Springe direkt zu Inhalt

Writing Your Thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics

Prof. Dr. Britta Gehrke will be on leave during the summer term 2025. Given this, we will only have limited capacity for theses supervision during the summer term 2025. There is no capacity for supervising additional Bachelor's theses.

Please send your application to LS-Makrooekonomik@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de as soon as possible, preferably in the semester before you plan to write your thesis.

You can apply for a Bachelor's thesis for the summer semester until March 31.

For the winter semester, you can apply until September 30.

There is no deadline for Master's theses.

To be eligible for writing a Bachelor’s thesis, students must have attended at least two courses or a seminar offered by our chair, in addition to the mandatory introduction into macroeconomics.

Your application requires:

  • a brief argument on why you want to write a thesis in macroeconomics
  • information about your interests, abilities, and experience in macroeconomics, mathematics, econometrics, and working with data
  • information whether you prefer to write in English or German
  • your most recent transcript of records
  • in case of a Bachelor's thesis: the registration form and the Excel application sheet

While a well-formulated topic proposal is not essential, it is helpful. In addition, we are interested in your proficiency in software, specifically in spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel, statistical software such as Stata, R or Python, and numeric computing software like Matlab or Mathematica.

For more information, including a guide on how to write a thesis or seminar paper, please see below and visit our website.

For Bachelor students:

You can download the registration form here: https://www.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/studium-lehre/pruefungsbuero/Antraege-u-formulare/Anmeldeformular-BA-VWL.pdf. Fill in all preferences for chairs at our faculty and leave the field "Topic" empty, as we will discuss your research question after the application deadline has passed.

You can download the Excel application sheet below.

We strongly recommend that undergraduate students take at least one additional macroeconomic course, aside from the mandatory introduction to macroeconomics, and a seminar before starting a Bachelor's thesis at our chair.

Titles of previous dissertations at the Chair of Macroeconomics

Our Chair has supervised the following list of bachelor's and master's theses, which can serve as a source of inspiration for your own thesis:

  • The effects of short-time work: an international comparison
  • The macroeconomic effects of a universal basic income
  • Government debt and the liquidity trap in Japan
  • The EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement: A forecast
  • The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • A supranational unemployment insurance for the European Economic and Monetary Union
  • The macroeconomic role of efficiency wages
  • The effects of temporary VAT reduction in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Macroeconomic crises and the real estate market
  • Macroeconomic effects of wage indexation
  • Inflation and the Taylor rule
  • Labor market and migration
  • Bitcoin and inflation
  • Macroeconomic effects of uncertainty
  • Macroeconomic effects of transitioning to sustainable individual motorized transport
  • Determinants of economic growth
  • Interest rates and the real estate market
  • Gross value added by tourism
  • The relationship between economic development and migration
  • The impact of monetary policy on income and wealth inequality
  • The development of education as a merit good and its impact on economic growth
  • The influence of technology and innovations on economic growth
  • Impact of the Basel II Accord on the global economic crisis of 2007-2008
  • Rethinking economic progress: analyzing the limitations of GDP as a measure of sustainable development
  • Inflation and monetary policy in sub-Saharan Africa
  • Best Friend of the Rich and Enemy of the Poor? Analyzing the Federal Reserve’s Impact on the Development of the Stock Market and Wealth Inequality during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
  • Die Effekte des demographischen Wandels auf den Arbeitsmarkt
  • Dollarisierung als Weg aus der Währungskrise in Argentinien
  • Die Auswirkungen des Mindestlohns auf den Arbeitsmarkt
  • The Unforeseen Shock: Assessing the Economic Consequences of COVID-19 in Germany on Inequality
  • The Development of Income Inequality in Germany after the Increases of Minimum Wage and Tax-Free Amount on October 1st, 2022 – A Comparative Analysis
  • Ist die Migration ein treibender Faktor für Wirtschaftswachstum?
  • Transition to a green economy and economic growth
  • The Effects of the International Monetary Fund Stabilization Programs on Inequality in Argentina
  • Geschlechterspezifische Effekte der Coronapandemie auf den deutschen Arbeitsmarkt
  • Ökonomische Auswirkungen von Sportgroßveranstaltungen auf Gastgeberländer
  • Effects of the Western Sanctions Imposed on Russia on the German Economy
  • Basel III und Bankenstabilität am aktuellen Rand
  • Kurzarbeit und Arbeitsmarkteffekte während der Covid-19 Pandemie
  • Erneuerbare Energien und das Wachstum des Bruttoin-landsproduktes in Deutschland
  • Der Einfluss politischer Faktoren auf die Staatsverschuldung
  • The relationship between economic growth and income inequality

  • Earnings inequality during crises
  • Macroeconomics and Demography: Theory and Quantitative Evaluation
  • Analysis of refugees in the German labor market
  • Short-time work at the zero lower bound
  • The influence of oil supply shocks on economic growth and inflation

Downloads