Skip to main content

Theses

Requirements

If you would like to complete your degree theses under the supervision of the Chair of Economics, you will need to meet the following requirements:

  • For Bachelor’s theses: completion of at least one of the courses conducted by the Chair, with a final grade of at least 2.3.
  • For Master’s theses: no restrictions

Registration

Theses are generally only assigned at the chair during the following fixed periods:

  • 01.04.-15.04.
  • 01.10.-15.10.

If you are interested in writing your thesis with us, please contact Nicole Pohle by e-mail from March/September before the period relevant to you. In the e-mail, you should briefly explain which courses you have already attended at the chair (including final grades and current transcript of records) and where your thematic interests lie. 

In addition to the official registration with the examination office, you will also have to take part in the BA: Colloquium or Research Colloquium Economic Policy in the semester in which you write your thesis. Please note the registration deadlines for PULS.

Topics for Bachelor- and Master theses

These are suggested topics. Alternative research ideas can also be pursued after consultation with Prof. Siedler.


1. Health, Education, Family, and Labor Economics

2. Economic returns to education in industrialized countries

3. Economic returns to school degrees in Germany

4. Economic returns to college

5. Education and crime

6. The impact of education on civic behavior and political participation

7. Computer usage and pupils’ success in school

8. How important are teachers for pupils’ learning?

9. Effects of ability tracking on student achievement

10. Effect of comprehensive schools on educational inequality

11. Schools and socio-economic inequality

12. Labor market returns to vocational education

13. School supply in rural areas and educational attainment

14. Family size and children’s education: does a quantity-quality trade-off exist?

15. The importance of nature and nurture for children’s education. Evidence from twin and adoptee studies

16. 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: East-West Migration in Germany

17. Labor market effects of immigration to Germany

18. Parental leave and women’s labor market outcomes

19. Return migration of immigrants: who stays? Who goes?

20. Attitudes towards immigration: how important are economic factors?

21. The impact of immigration on natives’ preferences for redistribution

22. Intergenerational income mobility in Germany and the United States (or United Kingdom)

23. Immigration assimilation in Germany

24. The economics of language: how important are language skills for labor market outcomes?

25. Educational attainment: The intergenerational transmission among immigrants and natives in Germany

26. How important are social and ethnic networks for immigrants’ integration and labor market outcomes?

27. Does intergenerational economic mobility influence political behavior?

28. How important is family structure during childhood for young people’s economic success later in life?

29. Economic consequences of marital dissolution

30. Child care and women’s work

31. Economic consequences of teenage pregnancy

32. Demographic change and the labor market

33. The importance of cognitive and non-cognitive skills for labor market outcomes

34. Economic consequences of employment protection

35. Unemployment duration in Germany

36. EU enlargement and the labor market37. The development of the wage structure in Germany

38. Unions and the labor market

39. Is there an added worker effect in Germany?

40. The motherhood wage penalty in Germany

41. Marriage and wages: does a marriage wage premium exist in Germany?

42. Equal employment opportunity laws and economic outcomes

43. Labor Force participation of women in Germany

44. Health consequences of minimum drinking age laws

45. Are there health benefits of smoking cessation?

46. Tobacco control policies and smoking behavior

47. Tobacco advertising bans and tobacco consumption

48. Smoking bans and smoking behavior

49. Alcohol policies and traffic fatalities

50. How important is education for individual’s health?

51. The socioeconomic gradient in health and mortality

52. Health effects of environmental factors

53. Nutrition, nutritional policies and obesity