Economics honours students
The Honours Program features a supervised thesis on an agreed topic, providing students with a comprehensive introduction to economic research.
The following projects have been proposed by School of Economics staff for 2025. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list; additional projects will be added as they become available.
Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Economics (Honours) program for 2025 are encouraged to reach out to the potential supervisors listed to express their interest if there is a particular topic they would like to explore for their thesis.
Project | The Role of Universities in Shaping Life-Cycle Earnings Inequality |
Supervisor(s) | |
| Description | How do universities and fields of study (majors) contribute to life-cycle earnings inequality? This project aims to quantify their roles using Australian administrative data. Specifically, we examine the extent to which universities enhance workers' skills, the importance of university network effects, and the signaling value of university rankings. By employing a structural model, we seek to derive policy implications for university admission policies and their impact on the distribution of life-cycle earnings. |
Relevant Literature | Cai and Heathcote (2022), "College Tuition and Income Inequality," American Economic Review Engbom and Moser (2017), "Returns to Education Through Access to Higher-Paying Firms: Evidence from US Matched Employer-Employee Data," American Economic Review: P&P Kirkeboen, Leuven, and Mogstad (2016), "Field of Study, Earnings, and Self-Selection," The Quarterly Journal of Economics |
Project | Technologies and the Changing Demand for University Skills |
Supervisor(s) | |
| Description | To what extent does technological progress affect the demand for skills acquired at universities? This project examines the impact of technology adoption—such as robots and artificial intelligence—on the demand for various university-taught skills using the administrative data from Australia. Our final goal is to predict future demand for different fields of study and evaluate university tuition subsidy programs to specific files (such as STEM) provided by the Australian government. |
Relevant Literature | Restrepo (2023), "Automation: Theory, Evidence, and Outlook," Annual Review of Economics Acemoglu, Lelarge, and Restrepo (2020), "Competing with Robots: Firm-Level Evidence from France," American Economic Review: P&P Bonfiglioli, Crinò, Fadinger, and Gancia (2024), "Robot Imports and Firm-Level Outcomes," The Economic Journal Akcigit, Bergeaud, Blundell, and Hemous (2018), "Innovation and Top Income Inequality," The Review of Economic Studies |
Project | Design of environmental markets such as pollution permits, carbon offsets, and biodiversity markets |
Supervisor(s) | A/Prof Lana Friesen and Prof Ian MacKenzie |
| Description | The thesis would examine how the design aspects of environmental markets influence the outcomes of those markets (e.g., initial permit allocations, price collars, trading rules). The thesis would likely use a lab experiment to collect empirical evidence, supported by a relevant theoretical framework. |
Project | What do humans, lemmings, and sheep have in common? Understanding conformism. |
Supervisor(s) | Prof Daniel Zizzo and Dr Ozan Isler |
| Description | Humans are highly social animals who naturally tend to follow the behaviour and advice of their peers and authority figures, often without any apparent reason. There are plenty of environments where this seems to take place: from individual investors in the stock market to decisions whether to vaccinate or to wear seat belts, from doing the same as coworkers in companies to making decisions about binge drinking or alcohol consumption. In many real world environments there may be entirely self-interested reasons to follow what others are doing, but the controlled nature of economic experiments enables us to identify whether this is all there is. Are we really like lemmings and sheep, who are known to blindly follow their mates off a cliff? If not, what is that drives conformism? We have conducted a series of online economic experiments to start looking at some of these questions. We welcome Honours students who may be interested in working on aspects of this research program. |
Relevant Literature | A. Karakostas, G. Morgan and D.J. Zizzo (2023), Socially Interdependent Investment, Theory and Decision, October 2023, 95, 365-378. Karakostas, A., & Zizzo, D. J. (2016). Compliance and the power of authority. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 124, 67-80. Isler, O., & Gächter, S. (2022). Conforming with peers in honesty and cooperation. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 195, 75-86. |
Project | Intergenerational Good Games and Cooperating with Future Generations |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Metin Uyanik |
| Description | In many economic problems, actions of current generation have impacts on the well-being of future generations such as provision of public goods or public bads, exploitation of natural resources and climate change. Unlike in the static setting, the future generations cannot reciprocate or participate in the actions of the current generation. Several empirical and experimental studies have shown that even if the current generation have intra- as well as inter-generational social preferences, the natural resources tend to be overused which yields inefficiency and harms sustainability. Experimental results how that collective decision making has been effective in improving cooperation with future.
