Senior Honors Thesis

Writing a senior thesis is an excellent way for students to build upon their economics coursework and pursue research that is meaningful and interesting to them. It also allows students to hone the skills they’ve developed and apply frameworks and knowledge in a way that develops an even greater analytical perspective.

Writing a senior thesis requires organization, planning, and focus. Students interested in writing a senior thesis should consult the Senior Honors Thesis Guidelines. The guidelines document describes the philosophy behind the senior thesis and walks you through the process of selecting a topic, engaging a faculty adviser, and registering for the two-semester senior honors thesis seminar.

Past thesis students have found this experience richly rewarding. Read the testimonials below to learn how the opportunity to work closely with a faculty adviser and to think critically and deeply about a significant intellectual problem of their own selection helped these ɬ﷬ alumni grow as researchers, analysts, writers and critical thinkers. While a thesis is arguably essential for students who intend to pursue graduate work in economics, it is also incredibly valuable for the majority of thesis students who follow other paths.

Students who are interested in writing a senior thesis should begin the process in the spring of their junior year (identifying a faculty adviser and developing a research idea in late March or early April). 

Thesis Program Co-Directors

Resources

  • Senior Honors Thesis
  • Senior Honors Thesis (Due April 30 Junior Year)
  • Senior Honors Thesis guide to
  • To see samples of past theses by economics students, please visit the eScholarship page on the .
  • Current and past years’ thesis topics

Student Testimonials

Current and Past Years’ Senior Honors Thesis Topics

Presentations will be in O'Neill 257.  We will meet from 8:30-10:15 a.m.  Advisers are invited to attend.  Each presentation should be about 15-20 minutes in length with some additional time for questions.  

March 25

Christopher Walko: “How Legalized Sports Betting Impacts Casinos” (McGowan)

Hunter Linton: “Poverty and Peso: The Relationship Between Inflation and Poverty in Contemporary Argentina” (Regan)

Maximilian Trulby: “Dissecting the Dead Cat Bounce” (Cox)

Sophie Sun: “Assessing the Health Impacts of Natural Disasters on the U.S. Population” (Baum)

March 27

Hannah Fuller: “The Impact of Newborn Screening on Infant Mortality by U.S. State for Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders” (Sanzenbacher)

Solomon Park: “An Emotional Market? Analyzing Investor Overreaction to Economic Shocks” (Sanzenbacher)

Jinju Park: “Did Bail Reform Affect Failure to Appear Rates? Exploring Efficacy of Cash Bail in Ensuring Court Hearing Attendance” (Sanzenbacher)

John Herrington: “The affect of light rail expansion on traffic related health externalities” (Sanzenbacher)

April 1

Martin Brozman: “Financial well-being of retirees in Public Retirement Funds exempt from contributing to Social Security” (Rutledge)

Anthony Yang: “Bridges to Early Retirement and Maximizing Social Security Benefits” (Rutledge)

Oliver Bernstein: “How advanced hockey analytics explain NHL players’ salaries” (Rutledge)

Edward Deng: “News Sentiment and Volatility Prediction in the Commodities Market” (Ulusoy / Murphy)

April 3

John Leech: “Profit as a function of GDP acceleration” (Ireland)

Charles Loeb: “Fiscal Influences on COVID-19 Inflation: Analyzing the Price Level Using the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level” (Ireland)

Andrew Baker: “Sovereign Bond Mispricings and Economic Outcomes” (Ireland)

Ryane Oswald: “From Cuts to Crisis: Austerity’s Long-Term Impact on the Pandemic Response in Spain and Italy” (Bejan)

April 8

Kaylyn Eigen: “Disparities in Affordability of Diabetes Medications: How Price May Affect Quality of Life” (Grubb)

Marco Luo: “Rent Deflation from Vacancy Taxation: Vancouver's Empty Homes Tax” (McCullagh / Grubb)

Jonah Liwschitz: “The Effects of Universal Preschool on Maternal Employment” (Cichello)

Katherine McCaffrey: “Closing the Gender Wage Gap in Developing Countries: The Impact of Inward FDI on Labor Market Outcomes in Bangladesh” (Cichello)

April 10

Grace Medjo: “Data Control Rights and Sludge: A Policy Analysis of the CCPA” (Felter)

Harold Wang: “Impartial Intergenerational Beneficence as a Source of Professional Meaning” (Liane Young / Stylianos Syropoulos)

Jane Guirl: “Texas TRAP Laws: Are They Trapping Mothers with Unpaid Work?” (Venator)

Denis Mulcahy: “Paying the Citizen-Soldier: Earnings Outcomes for Non-Retiree Veterans entering the Civilian Labor Market” (Ventor)

April 15

Jean-François Filippi: “Effects on the Employment and Reservation Wage of Older Workers from the Increase in the Legal Retirement Age in France in 2010” (Quinn)

Caroline Morrissey: “Teacher Labor Market Effects on Student Outcomes” (Quinn)

Mary Perez: “Social Security:  Is now the time to change a leg in the retirement stool?” (Quinn)

Yisi Liu: “Why do people prefer anti-social behavior in the group than individually?” (Coffman)