Topics for Master's Theses

The Department of Economics presents the following ideas for topics:

Behavioural Economics

DO YOU FEEL LUCKY, PUNK?

Background:

High-achieving persons often attribute part of their success to luck – that is, exogenous events outside their own control. Random events have been shown to play a decisive role in shaping people’s life trajectories. However, people may also differ in what they infer from the same objective outcome, which could have repercussions for their long-term financial success. In this master thesis, students will get the chance to conduct an economic experiment to shed light out on why some people feel lucky: is it because they are overly optimistic about the frequency of lucky events, or because they neglect unlucky events? The thesis will then explore how these personal traits correlate with basic economic preferences, personal characteristics, and real investment behavior.

Key References:

Kaufman (2018), “The Role of Luck in Life Success Is Far Greater Than We Realized”, Scientific American

Profile: ECN, ECO, BUS, FIN, STR

Supervisor: Mathias Ekström

Energy efficiency and electricity consumption: drivers of green technology adoption

Note: Theses under this topic may be eligible for the Equinor scholarship for Master's theses

Background:

Assessments of potential savings from energy efficiency investments have suggested the existence of an "Energy Efficiency Gap"; that consumers do not undertake energy efficiency investments with even large positive returns. Though the conclusion has been hotly debated in the academic literature, we still lack a solid understanding of drivers and barriers to energy efficiency adoption, which is necessary for designing appropriate policies. Currently, most countries employ some combination of regulation and subsidies to increase energy efficiency, e.g., 100-300 mNOK in yearly Enova subsidies for households in Norway.

Under this topic, you will contribute to our understanding of green technology adoption under the supervision of one or more experienced researchers with competences targeted to different approaches and research questions. Examples of specific projects are "Inattention and green technology: Do temporary shocks to electricity prices spur adoption?", "Does increased electricity demand lead to energy efficiency investment: Evidence from electric vehicle take-up", and "Are green technology subsidies regressive?", "Constrained wallets or constrained minds: The role of mental budgeting and relative thinking in green technology investment", or "Green loans vs investment subsidies: The optimal mix". The examples are far from an exhaustive list, and we encourage you to contact us if you could see yourself writing your master thesis within this topic and want to learn more.

Key References:

Hunt Allcott and Michael Greenstone (2012) "Is There an Energy Efficiency Gap", Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, pp. 3-28

Hunt Allcott (2016) "Paternalism and Energy Efficiency: An Overview", Annual Review of Economics 8, pp. 145-176

Anna Sahari (2019) "Electricity prices and consumers' long-term technology choices: Evidence from heating investments", European Economic Review 114, pp. 19-53

Data: Electricity prices and consumption data from Nordpool and Statistics Norway, Enova subsidies, statistics on sales of efficient heating systems. It may be possible to obtain household data given availability and project needs.

Suitable for Profiles: BUS, ECN, ECO, ENE, FIN

Supervisors: Samuel D. Hirshman, Eirik G. Kristiansen, Mateusz Mysliwski, Morten Sæthre

PAYING WITH MONEY OR PAYING WITH PERSONAL DATA

Background:

During the last years concerns have been raised regarding the business model of several tech companies, which base their revenues on advertisements from third parties in exchange of customers’ personal data. From a consumers’ perspective, an important question behind this growing debate is how to quantify a price on personal data. Do consumers attach the same value to their personal data as they do to money? Is it even possible to put a price on your personal data? Previous literature has found a mismatch between willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) the sharing of personal information, but understanding behind this gap has not been fully explored. This master thesis project should conduct experiments to study a trade-off between paying with money and paying with personal data. In particular, it should explore potential explanations that could explain the mismatch between WTP and WTA of privacy.

Key References:

Acquisti, Alessandro, Leslie K. John, and George Loewenstein (2013). “What is privacy worth?.” The Journal of Legal Studies 42.2, 249-274.

Winegar, A. G. and C. R. Sunstein (2019). “How much is data privacy worth? A preliminary investigation.”Journal of Consumer Policy 42(3), 425–440.

Brynjolfsson, E. and Collis, A. (2019). “How Should We Measure the Digital Economy?”

