14.271, 14.272, and 14.273.

Minor: 14.271 and 14.272 or 14.273. 

International Economics

Major and minor: 14.581 and 14.582

Labor Economics

Major: 14.661 and 14.662A. 

Minor: Two subjects chosen from 14.193, 14.661, and 14.662

Monetary Economics

Major and minor: Two subjects chosen from 14.461, 14.462, and 14.463

* Effective academic year 2025-26, students may also complete a minor in macroeconomics by completing all four macro core courses 451-454 plus either 461 or 462

Organizational Economics

Major and minor: 14.282 and one of 14.283-284, 14.441J, or an approved substitute

Political Economy

Major and minor: 14.770 and 14.773

Public Economics

Major and minor: 14.471 and 14.472

Minimum class requirement

Effective for students entering the program in 2025 or later, students must complete a total of 13 semester long classes plus 14.192 during their time in the PhD program. Subjects that are waived will not count towards this requirement.  Classes counting towards this requirement include classes in Course 14, classes that count for any major or minor field or interdisciplinary program requirement, and classes approved by the 2nd-year GRO.

General exams

MIT requires doctoral candidates to complete an advanced course of study that includes general exams at its completion. Beginning in 2019-20, the Economics Department will operationalize this requirement to include successful completion of: the core and other required courses; course exams and other requirements of courses in each of a student’s two major and two minor fields; the written research paper and oral presentation components of 14.192. Students may present for the general exams while having one remaining minor field to complete. The faculty will review these components together with the candidate’s overall course record to determine whether students have passed the general exam requirement and can proceed to the thesis writing stage.

Typical course schedule

Math Camp begins on the second Monday in August.

Fall Semester

14.121/14.122 (Micro Theory I/II) 14.451/14.452 (Macro Theory I/II) 14.380/14.381 (Statistical Method in Economics & Applied Econometrics) Field Course (major or minor)

Spring Semester

14.123/14.124 (Micro Theory III/IV) 14.453/14.454 (Macro Theory III/IV) 14.382 (Econometrics) Field Course (major or minor)

2-3 Field Courses 14.192 (Advanced Research and Communication) 14.384  or  14.385 (Advanced Econometrics)

3 Field Courses 14.192 (Advanced Research and Communication)

Years 3 and up

Field workshop Field lunch Thesis writing

Upon satisfying the core and field requirements, PhD candidates embark on original research culminating in a completed dissertation. A PhD thesis normally consists of three research papers of publishable quality. The thesis must be approved by a student’s primary and secondary thesis advisors, and by an anonymous third reader. These three faculty members will be the candidate's thesis committee and are responsible for its acceptance. Collaborative work is acceptable and encouraged, but there must be at least one paper in the dissertation without a co-author who was a faculty member when the research started.

Criteria for satisfactory progress

Third-year students.

  • Meet regularly with their advisor
  • Participate consistently in their primary field advising lunch, their primary field workshop, and the third-year student research lunch
  • Participate in third-year meetings organized by the thesis graduate research officer

Students should present on their research in progress at least once in both the third-year student research lunches and their field advising lunch. Presentations provide opportunities for early and broad feedback on research ideas and the chance to develop oral presentation skills. Research ideas or early stage work in progress is encouraged and expected.

Fourth-year and later students

  • Participate consistently in their primary field advising lunch and their primary field workshop
  • Present at least once per year in their field advising lunch or field workshop. A presentation each semester in the field advising lunch is strongly recommended by most fields; consult your advisors for more information

Satisfactory progress toward a dissertation will be evaluated based on progress assessments by the student’s primary advisor, regular participation in the lunches and workshops, and field lunch or workshop presentations that show continued progress.

MIT Graduate academic performance standards and expectations can be found here

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