• Economics Research Initiative
• Independent Study
• Honors Program Information
  • Candidate Application Form
  • Paths to the Honors Thesis
  • Suggested Course Flow
  • Requirements
  • Deadlines
  • Info Sheet for S'09 Grads
  • Best Thesis Prize
• Archival Theses
• Undergraduate Research Assistantships
• Trinity's Undergraduate Research Support Office

• Support Services for Honors Students
• Tutors (STATA, etc.)
• Data Services & Lab
• Perkins Library Resources
• EcoTeach Laptops with STATA
• Writing Assistance
• Standards for Honors Papers
• Research Funding Support
  • Davies Fellowships
  • Trinity's Undergraduate Research Support Program
  • EcoTeach Research Grants
• Opportunities to Showcase Research
  • ESU Annual Research Symposium
  • Duke Journal of Economics
  • Triangle Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Honors Program: Graduation with Distinction in Economics
"The purpose of an honors program is to provide the student with the opportunity to engage in a meaningful, sustained research experience leading to the production of an honor's thesis."

An "honor's thesis" is a research paper completed during the senior year of the economics major. It represents a degree of research and critical thinking sufficiently complex and sophisticated to require two to three semesters' worth of work. The thesis is planned, researched, drafted, and revised over the course of two to three semesters, using research tools and techniques commensurate with an undergraduate B.S. degree.

A "meaningful, sustained research experience" includes participation in a research community. This research community is made up of one's peers and mentors. Thus, participation requires engaging in the give and take of the research process - critiquing work through individual interactions with peers and mentors and by presenting one's work in both informal and formal settings.

Paths to the Honors Thesis
To be considered for Graduation with Distinction in Economics, students must pursue one of three paths outlined below.

Path 1
Students may take, in the spring of their junior year, an Honors Junior Research Workshop (Economics 201S) in one of four areas of study (Finance, History, Macroeconomics, and Microeconomics). They may then take, in the fall of their senior year, an Honors Senior Research Workshop (Economics 202S) in their area of study, through which they may complete their honors thesis. Students do not necessarily have to qualify for Graduation with Distinction in order to enroll in the Honors Research Workshops, nor will completion of these workshops guarantee Graduation with Distinction.   Still, the workshops are selective and are a possible path to Graduation with Distinction or High Distinction if the honors thesis is awarded a minimum grade of B+.   This grade will be determined by the instructor and confirmed by an outside reader.   The two workshops (Economics 201S and 202S) can count as electives.   Note: Should a problem arise that prevents a student from completing this sequence, they can switch to path 2 or 3.   In such a case, the requirements for the new chosen path would need to be satisfied in order to receive honors.

Path 1 is a new path designed to create more opportunities for students to experience true research in Economics.   It is because of this research initiative that we have restructured our major so as to provide the proper educational background and training for students to be able to undertake truly novel research.   Hence, we now require that all of our economics majors take Econometrics before taking field courses in sub-disciplines.  This enables students to read and understand advanced empirical papers in their area of interest.  Further, if students then choose to undertake a research project, they will have the tools with which to complete proper empirical analysis. 

We determined that the best setting in which to foster the research process would be a two semester workshop, resembling our graduate workshops.  This concept is based on the idea that in a workshop setting, students would meet with their professor(s) and each other to observe advanced research (professors from outside the university, our own graduate students, and our own professors will present their own research to the students), and then, in turn, develop and later present their own research on a regular biweekly basis, continually receiving feedback from their peers and from professors and graduate students.  These research workshops begin in a student's junior year for two reasons:  firstly, to initiate students into a culture of research earlier in their college careers so as to have a greater impact; and secondly, to allow students to continue their research over the summer of their junior year since they will already have completed a prospectus as part of the Honors Junior Research Workshop.  We have created Davies Fellowships to sponsor some of these juniors (and their mentors) to enable them to do research full time under the supervision of their advisor. 

Requirements
A student will be awarded Distinction upon graduation if he/she has satisfied all of the following requirements:

1. A minimum GPA of 3.3 in the major and 3.3 overall (to determine your Economics GPA, use the following grade scale, averaging grades only from classes with the pre-fix "Economics" or those that are directly cross-listed with an Economics Course (i.e. Public Policy 165 = Economics 165);
2. Completion of five electives, commensurate with an undergraduate A.B. or B.S. degree, with courses from Path 1, 2 and 3 counted toward electives;
3. Completion of an honors paper with a minimum grade of B+ determined by the primary instructor and confirmed by an outside reader if taking path 1.   If taking paths 2 or 3, the Honors committee will determine if the honors thesis qualifies for graduation with distinction.  
   

A student will be awarded High Distinction upon graduation if he/she has satisfied all of the requirements for Distinction and his/her honors thesis is selected by our Honors committee from among nominated theses.

In recognition of the strong independent research dimension required of a successful honors thesis, a student will be awarded Research Distinction upon graduation if the Honors committee determines his/her thesis qualifies for graduation with distinction regardless of whether or not the student meets the University and departmental GPA standards for graduation with distinction.   These students will be recognized in the departmental graduation program.

Economics Grade Scale to Determine GPA for Honors

Deadlines
Spring 2008 graduates wishing to pursue Graduation with Distinction must file an Honors Candidate Application Form with the EcoTeach Center by October 16, 2007. For entrance to Econ 199S in Spring 2008, students must either have taken Econ 198S, or submitted an acceptable thesis proposal to the 199S instructor, Dr. Michelle Connolly , by December 14, 2007.

Theses are due to the EcoTeach Center by noon on April 15, 2008. Candidates must submit four paper copies of their thesis and one electronic copy in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe (.pdf). E-copies should be sent to the Assistant to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, dus_asst@econ.duke.edu. For complete submission and specifications details, consult the established Standards for Honors Papers.

Candidates and their research supervisors are invited to celebrate their hard work at an Honors Recognition Reception held in late April. Invitations to the reception, including logistical details, will go out in early April 2007.

Davies Fellowships
The department is pleased to be able to offer Davies Fellowships, intended to financially support promising undergraduates in the summer between their junior and senior years, so that they may be free to further their pursuit of independent research under the direction of a faculty mentor and through the Honors Program. Candidates for the Davies Fellowship must be nominated by a sponsoring faculty mentor.

The fellowship is named in honor of the late Dr. David Davies, a Duke economics professor from 1961 until his retirement in 1991. Throughout his Duke tenure, Professor Davies wore many administrative hats, including Chair, Director of Undergraduate Studies, acting Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of the Honors Program. Dr. Davies is remembered in the department with great fondness and respect, not only for his research in public economics, but also for his passionate advocacy of undergraduate instruction and research. Dr. Davies is credited with the creation and sustaining of the Economics Honors Program and it is because of this legacy that we honor him through the creation of the Davies Fellowship. For further information on Professor Davies, please see the 2001 Duke Journal of Economics, which was dedicated to him.

Best Thesis Prize
The Economics Department is pleased to be able to offer the Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Best Thesis Prize, given yearly in recognition of outstanding research by an undergraduate and through the honors program. Prior Prize winners include:

• 2007 Co-winners
  • R. Selin Dilmenter, “A Theory of Evacuation as a Coordination Problem”
  • Tzuo Hann Law, “The Elusiveness of Systematic Jumps"
• 2006 Winner, Joel Wiles, "Mixed Strategy Equilibrium in Tennis Serves"
• 2005 Co-Winners
  • Shiying Lee, "Financial Market Development: Does Financial Liberalization Induce Regulatory Governance Reform?"
  • Yuanshu Deng, "Another Pricey European Import? An Economic Analysis of the Artist's Resale Right"