It has been shown in the theoretical literature that if individuals care about others' well-being (other-regarding preferences), the equilibria of the underlying game is Pareto efficient under some assumptions.
This project provides a theoretical model studying the intergenerational good games that allows individual's utility to depend on own consumption, current generation's utility and as well as future generations' utilities. It aims to provide conditions on the properties of intra- and inter-generational social preferences (caring about others) as well as the structure of collective decision-making process that yield cooperation and sustainability. |
Relevant Literature | Jacquet, J., et al. "Intra-and intergenerational discounting in the climate game." Nature Climate Change 3.12 (2013): 1025-1028. Hauser, O. P., et al. "Cooperating with the future." Nature 511.7508 (2014): 220-223. Ray, D., & Vohra, R. (2020). Games of love and hate. Journal of Political Economy, 128(5), 1789-1825. Heifetz, A. (2023). The non-dismal science of intergenerational affective interactions. Games and Economic Behavior, 140, 575-584. 5. Agneman, G., et al. (2024). Intergenerational altruism and climate policy preferences. PNAS Nexus, 3. Article 105. |
Project | The determinants of long-term unemployment in Australia: who is left behind? |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Arianna Gatta and Dr Todd Morris |
| Description | Background: Previous studies have shown that long-term unemployment is detrimental for individuals’ future employability and mental health, generating significant economic and social costs. Yet, there is still debate around what keeps people in long-term unemployment, and on what is the relative importance of individual (e.g., job search effort, age, sex, race, immigrant status) versus external factors (e.g., employers’ discrimination, location, economic conditions). In this project we aim to study the determinants of long-term unemployment in Australia. Methods and data: We propose to do this primarily through multivariate regression analysis on a novel large administrative dataset that involves data from government-funded employment services providers. Unlike previous studies that focus either on individual or external factors, through this administrative data it is possible to study the characteristics of both job seekers and employers and observe their interplay with long-term unemployment. Backup plan: In case there were any inconveniences arising that prevent the use of this rich administrative data (e.g., data is hard to clean, issues with access, etc.), our backup plan is to use HILDA, that has detailed questions on labour market participation and individual-level characteristics from 2001 to 2023. Who should do this topic: We welcome students with an interest in labour economics, public economics and micro econometrics that want to gain significant hands-on-experience in using Stata to analyse large scale datasets. |
Relevant Literature | Cassidy, N., Chan, I., Gao, A., & Penrose, G. (2020). Long-term unemployment in Australia. RBA Bulletin, December, 37. Dawkins, C. J., Shen, Q., & Sanchez, T. W. (2005). Race, space, and unemployment duration. Journal of Urban Economics, 58(1), 91-113. Fernandez, R. et al. (2016), “Faces of Joblessness: Characterising Employment Barriers to Inform Policy”, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 192, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jlwvz47xptj-en Kroft, K., Lange, F., & Notowidigdo, M. J. (2013). Duration dependence and labor market conditions: Evidence from a field experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 128(3), 1123-1167. Kroft, K., Lange, F., Notowidigdo, M. J., & Katz, L. F. (2016). Long-term unemployment and the Great Recession: the role of composition, duration dependence, and nonparticipation. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(S1), S7-S54. |
Project | What r? Monetary Policy in Australia after the pandemic |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Andrés Bellofatto and Prof Begoña Domínguez |
| Description | The concept of an R-star is important for the conduct of monetary policy. Nevertheless, there are different measures of R-star. In this project, the student will become acquainted with those different measures and their meaning for monetary policy. It would also aim to estimate different R-stars for Australia after the pandemic and elaborate on the different implications that those have for how the Reserve Bank of Australia should change the cash rate. |
