Essay & Poster
Essay/Research Proposal
You have to draft a rudimentary research proposal for a hypothetical (but feasible) bachelor thesis on a selected topic. This research project should be an empirical project, i.e. you should work with data. Writing a proposal includes the formulation of a relevant and interesting research question, a literature review that allows you to identify the research gap you will contribute to (and hence an explanation of your contribution to the relevant literature), the search for and explanation of an available data set that includes the information you need, and a brief outline of the methodology.
Importantly, at this stage it is not required that the data is readily available but it should at least exist in some form. It is also possible to present a strategy for own data collection, for instance if you would conduct a survey or an experiment in order to answer your research question. The research proposal has to include a cover page (title, author, date, keywords, JEL codes) and an abstract of max. 200 words. The word limit is 2,500 words (excluding title page, references and abstract). You may write less but writing fewer words is not easier. You should structure the research proposal as follows:
- Introduction: Explain why the topic is important and interesting; sketch the general idea of the proposal
- Literature review: The purpose of a literature review is to identify a research gap and to relate what you (want to) add to the existing literature. It is not a summary of everything that has been said on the topic or a description of the results of all empirical papers on similar questions. A key challenge is to connect theories with empirical findings. The literature review should convince the reader that i) there is a research gap and that ii) filling this gap is important. There are different types of research gaps. For instance, it might be a lack of knowledge or conflicting results. Also, acknowledge that progress in research is incremental and try to come up with a feasible proposal rather than a new formula to solve one of today’s major economic challenges.
- Research question and hypotheses: Explain the research question in detail and explain what you expect to find.
- Methodology: Explain how you would try to answer the question from a methodological point of view.
- Data: What data did you find that you could use in the analysis?
- Conclusion: Main challenges that you expect
- Bibliography: you can use any citation style, for instance APA or Harvard; however, you have to be consistent!
The final version of the essay is due on January 31, 2023.
Poster
You will present your research idea to your colleagues in a poster session. Session 1 is taking place on January 13, 2023 and session 2 follows on January 20, 2023. Your time slot for the poster presentation is five minutes. Then we will have a brief Q&A. Posters should be printed on A0 (not hand-written). There are several guides and manuals for poster presentations on the web, e.g. here or here. A suggestion for the structure comprises
- Title of the presentation
- Name of the presenter
- Brief literature review (e.g. with 1 key figure)
- Highlights of your research proposal: research gap, research question, data, method
- Conclusion: What do you expect? Why is your research policy-relevant?
- References
Topics
Please choose on of the following topics and read the provided starting literature. It should give you enough inspiration to elaborate an own research question on a policy-relevant topic and to look out for suitable data.
| # | Topic | Starting literature | Session |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Historical evolution of inequality | Alvaredo et al. (2013); Milanovic et al. (2011) | 1 |
| 2 | Developments in global inequality | Kanbur (2019); Bourguignon (2018); Milanovic (2013) | 1 |
| 3 | Distributional National Accounts (DINA) | Garbinti et al. (2018); Piketty et al. (2017) | 1 |
| 4 | Gender pay gaps | Christofides et al. (2013); Redmond/Mcguinness (2018) | 1 |
| 5 | The distribution of wealth | Pfeffer/Waitkus (2021); Zucman (2019); Fessler/Schürz (2018) | 1 |
| 6 | The missing top in wealth data | Bach et al. (2019); Vermeulen (2018); Eckerstorfer et al. (2016) | 1 |