Harvard Business Review, 97(6): 140-48. doi: 10.1257/aer.20170491

Data: Collect your own data either by conducting an experiment on the online labor market Amazon Mechanical Turk or by doing a survey experiment.

Supervisors: Reserachers from FAIR and Telenor Research.

Understanding Paternalism

Background:

The extent to which it is acceptable to restrict the freedom of individuals in order to promote their own best interest is at the core of much political debate about the relationship between the state and its citizens: Should the state institute mandatory retirement savings, require motorcyclists to wear helmets or refuse to enforce certain types of contracts? Questions about the legitimate role of paternalism are also important in many interpersonal relationships, in particular between parents and their children, and people’s views on these matters may be of great importance for understanding their willingness to accept inequality in society. The master thesis project should conduct experiments to study a person’s willingness to reduce another individual’s freedom in order to promote that individual’s best interests. For example by studying how the willingness to act paternalistically depends on the characteristics of the individuals whose freedom is being restricted, such as how well informed they are, their competence, and their age.

Key References:

Julian Le Grand & Bill New (2015): Government Paternalism: Nanny State or Helpful Friend? Princeton University Press, 2015

Data: Collect your own data either by conducting an experiment on the online labor market Amazon Mechanical Turk or by doing a survey experiment.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, STR, INB, ENE

Supervisor: Alexander W. Cappelen

The Development of Social Preferences: Experimental Evidence from International Pilots

Background:

We are seeking Master's students who would like to write their Master's thesis as part of a project on the development of fairness preferences. The project is a collaboration between professors Alexander W. Cappelen and Bertil Tungodden.

Key References:

Almås, Cappelen, Sørensen and Tungodden (2010): “Fairness and the Development of Inequality Acceptance”, Science 328(5982): 1176–1178.

Almås, Cappelen, Salvanes, Sørensen and Tungodden (2017): “Fairness and family background”, Philosophy, Politics and Economics 16(2) 117-131.

Cappelen, List, Samek and Tungodden (2016): “The Effect of Early Education on Social Preferences”, NBER Working Paper No. 22898.

Data: We have recruited children from kindergartens and schools in Bergen to take part in a lab experiment we are implementing in September 2018. We have also collected comparable data for adults from Norway and Shanghai as well as for children from kindergartens and schools in Shanghai.

Suitable for: NHH Master's students who are interested in helping with the implementation of pilot experiments internationally during the autumn and in writing their Master's thesis as part of the project are welcome to send an e-mail to Adriana Condarco-Quesada. It should include your name, your CV and a short note on why you would like to write your master thesis on this subject. Please also send any questions you might have regarding the project to Adriana.

Supervisor: Bertil Tungodden

The Role of the Telco Industry Towards Screen Addiction

Background:

In the context of conducting fair business practices, a relevant question in the telecommunication industry is whether telco companies should allow and push for unlimited internet data usage. The particular issue at stake is whether providing unlimited data package would push consumers into increasing their social media use and their phone in general, and consequently increasing screen addiction. Telco companies obviously gain by costumers using more their phones. However, this issue raises ethical considerations regarding overdose and potential addiction consequences, which may eventually backfire on the companies’ long term profitability. The master thesis project should conduct experiments or surveys to gather information about people’s perspective on the role of telco companies towards screen use. In particular, it should focus on understanding the view on companies’ interventions when the consumer lacks the will power and/or intrinsic motivation to reduce his/her data consumption.

Key References:

Alter, A. (2017). “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked”. Penguin.

Data: Collect your own data either by conducting an experiment on the online labor market Amazon Mechanical Turk or by doing a survey experiment.

Supervisors: Reserachers from FAIR and Telenor Research.

What Drives Consumers to Change Electricity Provider?

Background:

In markets characterized by subscription services, such as electricity, banking and telecommunications, we often find that consumers change providers or plans to a very low extent despite considerable price differences between seemingly similar (or even homogenous) products. There are many potential explanations for this phenomenon, e.g., lack of information, costs of switching, and strong preferences for particular providers. Understanding the sources of passive consumer behavior is important for both regulation, business planning, government policy and market design. We find clear signs of consumer passivity also in the Norwegian electricity retail market, and data sources available to this supervisor can allow a talented student to shed light on some of the potential channels.

