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Faculty of Management, Economics and Social SciencesDepartment of Economics | Prof. Dr. Ockenfels

Final Thesis

 

General Information

The final thesis is the last important step towards obtaining your university degree. In your thesis you can prove that you are capable of doing independent scientific work. At our chair you can write both theoretical and empirical theses. In the latter case, we are particularly pleased if you bring either your own data sets or provide ideas for the collection of new data sets. Alternatively, it is sometimes possible for you to collect data yourself at the Cologne Laboratory for Economic Research with our support or to have us provide you with data. We are specialized in the following topics:

  • Game Theory
  • Experimental Economics
  • Market Design and Auctions
  • Microeconomics and Industrial Organization
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Bounded Rationality

Prerequisites/requirements

The admission requirements for writing a final thesis are laid down in the respective - currently valid - examination regulations of your studies. For students of the Examination Regulations 2015 (PO2015) you will find all valid regulations for a final thesis on the website of the examination office. Please make sure to read these 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, Empirical and Theoretical Behavioral Research or Industrial Economics. Furthermore, a good knowledge of microeconomics and game theory is required.

Procedure Bachelor Thesis

We have prepared a list of suggested topics for Bachelor theses. Introductory literature references are given for each topic. Please familiarize yourself with the respective topic and prepare an exposé of at least one page for your application (literature references not included). You can find the list of topics here.

Alternatively, you can also submit your own topic suggestion for one of the above mentioned topics. In this case, too, an exposé of at least one page including 2-3 scientific sources from renowned journals is required.

Your exposé should answer at least the following questions:

  1. Why is this topic important and interesting?
  2. What is the current state of research on this topic?
  3. Where are still needs for research?
  4. How does my work connect to this research and which question(s) do I want to answer specifically?
  5. How will I proceed to answer this question(s)?

Procedure Master Thesis

Master students should contact us with their own proposed topic for their final thesis and please send us a detailed exposé. The exposé should be based on at least 2-3 scientific sources from renowned journals and should answer the following questions:

  1. Why is this topic important and interesting?
  2. What is the current state of research on this topic?
  3. Where are still needs for research?
  4. How does my work connect to this research and which question(s) do I want to answer specifically?
  5. How will I proceed to answer this question(s)?

Application & Support

If you are interested in writing your thesis with us, please contact ockenfels-abschlussarbeiten(at)uni-koeln.de by e-mail. Please attach your exposé as well as a current excerpt of your grades and your curriculum vitae to this e-mail. We will then review the documents and contact you. If your application is successful, a member of our chair will be assigned as your supervisor. You will then discuss the details of your topic with your supervisor.

Important: Please keep in mind that the capacities of our chair are limited. Therefore we cannot guarantee the success of your application, especially in times of high!

Formalities & Other

We have prepared a detailed guide for the preparation of your thesis. In this guide you will find information on the format, citation methods and other tips for writing your thesis. You can find the guide here.

By submitting your thesis, you agree that we may store and process it anonymously using Turnitin (Paradigms LLC.) software for the purpose of plagiarism assessment.

For economics bachelor students, the chair of Prof. Dr. Gürtler offers a bachelor seminar to prepare for writing a scientific paper. Further information can be found on the homepage of Prof. Dr. Gürtler.