Bachelor Thesis Supervision

The seminar will deal with topics in international, geographical, and development economics. The focus of the seminar will be on empirical contributions. Having some basic knowledge of microeconometrics and microeconomic theory is necessary.

Students are expected to write an essay (bachelor thesis) and to present their work (both in English). There are two different modalities: students may choose to either

1. critically discuss a recent research paper, or

2. conduct their own empirical research (prerequisite: S311 Applied Econometrics and some experience with either STATA or R)

In any case, they may choose their area of interest. The specific research question will be developed together with the supervisor.

Students may express their preferences over the following 4 general areas of interest (see examples of broad topics in bullet points):

Firm behavior

• Determinants of firm productivity
• Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment
• International taxation and the global location of profits
• Tax-avoidance behavior
• The effects of anti-tax-avoidance rules on multinational firm behavior
• Firm performance and business environment across countries

International trade

• The effects of globalization on inequality
• The effects of trade policy on aggregate outcomes (e.g. trade volume, the extensive margin of trade, gains from trade)
• The effects of trade policy on labor markets (wages, unemployment, wage inequality)
• The effects of trade policy on firm performance (productivity, costs, markups)
• Quantifying the gains from trade with structural gravity models

Development economics

• Empirical evaluation of welfare programs in developing countries
• The effects of trade and industrial policy in developing countries
• Access to external finance and firm performance in developing countries
• The Impact of Economic Sanctions on Target Countries’ economic outcomes
• The effect of state aid on developing countries’ exports

Geographical economics

• Firms' and workers' location choices
• The empirical assessment of agglomeration economies
• Transportation costs and the spatial organization of economic activity
• The effects of place-based policies

Replication and extension of empirical studies using original data:

• Gendered Effects of COVID-19 on Paid and Unpaid Work - Insights from School Reopenings in the UK
• The Effects of COVID-19 in Developing Countries - A Critical Analysis of Bharati and Fakir (2020)
• The effects of cash-transfers on labor informality: Evidence from Argentina
• Factor Immobility and Regional Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence on Poverty from India

Discussion and critical assessment of a paper:

• Perverse Consequences of Well Intentioned Regulation: India's Child Labor Ban
• Transport Costs, Trade and Urban Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Roads, Exports and Employment: Evidence from a Developing Country
• Skill Transferability, Migration, and Development: Evidence from Population Resettlement in Indonesia
• The Global Economics of Water: Is Water a Source of Comparative Advantage?
• The Productivity Advantages of Large Cities: Distinguishing Agglomeration from Firm Selection
• What causes Industry Agglomeration?
• Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Winners and Losers of Large Plant Openings
• The Costs of Remoteness: Evidence from German Division and Reunification
• Trade Liberalization and the Wage Skill Premium: Evidence from Indonesia
• The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States
• Globalization and Wage Inequality: Evidence from Urban China
• Explaining Job Polarization: Routine-Biased Technological Change and Offshoring
• The Wage Effects of Offshoring: Evidence from Danish Matched Worker-Firm Data
• Services Reform and Manufacturing Performance: Evidence from India
• Transfer Pricing by Multinational Firms: New Evidence from Foreign Firm Ownerships
• Knocking on Heaven’s doors: Multinational Firms and Transfer Pricing

As a prerequisite to join our seminar students are required to participate in the course "E376 A toolkit for writing your Bachelor's Thesis", which is offered blocked at the beginning of each term. This course requires registration. Detailed information is provided via ALMA.

Students who have been assigned to this bachelor thesis seminar should send an E-mail to economicsspam prevention@wiwi.uni-tuebingen.de (subject line "E372") within the deadline announced each term via alma. You should

• Attach a recent transcript
• Indicate your preference about which area you want to write your thesis on by ranking three areas from 1 (highest preference) to 3 (third-best preference)
• Indicate whether you'd like to
  • discuss a paper (and maybe replicate results if data is provided by the authors) or
  • conduct your own empirical research (the specific research question and data access will be provided by your supervisor)

Writing your Bachelor thesis requires that you participate in a Bachelor thesis seminar. Participation is subject to application in a centralized procedure run by the Examinations Office. This procedure runs on a yearly basis and is opened towards the end of the summer term. Second year Bachelor students will receive a letter from the Examinations office which specifies the types of Bachelor thesis seminars that will be offered the subsequent academic year. You will be asked to express your preferences regarding participation in one of the seminars offered. The School will then do whatever is possible, in order to accommodate your preferences when allocating students to Bachelor thesis seminars. It is imperative that you participate in this procedure, as there is no other guarantee of a place in a Bachelor thesis seminar.