Senior Honors Thesis

Writing a senior thesis is an excellent way for students to build upon their economics coursework and pursue research that is meaningful and interesting to them. It also allows students to hone the skills they’ve developed and apply frameworks and knowledge in a way that develops an even greater analytical perspective.

Writing a senior thesis requires organization, planning, and focus. Students interested in writing a senior thesis should consult the Senior Honors Thesis Guidelines. The guidelines document describes the philosophy behind the senior thesis and walks you through the process of selecting a topic, engaging a faculty adviser, and registering for the two-semester senior honors thesis seminar.

Past thesis students have found this experience richly rewarding. Read the testimonials below to learn how the opportunity to work closely with a faculty adviser and to think critically and deeply about a significant intellectual problem of their own selection helped these BC alumni grow as researchers, analysts, writers and critical thinkers. While a thesis is arguably essential for students who intend to pursue graduate work in economics, it is also incredibly valuable for the majority of thesis students who follow other paths.

Students who are interested in writing a senior thesis should begin the process in the spring of their junior year (identifying a faculty adviser and developing a research idea in late March or early April). The resources below will help you learn more about the senior thesis and help you get started. Please reach out to Thesis Program Co-Directors Professor Michael Grubb and Professor Bob Murphy for help and advice.

Resources

Current and Past Years’ Senior Honors Thesis Topics

Presentations will be in Maloney 313. We will meet from 8:30-10:00 a.m. Advisers are invited to attend. Each presentation should be about 20-25 minutes with some additional time for questions.

March 28

Liam Dietrich: “Oh, SNAP! The Effect of Improved Nutrition Assistance on Enrollment” (Cichello)

Emma Mayfield: “Winners and Losers: Enrollment Rates in Post-Civil War Liberia” (Cichello)

Neha Suneja: “Evaluating the Impact of Crop Diversification on Smallholder Farmer Resilience in Nigeria” (Cichello)

Jackson Danforth: “Environmental Policies and Their Relative Effectiveness at Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Comparative Analysis” (Sanzenbacher)

March 30

Jesse Wu: “Three Year Analysis of Tulsa Remote on U.S. Computer Scientist Migration” (Kazarosian)

James Monahan: “Should States Legalize Sports Betting?  A Cost-Benefit Approach*” (McGowan)

Gural Nuriyev: “The Deferred Acceptance Algorithm for the New-Graduate Software Engineering Labor Market” (Yenmez)

Yingke "Sharon" Chen: “How inflation affects net housing value and pension wealth in the United States” (Baum)

April 4

Note: Class starts at 8:15 a.m.

Silvia Ianeselli: “What is the elasticity of electric vehicle demand with respect to price and how does it  differ between low- and high-income households?” (Sweeney)

Yanjing (Helena) Xie: “Investigating the Immediate Economic Impact of the U.S. Government’s Rhetoric and Threats During the U.S.-China Trade War” (Valchev)

Joe Milosh: “A Cost Comparison of Clinical and Novel In-Vitro Diagnostic Methods in the Incidental Cardiac Disease Patient Population” (Regan / Bezzerides)

Lauren Gillet: “The Overeducation of Syrian Immigrants in Jordan” (Sankaran)

Thamar (Naika) Jean Laurent: “Monopolizing Bodies: An economic analysis of Kidnapping for ransom in Haiti” (Sankaran)

April 11

Shijian (Russell) Zhang: “Contract Renewal Incentive Effect: Is Contract Year Phenomenon Real in the NBA?” (Grubb)

Louis Gleason: “Knowledge Spillovers and the International Partnership Program for Aerospace* ” (Guerron)

Jakin Jeong: “A Sick Anomaly: Reevaluating the Relationship Between the Economy and the Stock Market in the Pandemic” (Ireland)

Chenghan Lu: “Monetary and Fiscal Policy During Covid*” (Ireland)

April 13

Yujia Shi: “How do the big tech acquisitions impact the venture capital market in the AI industry?” (Murry)

Katherine (Jiayu) Yan: “What are the effects of pandemic supply chain disruption in the automotive industry?” (Murry)

Julia Curtin: “Treating Two Epidemics: Mitigating OUD in Prisons with Public Policy” (Wesner)

William Crowley: “Uncertainty in Inflation: What Kind of Landing Are We Heading Towards?” (McHugh)

April 20

Note: Class starts at 8:15 a.m.

Zhuoran (Grace) Liu: “Invisible Gap: Gender Wage Differentials in Modern China” (Rutledge)

Will Ortyl: “Closing the SNAP Gap: Under-Participation in SNAP Among Low-Income College Students” (Rutledge)

Grace Wagner: “Barriers to Build: Procedural Requirements and Housing Development in Greater Boston” (Rutledge)

Luke DeMartin: “Systematic Behavioral Biases in Major League Baseball Umpiring” (Maxwell)

Haolun Huang: “Exploring Dynamic Pricing in the U.S. Rideshare Industry” (Maxwell)

April 25

Dominic Cischke: “ERC-20 Cryptocurrency Market Efficiency: Investigating High-Frequency Efficiency and Ether Independence Across The Ethereum Merge” (Sanzenbacher)

Katie Garrett: “Marriage Equality and the Reported LGBT Hate Crimes Rate in the United States” (Sanzenbacher)

John Hayfron-Benjamin: “'Hidden diversity'  An analysis of income differences between African Americans and Nigerian Americans through the first and second generations” (Sanzenbacher)

Aman Sinha: “Inflation Targeting Venezuela’s Hyperinflation” (Sanzenbacher)

April 27

Isabelle Bury: “Determinants of Recidivism for the Formerly Incarcerated” (Quinn)

Nadia Capolino: “Working Women: Will the Long-term impacts of Covid-19 be beneficial in the fight for gender equality?” (Quinn)

Andrew Pitten: “What Factors Mitigate Adverse Localized Effects of Trade Exposure with China” (Quinn)

Yunhui (Sunny) Sun: “The impact of Housing Prices on Chinese Fertility Rate: Looking for Possible Solutions to China's Aging Society Problem” (Quinn)