Final Theses
For some semesters I maintained a list...
of possible topics for your degree theses. I no longer do that, because I prefer you to develop your own projects. I am ready to serve as your adviser for a number of areas of applied microeconomics - in particular those in which I have done research myself, such as experimental economics, cultural economics, or law and economics.
How to find a topic? One possibility is to start with your hobbies and try to find out whether one has been studied by economists (like, for example, decision making by chess players).
Another possibility is to have a look for inspiration in good economics research blogs, such as
Warum gibt es diese FAQ nicht ganz auf Deutsch?
Das ist eine Art Test - wenn Sie Schwierigkeiten haben, Englisch zu lesen, dann schreiben Sie am Fachgebiet Mikroökonomik besser keine Abschlussarbeit. Egal, was genau das Thema ist: Es gibt fast ausschließlich englische Literatur.
Why are these FAQ not available in German?
Consider that as a kind of a test. If you have difficulties reading this, please look elsewhere for a supervisor for your thesis. In applied microeconomics, almost 100 percent of the relevant literature is in English.
Can you be my supervisor?
I cannot answer this question if I do not know on what you are planning to write. It is highly unlikely that I will agree to supervise your thesis if I am not already familiar with the relevant research literature.
Can I write in cooperation with a firm?
Typically this is not recommendable. Firms often want you to answer questions that are not of interest from a research perspective. However, in some cases, cooperating with a firm (or another kind of organization) will allow you to access or generate interesting data sets.
How do I find the second referee?
You can just pick one. Everyone in our faculty is willing to be the second referee for every final thesis.
How many pages do I need to write?
While some of my colleagues have defined an upper or lower limit, I have not done that so far. Anyway, writing more pages in and of itself does not improve your grade.
I have another question. What to do?
Just contact me.