| 7 | Inheritances and wealth inequality | Alvaredo et al. (2017); Adermon et al. (2018) | 1 |
| 8 | Intergenerational mobility | Chetty et al. (2022); Chetty/Hendren (2018); Corak (2013) | 1 |
| 9 | Functional distribution and growth | Stockhammer/Stehrer (2011); Stockhammer (2017) | 2 |
| 10 | Restrictive fiscal policy and inequality | Hope/Limberg (2022); Alpino et al. (2022); Savage et al. (2018) | 2 |
| 11 | Taxation and tax evasion | Tørsløv et al. (2022); Diamond/Saez (2011); Alstadsæter et al. (2019) | 2 |
| 12 | Inequality and political elites | López et al. (2022); Bonica et al. (2013); Gilens/Page (2014) | 2 |
| 13 | Inequality and preferences for redistribution | Ahrens (2022); Alesina et al. (2018); Kuziemko et al. (2015) | 2 |
| 14 | Power in economics | Stansbury/Summers (2020); Dutt (2015); Rothschild (2002) | 2 |
References
Adermon, Adrian/Lindahl, Mikael/Waldenström, Daniel (2018). Intergenerational wealth mobility and the role of inheritance: Evidence from multiple generations. The Economic Journal, 128(612), F482–F513. DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12535
Ahrens, Leo (2022). Unfair inequality and the demand for redistribution: Why not all inequality is equal. Socio-Economic Review, 20(2), 463–487. DOI: 10.1093/ser/mwaa051
Alesina, Alberto/Stantcheva, Stefanie/Teso, Edoardo (2018). Intergenerational mobility and preferences for redistribution. American Economic Review, 108(2), 521–554. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20162015
Alpino, Matteo/Asatryan, Zareh/Blesse, Sebastian/Wehrhöfer, Nils (2022). Austerity and distributional policy. Journal of Monetary Economics. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2022.07.006
Alstadsæter, Annette/Johannesen, Niels/Zucman, Gabriel (2019). Tax evasion and inequality. American Economic Review, 109(6), 2073–2103. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20172043
Alvaredo, Facundo/Atkinson, Anthony B./Piketty, Thomas/Saez, Emmanuel (2013). The top 1 percent in international and historical perspective. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(3), 3–20. DOI: 10.1257/jep.27.3.3
Alvaredo, Facundo/Garbinti, Bertrand/Piketty, Thomas (2017). On the share of inheritance in aggregate wealth: Europe and the USA, 1900-2010. Economica, 84(334), 239–260. DOI: 10.1111/ecca.12233
Bach, Stefan/Thiemann, Andreas/Zucco, Aline (2019). Looking for the missing rich: Tracing the top tail of the wealth distribution. International Tax and Public Finance, 26(6), 1234–1258. DOI: 10.1007/s10797-019-09578-1
Bonica, Adam/McCarty, Nolan/Poole, Keith T./Rosenthal, Howard (2013). Why hasn’t democracy slowed rising inequality? The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(3), 103–123. DOI: 10.1257/jep.27.3.103
Bourguignon, Francois (2018). World changes in inequality: An overview of facts, causes, consequences, and policies. CESifo Economic Studies, 64(3), 345–370. DOI: 10.1093/cesifo/ifx028
Chetty, Raj/Hendren, Nathaniel (2018). The impacts of neighborhoods on intergenerational mobility i: Childhood exposure effects. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(3), 1107–1162. DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjy007
Chetty, Raj/Jackson, Matthew O./Kuchler, Theresa/Stroebel, Johannes/Hendren, Nathaniel/Fluegge, Robert B./… Wernerfelt, Nils (2022). Social capital i: Measurement and associations with economic mobility. Nature, 608(7921), 108–121. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04996-4
Christofides, Louis N./Polycarpou, Alexandros/Vrachimis, Konstantinos (2013). Gender wage gaps, “sticky floors” and “glass ceilings” in europe. Labour Economics, 21, 86–102. DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2013.01.003
Corak, Miles (2013). Income inequality, equality of opportunity, and intergenerational mobility. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(3), 79–102. DOI: 10.1257/jep.27.3.79
Diamond, Peter/Saez, Emmanuel (2011). The case for a progressive tax: From basic research to policy recommendation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(4), 165–190. DOI: 10.1257/jep.25.4.165
Dutt, Amitava Krishna (2015). Uncertainty, power, institutions, and crisis: Implications for economic analysis and the future of capitalism. Review of Keynesian Economics, 3(1), 9–28. DOI: 10.4337/roke.2015.01.02
