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Bachelor Theses (summer term)

We provide opportunities for writing bachelor theses on various topics in Economic History and Long-run Development.

If you are interested in writing a bachelor thesis supervised by members of the Economic History team, please contact Valentina Melentyeva and submit your CV and your current transcript of records to vmelenty(at)uni-koeln.de.

We will accept applications for bachelor theses in the summer term 2024 until March 17, 2024.

We will communicate whether an application can be accomodated until March 20, 2024. A list of topics will be distributed via email after this date. Please note that we can only accomodate a limited number of thesis supervisions. If you do not receive an offer for supervision in the first round, we will add you to a waiting list and may offer a supervision in the following weeks.

Succesful applicants studying under Economics PO2015 that are required to take a bachelor seminar preferrebaly have attended the bachelor seminar "Bachelorseminar Volkswirtschaftslehre: Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten in empirischer Wirtschaftsgeschichte" offered by this chair. This seminar focuses on the empirical methods that are core to each thesis.

If you are interested in registering for a bachelor thesis supervised by the economic history team, please take into account the following information:

(1) Typically, we offer topics that are well suited for acquiring a profound understanding of state-of-the-art empirical research in economics. Examples of topics in previous terms are:

  • “Female Empowerment and Economic Development.”
  • “The Long Run Effects of the Presence of Knowledge Elites on Innovation”
  • “Persistent Effects of Public Infrastructure Investments.”
  • “Consequences of Involuntary Migration.”
  • “Why Autocracies Fail.”

(2) Participation in the bachelor course 'Wirtschaftsgeschichte' is highly recommended.

In addition, basic knowledge in econometrics (courses: „Angewandte Ökonometrie“ or „Aufbaumodul Ökonometrie“) is strongly recommended.

(3) In the summer term 2024, you can write your thesis only in English language. Please see the “Prüfungsordnung” relevant to you for further administrative details.

Master Theses

The Seminar of Economic and Business History offers supervision of Master's theses. Supervision capacity is unfortunately limited and we are often unable to meet the high demand for supervision.

Master theses written at the Seminar are typically related to economic history or long-term development. They may sometimes be in the field of Development Economics. Methodologically, all theses are located in the field of Applied Microeconometrics.

Students are expected to work with data sets and test their hypotheses using econometric software. In doing so, they should deal with causal inference and identification strategies such as instrument variables, difference-in-difference estimates, RDD, and/or panel data. We expect students to develop their own research questions and find the relevant data to test their hypothesis using econometric software.

Prior to writing the thesis, we recommend participation in at least one of the following master courses:

  • Determinants of Growth in Economic History

  • Development Economics

You can write your thesis in English. Please see your corresponding “Prüfungsordnung” relevant to you for further administrative details.

If you are interested in writing your thesis with us, please contact , submitting your CV and Transcript of Records (email with one pdf-attachment only, hornung(at)wiso.uni-koeln.de).