Theses

Choice and treatment of topics

The thesis should be oriented towards the teaching and research program of the department. As a basis for an appropriate treatment of the thesis in the Bachelor, the participation and the successful completion in all basic courses of economics is required. Master students should have successfully participated in the course "Inequality and Social Mobility" or "Family Economics" (and/or in a seminar of the chair).

When working on the thesis, students are expected to deal with the theoretical foundations and, if necessary, to apply empirical methods. In this context, attendance of courses in the area of "Quantitative Methods/Econometrics" is recommended.

The thesis will be presented and discussed in the accompanying "Seminar for Bachelor and Master Students".

• Formal requirements for scientific theses

Registration of theses

If you are interested in a master thesis, please contact Prof. Dr. Katja Kaufmann. For supervision of your bachelor thesis please contact Dr. Yasemin Özdemir. For requests to supervise a Master's thesis, please prepare and submit an exposé on the planned research question/topic.

• Instructions for the preparation of a synopsis

Main topics

• Inequality and social mobility (determinants and consequences)
• Empirical macroeconomics and family economics (e.g. determinants of family formation or fertility decisions and/or effects on society/macroeconomics as a whole, specialization and bargaining in the household, labor supply decisions in the (extended) family)
• Evaluations of programs and policies (e.g., family policy, labor market, education, health policy)
• "Peer effects" and the role of social interactions (e.g., in educational decisions, financial decisions, in the workplace)
• Economics of education issues (e.g., short- and long-term effects of educational decisions - "returns to education," choice of STEM subjects at university)
• Empirical analysis of decisions under uncertainty and data on subjective expectations (e.g., educational decisions and subjective expectations, labor supply decisions and subjective expectations)

Proposals for own topics are welcome. Papers can be written in English and German by arrangement.

Further notes

• The processing time for the final thesis is regulated by the respective examination regulations.
• The thesis must be submitted digitally in PDF/A format via the form server. A printed version must be handed in at the chair (not at the examination office). All documents must be submitted by the deadline. This applies to both the electronic submission of the thesis and the submission of the paper copy.

    Please always check for the latest information from the Examination Office at:
 
    https://www.uni-bayreuth.de/pruefungsamt-wiwi#ea5f46bf