Majors
who apply for departmental honors research usually have cumulative grade-point
averages that generously exceed the minimum required 3.0 overall and 3.4 in
economics.
Honors
research consists of two tracks that differ in the way students identify and
develop a topic. Either track can be launched as soon as the applicant has
completed the prerequisites--typically in the senior year, but sometimes earlier.
Independent Launch
The student
using the independent launch chooses a thesis topic in consultation with his or
her faculty supervisor and with the approval of the department. Topics vary
widely. The student must submit an application, which describes the topic,
provides a preliminary review of some of the relevant literature, and
identifies the data to be used in the econometric analysis. Both the faculty
supervisor and the undergraduate director must approve the application. The independent launch is the most common approach to doing honors research.
The
first (fall) semester of the Honors Research Seminar (01:220:493) is used to
refine the topic by extending the literature review, by developing a theoretical
and an empirical model for the investigation, and by launching preliminary
econometric work on the data. Students enrolled in 493 must have completed or
be enrolled in Advanced Econometrics (01:220:401).
In
the second (spring) semester, 01:220:494, the student completes the
investigation and submits the final draft of the thesis.
Course-Based Launch
The
course-based launch uses a research-oriented elective course to develop and
refine the topic in contrast to the independent launch, which uses 01:220:493. Research-oriented courses assign scholarly papers and econometric analysis of data. For an updated list of research-oriented courses, contact the department.
Having
enrolled in one of these courses, the student identifies a topic, writes a
literature review both from papers assigned in the course and from additional
readings, and carries out some preliminary analysis of data (perhaps extending
work done in the course). This work constitutes an application to 01:220:494, in
which the student would complete the thesis. The student would need to enroll
in Advanced Time Series and Financial Econometrics (01:220:400) or Advanced Cross-sectional and Panel Econometrics (01:220:401) along with the other honors research students.
Note
that the research-oriented elective course launches the honors research and
substitutes for the first semester of work, 01:220:493, in the independent launch.
Honors and Awards
The
completed thesis can be submitted to the Awards and Honors Committee of the
Economics Faculty, which will evaluate the thesis and, if appropriate, assign it
one of three designations: honors, high honors, or highest honors. The
committee also awards the Simon Prize for the best honors thesis, which may be
shared by more than one thesis.
