Final Thesis
Please send all inquiries about final theses directly to ockenfels-abschlussarbeiten(at)uni-koeln.de.
General Information
At our chair, you can write both theoretical and empirical theses in the following areas (although the scope and specialization vary depending on the current composition and interests of our team): Behavioral Economics, Bounded Rationality, Environmental Economics, Experimental Economics, Game Theory, Market Design.
To apply for supervision at our chair, please follow the instructions below. Please keep in mind that the capacities of our chair are limited, so we cannot guarantee the success of your application.
Prerequisites
The admission requirements for writing a final thesis are laid down in the respective currently valid examination regulations of your studies. Students of the Examination Regulations 2015 (PO2015) and 2021 (PO2021) can find all valid regulations for a final thesis on this website of the examination office. Please make sure to read the relevant regulations before contacting us.
For a final thesis at our chair it is recommended that you have attended at least two courses as a master student and at least one course as a bachelor student at the WiSo-Faculty in the area of economic design and/or behavioral economics. A good knowledge of microeconomics is required.
Bachelor theses
Bachelor students submit proposals on the topics offered by us (see the schedule and the list below). The application runs in two rounds:
- Initial allocation of topics for the proposal-writing stage. In this round, you just submit your preferences over the topics as a vector of numbers of topics from the list, ordered from most to least preferred to ockenfels-abschlussarbeiten(at)uni-koeln.de. Soon after the deadline for this round you will be assigned two topics on which you can write proposals.
- Allocation of topics based on the submitted proposals. In this round, please send your CV, transcript of grades, proposals, and preferences over the submitted proposals (a 2-dimensional vector of numbers of topics as they appear on our list, ordered from most to least preferred) to ockenfels-abschlussarbeiten(at)uni-koeln.de. You do not have to write proposals on both assigned topics, but you will be considered only for the topics for which you submit a proposal. We collect all proposals submitted by the submission deadline and allocate the topics by a matching mechanism with preferences on the side of supervisors driven by the quality of proposals. Each topic is assigned to at most one student.
Please do not contact our supervisors to consult your proposals before the submission deadline (organizational questions can be addressed to our email above). Only after a successful match, you should consult with your assigned supervisor, refine your proposal, and register the thesis within one month—the details should be discussed with the assigned supervisor.
Schedule:
For supervision during the summer term
20.01. Publication of the list of proposed topics
22.01. Deadline for submission of preferences over topics (round 1)
05.02. Deadline for submission of packages with proposals (round 2)
10.02. Allocation of supervision capacity
For supervision during the winter term
01.07. Publication of the list of proposed topics
05.07. Deadline for submission of preferences over topics (round 1)
20.07. Deadline for submission of packages with proposals (round 2)
01.08. Allocation of supervision capacity
List of topics for bachelor theses
Special instructions for the students of the program “B.Sc. Management, Economics, and Social Sciences:”
Your program instructs you to register via KLIPS. Since that is independent of our application procedure, you need to additionally follow our instructions described on this website to apply for supervision at our chair. In case of rejection at our chair, please re-register in KLIPS to a different chair. In particular, you can switch your subscription to “Bachelorarbeit (MES) Macroeconomics and Inequality” where you can also find supervision in “Microeconomics.” For more information, please contact Julia Fath (fath(at)wiso.uni-koeln.de).
Master theses
Master students come up with their own topics. Please submit your proposal, CV, transcript of grades, and preferences over supervisors (a vector of names from most to least preferred; see the list of available supervisors below) to ockenfels-abschlussarbeiten(at)uni-koeln.de. The submission deadlines are indicated in the schedule below. Before submission, you can consult with the potential supervisors to a limited degree (at most once with each supervisor) to refine your proposal.
We collect all proposals submitted by the submission deadline and we allocate our limited supervision capacity by a matching mechanism with preferences on the side of supervisors driven by the quality of proposals.
After a successful match, you should consult with your assigned supervisor, refine your proposal, and register the thesis within one month—the details should be discussed with the assigned supervisor.
Schedule:
For supervision during the summer term
01.01. Deadline for submission of packages with proposals
10.01. Allocation of supervision capacity
For supervision during the winter term
01.06. Deadline for submission of packages with proposals
15.06. Allocation of supervision capacity
List of available supervisors:
Khanh Hoang
Melisa Kurtis
Yero Ndiaye
Rastislav Rehak
Inspirations/suggestions:
- Good knowledge of the relevant literature is an indispensable part of every thesis. A large and systematic literature review or a meta-analysis can be a thesis on its own.
- An interesting task for a thesis might be reproduction or replication of an influential paper (e.g., with 100 citations on Google Scholar and published in a highly ranked journal). For reproduction, additional own original extension is expected. For replication, data acquisition is the responsibility of the student.
- Modification or extension of an influential theoretical paper.
- Documentation and explanation of an existing economic design challenge with a proposal for an improved design.
Structure of a proposal
There are no strict requirements on the formatting and length of a proposal, but it should be as concise as possible (focus on the quality of writing rather than length) and contain the following points:
- Motivation/importance: Why should we care about the topic?
- Literature overview: What is the current state of research on this topic?
- Positioning: Where does the proposal fit into the literature? How should it contribute?
- Research question: What is the objective of the work?
- Proposed plan: How will you proceed to answer the question?
Formalities
In this guide, you will find information on formatting, citation methods, and other tips for writing your thesis. We also recommend to take a seminar on how to write a scientific paper.
Using the WiSo-Inbox of the WiSo Examination Office, you can manage the administration of your thesis (submission, request for extension, etc.). You can find more information here.
You must also prepare a “progress documentation” and attach it as an appendix to the thesis (exception: students in the program Master in Economic Research do not have to make this progress documentation). The progress documentation has to contain the following elements:
- The proposal written at the beginning of the working period.
- Consultation protocol: After being assigned to your topic, you have to arrange at least one appointment for a consultation with the supervisor before registering the thesis; this consultation should be scheduled between the 5th and 9th week of the working period, and it has to be documented in the consultation protocol by the supervisor; the supervisor should give you this protocol within three working days after the consultation and you have to include it in the progress report. In preparation for the protocolled consultation, prepare an outline of your progress.
- After the consultation, write at most 1 page reflection on your progress (e.g., used procedures, reached milestones, obtained results, encountered hurdles, critical use of AI, deviations from the proposal) and include it in the progress report.
For more information on the progress report, see the guidelines.