Senior Honors Theses 2007
Author, title, and main advisor
Burcu Basaran, The Law of One Price and the Width of the Border
Mario J. Crucini
Christopher Handy, External Capabilities
James E. Foster
Judith Ricks, Explaining the
Variation in the Proportion of Women Who Major in Economics
John Siegfried
Jamin D. Speer, National Evidence
on the Effects of Unions on Teacher Salaries
Stephen Buckles
Joshua L. Taylor, Diffusion
of Innovation: Precision Agriculture Services: An Analysis of
Limiting Factors in the Distribution Channel
Brian Waters, Overcoming Adverse Selection in Lending Using
Dynamic Liability
Christian Ahlin
Prior years theses click
here
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Overview
The honors program in economics
serves highly motivated students interested in doing independent
research, culminating in a senior thesis.
Students seek out a faculty advisor
in economics during the fall of their junior year to discuss
research ideas. The formal thesis proposal is developed during
the spring semester of the junior year as an independent study
with the faculty advisor. The thesis is fully developed, polished
and presented to the thesis committee at the end of the senior
year. Thus an Honors student will have worked closely with a
faculty advisor and the Honors Director for three semesters.
The process of actually doing
economic research brings together many of the best elements of
the undergraduate Economics major experience at Vanderbilt. It
also serves, along with Econometrics 253 (a key pre-requisite
best taken in the junior year), as part of a solid portfolio
of academic acheivement for subsequent graduate study and employment
in research oriented private and public enterprises.
For more information click here to send an e-mail
to Professor Crucini
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Honors Program in Economics
The honors program in economics serves highly
motivated students interested in doing independent research.
To be eligible for consideration students should have (items
are listed in rough chronology of when they are satisfied):
1. completed two semesters of calculus;
2. completed all 15 hours of courses
in the required major core (100, 101, 150, 231, and 232) by the
end of the fall semester of the
junior year;
3. written an honors proposal under
the supervision of a faculty advisor by the end of the spring
semester of their junior year.
4. have earned an average grade
of at least A- in Econ 150, 231, and 232;
5. a minimum GPA of 3.0 overall and
in economics;
Requirements of the Honors Program are:
1. 36 hours of work in economics (3
more than the standard major)
2. all 15 hours of required courses
for the major (same as the major)
3. 6 hours of regular electives (3 less
than the major)
4. 15 hours in Econ above 250 level
(6 more than the major) consisting of the following:
- Econ 291 A or B Indpendent study with
thesis advisor for proposal development (1 hour)
- Econ 253 Introduction to Econometrics
(3 hours)
- Econ 292 A/B Independent study with
thesis advisor (6 hours, 3 in each of the fall and spring semesters)
- Econ 295 A/B Honors Seminar with Honors
Director (2 hours, 1 in each of the fall and spring semesters)
- Eco 256 or 257 Policy seminar in microeconomics
or macroeconomics (3 hours)
5. write a senior thesis, and defend
it in an oral examination
On satisfactory completion of this program,
a student will graduate with Honors or with High Honors in economics.
Typical time-line for an Honors student
By the end of the Junior year, students
will usually have completed:
1. Econ 253 (Econometrics),
2. one of the policy seminars,
3. two upper-level economics electives in subjects related to
the prospective topic of the student's senior thesis, and
4. one hour of Independent Study (Econ 291A) in which the student
writes a detailed prospectus for the thesis under the supervision
of an economics faculty member.
During the Senior year, the student's work
will include:
1. six-credit hours of Senior Thesis Econ
292 A & B (A is fall, B is spring),
2. three credit hours in a final economics elective;
3. two credit hours of Honors Seminar, one hour in each term,
Econ 295 A&B, (A is fall, B is spring),
4. and the oral defense of the completed dissertation (toward
the end of spring semester).
Other requirements
- Students who are not sure whether
they wish to complete the honors program should take an additional
3-hour elective.
- Interested students who meet the College's
requirements for honors candidacy in Economics as set forth in
the College Catalog should consult the Director of Undergraduate
Studies no later than the middle of the fall term of their junior
year.
- Students must also have completed all but
six hours of the courses required for AXLE (or the College Program
in Liberal Education) by the end of their junior year.
- Study abroad and graduation in December give
rise to special considerations which should be discussed with
the Honors Director in advance of enrollment in the program.
For more information click here to send an e-mail
to Professor Crucini
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