Relevant Literature | Daniel Buncic, Adrian Pagan and Tim Robinson: “Recovering Stars in Macroeconomics” Ricardo Reis: “The four R-stars: from interest rates to inflation and back" |
Project | Business Dynamism: Entry and Taxation |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Andrés Bellofatto and Prof Begoña Domínguez |
| Description | Over the last two decades, the macroeconomic business climate in Australia has become much less dynamic. In particular, fewer entrepreneurs are setting up new firms, which has raised concerns around potential (negative) consequences for innovation, job creation, and productivity. Our research agenda aims to formally study this phenomenon, and to formulate evidence-based recommendations on firm taxation for Australia. We aim to investigate various issues through different projects, including: - Identifying the factors that determine the number of businesses in a given industry. - Quantifying the elasticity of entry by new businesses into different industries. - Evaluating the desirability of industry policy in supporting business entry. For these projects, students will need to become familiar with newly available firm data, as well as with tax figures and institutional details of the Australian economy. |
Project | What is the optimal energy expenditure share for Australia? |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Jorge Miranda-Pinto, Arturo Espinoza-Bocangel (Adept Economics) & Gene Tunny (Adept Economics) |
| Description | This project studies the optimal share of Energy Expenditure in terms of GDP in Australia—i.e. The share above which the economy slows down. The research question is: how do higher energy costs impact economic growth? The core step is to create a database of Australian Energy Expenditure as a share of GDP similar to what is produced in the USA. |
Relevant Literature | Bashmakov, I., Grubb, M., Drummond, P., Lowe, R., Myshak, A., \& Hinder, B. (2024). “Minus 1” and energy costs constants: empirical evidence, theory and policy implications. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 71, 95-115. |
Project | Energy cost pass-through and its connection to inflation in Australia using firm-level data |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Jorge Miranda-Pinto, Arturo Espinoza-Bocangel (Adept Economics) & Gene Tunny (Adept Economics) |
| Description | This project investigates the transmission of energy price shocks to firm-level prices. Using firm-level data on prices, or average unit prices, the project uses local projection methods to estimate the effect of an exogenous shock to international oil supply to the production cost of firms using oil/energy as input of production. We measure the propagation of such a shock to downstream industries via input-output linkages and study how the pass-through varies with firm-level characteristics such as market share or industry concentration. |
Relevant Literature | Kilian, L., \& Zhou, X. (2023). A broader perspective on the inflationary effects of energy price shocks. Energy Economics, 125, 106893.
Kilian, L. (2008). The economic effects of energy price shocks. Journal of economic literature, 46(4), 871-909.
Lafrogne-Joussier, R., Martin, J., \& Méjean, I. (2023). Energy cost pass-through and the rise of inflation: Evidence from French manufacturing firms (No. 18596). CEPR Discussion Papers.
Miranda-Pinto, J., Pescatori, M. A., Stuermer, M., \& Wang, X. (2024). Beyond Energy: Inflationary Effects of Metals Price Shocks in Production Networks (No. 2024/215). International Monetary Fund. |
Project | Who are the debt-burdened households? |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Jorge Miranda-Pinto |
| Description | A significant group of households in the economy are not borrowing constraint but instead are debt-burdened by unexpected and large expense shocks. These households take on debt or miss out important unexpected expenses such as car repairs or family trips. Using survey data from HILDA (Australia) and the PSID (USA) the project studies the origins of households' vulnerabilities to such a shocks (myopia or liquidity constraints). Longitudinal survey data can shed lights on the heterogeneity in the degree of household insurance to these expense shocks. |
Relevant Literature | Fulford, S., \& Low, D. (2024). Expense shocks matter. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Office of Research Working Paper, (2024-08).
Miranda-Pinto, J., Murphy, D., Walsh, K. J., \& Young, E. R. (2023). A model of expenditure shocks.