Eckerstorfer, Paul/Halak, Johannes/Kapeller, Jakob/Schütz, Bernhard/Springholz, Florian/Wildauer, Rafael (2016). Correcting for the missing rich: An application to wealth survey data. Review of Income and Wealth, 62(4), 605–627. DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12188
Fessler, Pirmin/Schürz, Martin (2018). Private wealth across european countries: The role of income, inheritance and the welfare state. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 19(4), 521–549. DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2018.1507422
Garbinti, Bertrand/Goupille-Lebret, Jonathan/Piketty, Thomas (2018). Income inequality in france, 1900–2014: Evidence from distributional national accounts (DINA). Journal of Public Economics, 162, 63–77. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.01.012
Gilens, Martin/Page, Benjamin I. (2014). Testing theories of american politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564–581. DOI: 10.1017/S1537592714001595
Hope, David/Limberg, Julian (2022). The economic consequences of major tax cuts for the rich. Socio-Economic Review, 20(2), 539–559. DOI: 10.1093/ser/mwab061
Kanbur, Ravi (2019). Inequality in a global perspective. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 35(3), 431–444. DOI: 10.1093/oxrep/grz010
Kuziemko, Ilyana/Norton, Michael I./Saez, Emmanuel/Stantcheva, Stefanie (2015). How elastic are preferences for redistribution? Evidence from randomized survey experiments. American Economic Review, 105(4), 1478–1508. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20130360
López, Matias/Silva, Graziella Moraes/Teeger, Chana/Marques, Pedro (2022). Economic and cultural determinants of elite attitudes toward redistribution. Socio-Economic Review, 20(2), 489–514. DOI: 10.1093/ser/mwaa015
Milanovic, Branko (2013). Global income inequality in numbers: In history and now. Global Policy, 4(2), 198–208. DOI: 10.1111/1758-5899.12032
Milanovic, Branko/Lindert, Peter H./Williamson, Jeffrey G. (2011). Pre-industrial inequality. The Economic Journal, 121(551), 255–272. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02403.x
Pfeffer, Fabian T./Waitkus, Nora (2021). The wealth inequality of nations. American Sociological Review, 86(4), 567–602. DOI: 10.1177/00031224211027800
Piketty, Thomas/Saez, Emmanuel/Zucman, Gabriel (2017). Distributional national accounts: Methods and estimates for the united states. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(2), 553–609. DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjx043
Redmond, Paul/Mcguinness, Seamus (2018). The gender wage gap in europe: Job preferences, gender convergence and distributional effects. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 81(3), 564–587. DOI: 10.1111/obes.12282
Rothschild, Kurt W. (2002). The absence of power in contemporary economic theory. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 31(5), 433–442. DOI: 10.1016/S1053-5357(02)00207-X
Savage, M./Callan, T./Nolan, B./Colgan, B. (2018). The great recession, austerity and inequality: Lessons from ireland. Review of Income and Wealth, 65(2), 312–336. DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12337
Stansbury, Anna/Summers, Lawrence (2020). Declining worker power and american economic performance. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring, 1–96.
Stockhammer, Engelbert (2017). Wage-led versus profit-led demand: What have we learned? A kaleckian-minskyan view. Review of Keynesian Economics, 5(1), 25–42. DOI: 10.4337/roke.2017.01.03
Stockhammer, Engelbert/Stehrer, Robert (2011). Goodwin or kalecki in demand? Functional income distribution and aggregate demand in the short run. Review of Radical Political Economics, 43(4), 506–522. DOI: 10.1177/0486613411402642
Tørsløv, Thomas/Wier, Ludvig/Zucman, Gabriel (2022). The missing profits of nations. The Review of Economic Studies. DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdac049
Vermeulen, Philip (2018). How fat is the top tail of the wealth distribution? Review of Income and Wealth, 64(2), 357–387. DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12279
Zucman, Gabriel (2019). Global wealth inequality. Annual Review of Economics, 11(1), 109–138. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-economics-080218-025852