Theses
Bachelor Theses
Thank you for your interest in writing your Bachelor's theses at the Chair of Macroeconomics!
An important note in advance: Please carefully read the deadlines listed below. Unfortunately, deviations from this timetable are no longer possible.
We offer literature-based theses (9 weeks for WiWi, and 12 weeks for WiMa and WiIng) as well as theses with independent econometric or model-based analysis (13 weeks - only B.Sc. WiWi) on the following macroeconomic topics:
- Labor markets, unemployment and labor market policies
- Macroeconomic consequences of automation and artificial intelligence
- Economic inequality: causes, regional differences and policy options, (heterogeneous agents) models in macroeconomics, inequality in consumption/income/wealth, consumption/income risk.
- Inflation, shocks, expectations and institutions
- Public finances: tax policy, social insurance and (sustainable) public debt
- Sustainable growth and climate policy
- Growth and innovation
- Housing markets: causes of price fluctuations and housing market policies
- Globalization, trade and trade policy
You can choose a topic from this list and make a proposal on a narrowly defined question. Please fill out the application form and send your application, together with your complete BOSS grade transcript and the topic of your seminar paper (which you wrote at our chair or at another chair) to Ms. Engelhardt at the Macroeconomics office: mak.wiwi@tu-dortmund.de.
After your application, you will receive feedback on whether your application was successful and if so, you then confirm by Email within the deadline.
Afterwards, you will receive the exact research question (based on your proposal, if possible), the basic literature (consisting of 2-3 papers on the research question) and the registration form, which you must sign and return to the secretary's office by the deadline.
Important note for the WIng and WiMa study programs: Please apply to your examination office (WiMa: pruefungsverwaltung-mathematik@tu-dortmund.de, WiIng: pruefungsverwaltung-mb@tu-dortmund.de) for the form for registering your bachelor's thesis, which you submit to the Macroeconomics secretary's office in person or by post. Please note that delays may result in the bachelor's thesis being postponed until the next semester.
The first meeting, which is graded as part of the “project seminar”, takes place approximately two weeks after the starting date of the thesis work (WiMa and WIng students please note that the “project seminar” does not count towards your grade). In preparation for this meeting, you will independently research approx. 5 current research papers that relate directly to the basic papers and briefly summarize them. In addition, you write a short summary and a detailed outline of the planned paper on approx. 2 pages together with a preliminary bibliography.
The second meeting takes place approximately 6 weeks after the official starting date, in which you briefly present your results to date. Questions about the work and form can also be discussed here. All questions about form and content can only be asked at these meetings.
The length of the thesis should be between 20-30 pages in standard formatting (font size 12, margins 2.5 cm) and should not exceed 30 pages. Figures and tables should be inserted in the text in the appropriate place if possible (font sizes for tables should not be smaller than ten), but do not count towards the page count. Optional appendices with additional graphics/tables or mathematical derivations also count extra. Literal quotations or close paraphrases must be included in the main text with author and year references and exact page numbers; general references to the literature must be included with author and year references and must be listed in full in the bibliography. If a section/paragraph refers to one specific paper, a one-time citation is sufficient. Literal quotations must always be marked as such. The paper can be written in German or English.
After you have submitted our Thesis as a PDF-document (including the „Eidesstattliche Versicherung“) via the online system ExaBase, you prepare your oral exam with the help of ca. 10-15 slides. The presentation should be no longer than 20 minutes, which is followed by a 10-minute discussion. Please note the scheduled dates below for the oral exam. Specific time slots will be announced in good time.
The formal requirements for a Bachelor thesis are given in § 13 of the examination regulations: https://wiwi.tu-dortmund.de/storages/wiwi/r/studiengaenge/wiwi-bachelor/wiwi-bachelor-2019/ba-wiwi-2019-po-aenderung-3.pdf
Timetable and deadlines for the summer semester 2024 (deadlines for WiMa and WIng students are in brackets):
Application period: 01.02-16.02.2024
Feedback on application by: 19.02.2024
Binding confirmation by: 23.02.2024
Formal registration by: 04.03.2024
Starting date: 02.04.2024 (18.03.2024)
First meeting: 15/16.04.2024 (08/09.04.2024) (time will be announced by the secretariat)
Second meeting: 13/14.05.2024 (29/30.05.2024) (date will be announced by the secretariat)
Submission deadline: 03.06.2024 (09.06.2024)
Oral examination: 24/25.06.2024
Master theses
The procedure and topics are similar to the Bachelor's theses (see above), but you have 17 weeks (or 24 weeks for Wing/WiMa) and you can apply at any time. Please chose a specific topic on which you would like to write your Master's thesis.