Schneider, P \& Moran, P." Situational and Behavioral Determinants of Early Withdrawal from Retirement Accounts." January, 2025 |
Project | Pension Withdrawals and Retirement Ages in Australia |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Jorge Miranda-Pinto & Dr Andres Bellofatto |
| Description | This project has two components. The first component is positive. It investigates the role of early pension withdrawal, and the corresponding rise in consumption, on inflation during COVID-19 in Australia. The project combines empirical analysis, sectoral price indexes and regional/sectoral data on withdrawal rates and amounts. Using a quantitative model of heterogeneous agents that explicitly models the early withdrawal policy---as in Hamilton, Liu, Miranda-Pinto, Sainsbury (2024)--- the project aims to study the inflationary effects of the policy under different economic scenarios. The second component is normative. It aims at evaluating the welfare effects of pension reforms in Australia, focusing on retirement ages. The methodology builds on the "sufficient statistics” approach to welfare analysis (see, e.g., Chetty (2009)) which decomposes potential welfare effects of policy reforms into estimable elasticities. |
Relevant Literature | Hamilton, S., Liu, G., Miranda-Pinto, J., \& Sainsbury, T. (2024). A \$100,000 marshmallow experiment: Withdrawal and spending responses to early retirement-savings access. \\
Schneider, P \& Moran, P." Situational and Behavioral Determinants of Early Withdrawal from Retirement Accounts." January, 2025
Chetty, R. (2009) Sufficient Statistics for Welfare Analysis: A Bridge Between Structural and Reduced-Form Methods. Annual Review of Economics
Kolsrud, J., Landais, C., Reck, D. and Spinnewijn, J. (2024). Retirement Consumption and Pension Design. American Economic Review.
Haller, A. (2022). Welfare Effects of Pension Reforms. Working Paper
Moran, P., \& Schneider, P. "Household Liquidity Policy". Working paper, 2024. |
Project | The role of saving constraints and myopia in the transmission of monetary policy |
Supervisor(s) | Dr Jorge Miranda-Pinto |
| Description | This project aims to understand the role of new dimensions of household heterogeneity---exposure to expense shocks and myopia---in the transmission of monetary policy. Household heterogeneity has proven to be relevant as different consumers react differently to interest rate changes and to changes in income caused by policy rate changes. Combining a quantitative model of heterogeneous agents with empirical evidence from household survey data (e.g., HILDA survey), the project aims to quantify the role of inequality in assets holding or consumption levels in driving monetary policy transmission. |
Relevant Literature | Fulford, S., \& Low, D. (2024). Expense shocks matter. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Office of Research Working Paper, (2024-08).\\
Kaplan, G., Moll, B., \& Violante, G. L. (2018). Monetary policy according to HANK. American Economic Review, 108(3), 697-743.\\
Koşar, G., Melcangi, D., Pilossoph, L., \& Wiczer, D. G. (2024). Stimulus through insurance: The marginal propensity to repay debt.\\
Miranda-Pinto, J., Murphy, D., Walsh, K. J., \& Young, E. R. (2023). A model of expenditure shocks. |
Project | Dynamic Strategic Communication with Multiple Sources |
Supervisor(s) | |
| Description | In games of communication, one person, the "sender”, knows more than the other, the "receiver". The sender transmits a message to the receiver, who uses it to make a decision that determines the welfare of both. Decisions that are best for the receiver are not necessarily best for the sender, though. This creates an incentive to distort information. This simple framework has proven fundamental for analysing many real-world situations— from how companies communicate with investors, to how politicians influence voters, and even how people negotiate deals. In reality, however, the receiver usually isn’t limited to just one source of information. They might scroll through news websites, chat with friends on social media, or hear advice from different experts. Each source effectively acts as a distinct sender and both the timing and diversity of these information flows can significantly impact outcomes. The main objective of this project is to understand how these factors influence communication efficiency and decision-making quality. |
Relevant Literature |
Battaglini (2002; Econometrica), Grossman (1981; Journal of Law and Economics), Milgrom (1981; Bell Journal of Economics). |
Project | Social pressure in polarized elections |
Supervisor(s) | |
| Description | Social pressure is a known powerful force in moral decisions. In elections, however, while the choice to vote is a commonly understood social norm, the choice of who to vote for is not. Depending on the audience and information shared, social pressure may make people more likely to vote for the majority opinion or for their own side, and may increase or decrease voter participation. This will be an experimental thesis, conducted with student participants. In the experiment we will create an election in the lab in which the issue at hand is either polarizing or broadly supported, and vary the communication and information that voters can share with each other before and after voting. Results will shed light on the possible impacts of social media and other public discourse on election outcomes. |
