Guidelines for Preparing a Master Thesis

with the chair of Prof. Dr. Massimo Filippini:

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Goal of the master thesis :

The objective of a master thesis is to provide a detailed analysis of a specific research topic from a microeconomic and empirical point of view.

Requirements:

The student should be familiar with the contents of the following courses:

1) Principles of Microeconmics (Prof. Filippini)

2) Principles of Macroeconomics (Prof. J.-E. Sturm) 

3) Energy Economics and Policy (Prof. Filippini) 

4) Statistics and Econometrics (Prof. J.-E. Sturm)

5) Resource and Environmental Economics (Prof. Bretschger)

6) Intermediate Microeconomics (Prof. Rutherford)

7) Intermediate Macroeconomics (Prof. J.-E. Sturm)

8) Industrial Organisation (Dr. Farsi)

Exceptions (MAS program):

Students following the MAS program require the first five courses, in addition to other Economics courses.

Depending on the topic, Corporate Sustainability and Technology (Prof. Hoffmann)  can be counted as a replacement for one of the above courses.

Topics:

Master thesis can be written in the following topics:

• Energy
• Environment
• Public economics

Form and outline of the thesis:

Form:

1. Problem description and goal of the thesis
2. Detailed microeconomic description of the problem
3. Discussion of the relevant literature
4. Empirical analysis of the problem set
5. Policy implications

Outline: 50-60 pages (Font: Times New Roman, size 12, line spacing: 1.5, border: double-sided 3 cm)

Procedure:

A) Choice of the topic

The student has the possibility of making a proposal for your thesis or to choose a general topic from the topics given by the institute. For a list of the proposed topics click here.

B) Preliminary advisement

The student should contact the institute for a preliminary advisement in order to finalize the topic and choose a thesis supervisor from the institute. The assigned person for preliminary advisement is:

• Dr. Mehdi Farsi

C) Proposal

After the preliminary advisement, the student will submit a short proposal. The final decision for the commencement of the thesis is based on this proposal.
The proposal should be maximum two pages and must contain the following points:

• A description fo the problem/ research question
• Methodology
• A description of the data to be used (in case of empirical study)
• Bibliography
• Provisional table of contents

D) Starting to write

As soon as the proposal has been accepted you can start writing the thesis.

E) Support and workplace

Afther the discussion of the proposal there is the possibility of having three meetings with your supervisor. Furthermore you can hand in a draft of the final report in order to get a feedback from your supervisor. After handing in the final report there will be a final discussion.

Working space can not be ensured by the institute.

F) Submitting the thesis

Two copies of your thesis must be handed in, duplex print and bound. In addition, the abstract of the thesis including your e-mail address (in pdf format) is needed for the CEPE website.

G) Evaluation

The following points will be assessed:

• Structure: Structure and outline should be consistent and logical.
• Content: The content must be correct and clear.
• Language: Accurate wording and correct grammar is assumed.
• Empirical analysis: The data collection and analysis must be performed in an accurate and transparent way.
• Literature: The relevant literature should be critically discussed and the references should be correctly cited.