master thesis

Assignment of Master theses

The basic prerequisite to write a Master's thesis at the Chair of Public Economics is  a major in economics. Previous participation in lectures and/or seminars provided by the chair is recommended. 

As a rule, a synopsis/exposé (1 page max.) must be sent to the supervisor before the initial meeting. The exposé should include:

• precise research question
• relevance of the research question
• methods to answer the research question (meta-analysis, literature survey, own experiment, own theory model ...)
• relevant basic literature

Please note that only topics that have either an empirical analysis or the (further) development of a theoretical model as their methodological focus will be accepted. However, topics that only include a literature review or a discussion of economic policy measures are not suitable.

An empirical analysis can consist of making a contribution to the existing literature by answering known research questions with new data (e.g. a different time period or different countries) or by using alternative methods (e.g. a new causal identification strategy) in a more substantiated way. To this end, an existing study can be updated by using new data or extended to consider new aspects (other outcomes, analysis for other countries).

In a theoretical analysis, either an existing (simple) model can be expanded to include an economically relevant aspect or a simple model can be developed for a topic that has not yet been theoretically investigated. It makes sense to modify existing models from other areas of economics for your own question (and not to reinvent the wheel yourself).

Regardless of whether you want to work empirically or theoretically: Look for a clearly defined topic on which good publications have appeared in recent years. Avoid general topics that are too broad (“The economics of climate change”, “The labor force participation of women”) or have only been covered in obscure publications.

Examples of freely accessible data sources:

• Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) vom Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung
• European Values Study, World Values Survey und Integrated Values Survey von Gesis
• Sozio-oekonomisches Panel (SOEP) from DIW Berlin
• Mikrocensus from Destatis
• Pairfam

On the basis of the exposé, we decide whether the proposed topic can be worked on within the framework of a thesis and whether it can be suitably supervised at the Chair of Public Economics. All exposés are to be submitted electronically as .pdf  file to Katharina Bettig

Once you're admitted to write your Master thesis at the chair, participation and registration in our research seminar is obligatory. Further information about the research seminar can be found here. Please register in HISQIS (examination number 33067).

Instructions on writing seminar, bachelor, master and diploma theses  can be found here.

Preferred Topics:

Demography, Geoeconomics, International Negotiations, Global Public Goods and International Externalities, Political Economy (Marcel Thum)

Work from Home, Commuting, Health, Subjective Well-Being (Katharina Bettig)

Pension economics, Retirement behavior on the individual and/or couple level, Home production, Labor force participation of older workers (Daniel Altenburger)    

Political connections, corruption, media economics, institutions and long-run development, machine learning applications such as text-as-data (Ataberk Atan)