Relevant Literature | Breaking the spiral of silence Communication among voters benefits the majority party Heterogeneous norms: Social image and social pressure when people disagree |
Project | Impact of COVID Lockdown on LGBTQ+ People (or Other Disadvantaged Population) |
Supervisor(s) | |
Description | Background: There is already a very large, but still growing, literature on the social impact of the COVID pandemic beyond epidemiology. However, there is relatively little research focusing on specific population subgroups, such as LGBTQ+ people. Although homosexuality has been decriminalized throughout Australia since 1997, same-sex marriage only became legal on 9 December 2017. Despite these advances, some LGBTQ+ people still experience marginalization. Research Questions: This project seeks to answer the following research questions:
Methodology: Difference-in-difference model; fixed effects model. For question (2), we can use voting patterns in the same-sex marriage referendum as a proxy for community attitudes towards LGBT+ people, or the Indigenous Voice referendum as a proxy for community attitudes towards marginalized people. Backup Plan: If for some reasons (e.g. data limitations) the research questions above cannot be pursued, the project can be modified to focus on some other disadvantaged population such as people with chronic illness. Data: Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. Who should do this topic: Students with an interest in social equity issues. Prerequisites: The student is very familiar with panel data and models, as demonstrated by a score of 80 or above in ECON3360 Causal Inference for Microeonometrics. |
Relevant Literature | How many Australians are not heterosexual? It depends on who, what and when you ask Sexual identity, same-sex relationships, and health dynamics: new evidence from longitudinal data For richer, but not for poorer: how Australia’s mental health system fails those most in need |
Project | Applying methods from counterfactual analysis to analyze real estate data |
Supervisor(s) | |
Description | Recent econometric methods developed to study variation in underlying marginal distributions on variables of interest are to be used to study to effects of changes of policy and environmental conditions on real estate valuations. The student is expected to use the R programming language to write code and analyze real datasets. |
Project | Measurement of multi-dimensional socio-economic inequality |
Supervisor(s) | |
Description | The thesis will study and apply recent econometric methods developed to study measurement of multi-dimensional socio-economic inequality. The student is expected to use the R programming language to write code and analyze real datasets. |
Project | Gender gaps – for example: gender gaps in education / labour market / female breadwinning |
Supervisor(s) | |
Relevant Literature | Dee, T. S. (2007). Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement. Journal of Human |
Resources | Fortin, N. M., Oreopoulos, P., & Phipps, S. (2015). Leaving boys behind: Gender disparities in high academic achievement. Journal of Human Resources, 50(3), 549-579. Nollenberger, N., Rodríguez-Planas, N., & Sevilla, A. (2016). The math gender gap: The role of culture. American Economic Review, 106(5), 257-261. Angelov, N., Johansson, P., & Lindahl, E. (2016). Parenthood and the Gender Gap in Pay. Journal of Labor Economics, 545-579. Bertrand, M., Kamenica, E., & Pan, J. (2015). Gender Identity and Relative Income Within Households. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 571-614. Dunatchik, A. (2023). Parenthood and the gender division of labour across the income distribution: the relative importance of relative earnings. European Sociological Review, 229-246. |
Project | Education – for example effects of school starting age / segregation in schools |
Supervisor(s) | |
Relevant Literature | Beatton, T., Kidd, M. P., Niu, A., & Vella, F. (2023). Age of Starting School, Academic Performance, and the Impact of Non‐Compliance: An Experiment within an Experiment, Evidence from Australia. Economic Record, 99(325), 175-206. Bedard, K., & Dhuey, E. (2012) “School-Entry Policies and Skill Accumulation Across Directly and Indirectly Affected Individuals”, Journal of Human Resources, 47(3), 643-683. Bertrand, M., & Pan, J. (2013). The trouble with boys: Social influences and the gender gap in disruptive behavior. American economic journal: applied economics, 5(1), 32-64. Abdulkadiroğlu, A., Angrist, J. and Pathak, P. (2014). “The Elite Illusion: Achievement Effects at Boston and New York Exam Schools.” Econometrica 82 (1): 137-196. Billings, S., Deming, D. and Ross, S. (2016). Partners in crime: Schools, neighbourhoods and the formation of criminal networks. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Paper 21962, NBER, Massachusetts. Burgess, S., Wilson, D. and Lupton, R., (2005). Parallel lives? Ethnic segregation in schools and neighbourhoods. Urban studies, 42(7), pp.1027-1056. |