The Senior Program

The Senior Project in economics can be satisfied either by a project in a designated 500 level course or by a Senior Thesis. Projects require a paper or a series of papers demonstrating a mastery of advanced methods, an understanding of the scholarly literature on a topic or an understanding of the evolution of important issues in the discipline. The Senior Thesis is a written report of an original research project undertaken in the department's Research Seminar (Economics 560). Students participating in this seminar make a number of presentations of their work in progress during the semester and usually submit their theses to the department for consideration for department honors. On several occasions, these theses have become the basis for collaborative work with faculty supervisors that has resulted in  publications in professional journals.

Recent projects in economics include:

• Do Government Grants Crowd Out Donations to Scientific Research Organizations?
• The Effect of Water Access on Female Education in Rural Ethiopia
• Macroeconomic Volatility and Financial Inclusion
• Do Luxury Goods Make You Happier? An Economic Analysis of Conspicuous Consumption
• Will Performance in a P-Beauty Contest Predict Investment Aptitude
• The Effect of Somali Refugees in Kenya on Native Labor Market Outcomes
• R-star and Forecast Uncertainty: Evidence from the FOMC’s Dot Plot
• Do Job Referrals Lead to Higher Wages? : Evidence from Urban China
• The (Un)insured: An Analysis of How Health Care Coverage Affects Opioid Use in the United States