Procedure for writing a Bachelor thesis at our chair

 

1. Read the directions for writing a Bachelor thesis and become aware of what is expected or you.

2. Please contact the chair 4 to 6 weeks prior to your preferred starting date. Explain in which field you would like to write your thesis and when you would like to start.

3. Arrange an appointment. Take your transcript of records and a completed registration form (provided by the examination office; please note: we'll need the admission requirements confirmed by the examination office) with you. During this appointment, we will discuss potential topics and the methodological direction of your thesis (theoretical/empirical).

4. At your starting date, we will send you the concrete topic for your thesis, the starting literature and some further instructions, via e-mail. From this point, you will have two months to write your thesis. You can write your thesis either in German or in English.

5. After approximately 10 days you should meet with your advisor to discuss the outline of your thesis and additional literature. Please print out the outline and bring it to the appointment.

6. Four to six weeks after you finished your thesis you will receive your grade. Afterwards you can make an appointment with your advisor for personal feedback.

Proposed topics for Bachelor:

You can choose one of the following topics for your Bachelor Thesis. You can also come up with own ideas if they fit into the areas of research and teaching of our chair. Feel free to contact us.

Inheritances and Inheritance Tax:

• Inheritance Taxation of Businesses (empirical and/or theoretical)
• Inheritances as Determinant of Inequality (empirical)
• Perception of Inheritance Taxation (empirical)

Corporate Taxation:

• Profit Shofting by Multinational Corporations (empirical)
• Measures against Profit Shifting by Multinational Corporations (empirical or theoretical)

Other Taxes:

• Financial Transaction Taxes (empirical and/or theoretical)
• Crisis-related wealth tax (empirical and/or theoretical)
• Incentive taxes (e.g. packaging tax in Tübingen) (empirical and/or theoretical)

Tax Evasion:

• Individual Tax Evasion: Theory (theoretical)
• Individual Tax Evasion: Evidence
• Inequality and Tax Evasion

Income Tax:

• Marital Splitting (theoretical and/or empirical)
• Sense of purpose and impact of the commuter tax allowance (theoretical and/or empirical)

"Sustainable" Economic Policy:

•  The German Energy Market: Should it be split into regions?
• Biodiversity - A quantifiable goal for economic policy?

The indication "empirical" or "theoretical" is referred to the applied methodology of the starting literature. Empirical papers present the results of data analyses; theoretical papers present mathematical-analytical models. In a Bachelor thesis, you do not have to conduct own empirical or analytical analyses.

 

Procedure for writing a Bachelor thesis at our chair

1. Read the directions for writing a Bachelor thesis and become aware of what is expected or you.

2. Please contact the chair 4 to 6 weeks prior to your preferred starting date. Explain in which field you would like to write your thesis and when you would like to start.

3. Arrange an appointment. Take your transcript of records and a completed registration form (provided by the examination office; please note: we'll need the admission requirements confirmed by the examination office) with you. During this appointment, we will discuss potential topics and the methodological direction of your thesis (theoretical/empirical).

4. At your starting date, we will send you the concrete topic for your thesis, the starting literature and some further instructions, via e-mail. From this point, you will have two months to write your thesis. You can write your thesis either in German or in English.

5. After approximately 10 days you should meet with your advisor to discuss the outline of your thesis and additional literature. Please print out the outline and bring it to the appointment.

6. Four to six weeks after you finished your thesis you will receive your grade. Afterwards you can make an appointment with your advisor for personal feedback.

Topic List

We generally supervise bachelor's theses on a variety of topics in public/financial economics. Before contacting us, you should give some thought to which areas interest you. We will then agree on a general topic area. You will receive the specific topic at your start date.

Here are some examples of areas in which we supervise bachelor's theses:

Global Tax Policy

• The global minimum tax (Pillar Two/BEPS 2.0): objectives, implementation, early evidence
• The "Zucman proposal" for a minimum wealth tax on billionaires

Inequality

• Measuring inequality
• Trends in inequality
• Windfall profits and their taxation (e.g., excess profit taxes during the energy crisis)

Climate Policy and Economic Policy

• Carbon pricing (e.g., regarding effects, distributional impacts, political acceptance)
• The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
• Subsidies for green technologies (US IRA vs. EU response)

AI, Automation, and the State

• How should automation/robot use be taxed?
• Effects of AI on tax revenue and the labor market

Public Debt and Fiscal Policy

• Public debt after Covid: sustainability and consolidation pressure
• Germany's debt brake ("Schuldenbremse"): sensible or in need of reform?
• Special funds ("Sondervermögen" for infrastructure, defense) as a new fiscal instrument

Trade and Geopolitics

• Economic effects of tariffs (currently: US tariff policy)
• Reshoring/friend-shoring: economic policy responses to geopolitical tensions
• Effects of sanctions