Key References:

von der Fehr and Hansen (2010): "Electricity Retailing in Norway", The Energy Journal 31: 25-45 (Basic reference)

Hortacsu et al (2015): "Power to Choose? An Analysis of Consumer Inertia in the Residential Electricity Market", NBER Working Paper No. 20988 (Advanced reference)

Data: Monthly data on number of subscriptions and sales (kWh) for the largest retailers within local areas will be provided by the supervisor, as well as weekly contract prices and monthly visitor statistics for the contract comparison website of the Competition Authority. Wholesale electricity prices and other useful market statistics can be gathered from Nordpool.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, ENE, BUS, FIE, INB

Supervisor: Morten Sæthre

Development Economics

Bulk Buying and Poverty

Background:

Buying in bulk is a common way that consumers use to obtain lower prices on their purchases. There is now some evidence that low income consumers are not exploiting this strategy well, despite the large potential gains. The thesis will review the issue, and use an innovative detailed dataset from India to investigate it in a new setting.

Key References:

Brian Dillon, Joachim De Weerdt, Ted O’Donoghue, Paying More for Less: Why Don’t Households in Tanzania Take Advantage of Bulk Discounts?, The World Bank Economic Review, Volume 35, Issue 1, February 2021, Pages 148–179.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO

Supervisor: Vincent Somville

High Frequency Poverty

Background:

Poverty is typically measured at annual level. High frequency data reveals that potentially many households cross the poverty line for significant periods even if they are not poor on average on an annual basis. The thesis will investigate transitory poverty using weekly financial diaries from India.

Key References:

Jonathan Morduch. Rethinking Poverty, Household Finance, and Microfinance. Forthcoming in Handbook of Microfinance, Financial Inclusion, and Development, edited by Robert Cull and Valentina Hartarska. Forthcoming.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO

Supervisor: Vincent Somville

The Development of Social Preferences: Experimental Evidence from International Pilots

Background:

Key References:

Almås, Cappelen, Sørensen and Tungodden (2010): “Fairness and the Development of Inequality Acceptance”, Science 328(5982): 1176–1178.

Almås, Cappelen, Salvanes, Sørensen and Tungodden (2017): “Fairness and family background”, Philosophy, Politics and Economics 16(2) 117-131.

Cappelen, List, Samek and Tungodden (2016): “The Effect of Early Education on Social Preferences”, NBER Working Paper No. 22898.

Supervisor: Bertil Tungodden

What Effect Do Daughters Have, Globally?

Background:

There is some evidence from western countries that fathering daughters changes men’s attitudes towards women in general, and can also affect the household structure.

The students will use a global data base covering dozens of countries to investigate the global effects of daughters, and how they affect the economics of families.

Key References:

Washington, Ebonya L. 2008. "Female Socialization: How Daughters Affect Their Legislator Fathers." American Economic Review, 98 (1): 311-32.

Jan Kabátek, David C Ribar, Daughters and Divorce, The Economic Journal, Volume 131, Issue 637, July 2021, Pages 2144–2170.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO

Supervisor: Vincent Somville

Economic History

Bergen as a Maritime Capital

Background:

The Norwegian consultancy group Menon publishes an annual list of “The leading maritime capitals of the world”. Bergen is not included in the list of 15 cities evaluated in the report, but has been included in a longlist of 30 nominated cities that are benchmarked according to a set of 24 indicators. The aim of the thesis would be to analyze a) the basis for the ranking; and b) measures that would make Bergen a leading maritime capital.

Key Literature: Menon report

Data: Developed together with the supervisor

Suitable for Profiles: STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Stig Tenold

Bergen as a Maritime Service Provider

Background:

Bergen plays a key role as one of the leading maritime cities internationally. Bergen shipping companies have dominant positions in several markets (chemical tanker transport, open hatch bulk shipping), and there are also world-class companies in auxiliary services (in particular ship finance, insurance, ship registry). Combining historical perspectives and economic theory, the aim of the thesis would be to analyze to which extent the success of these auxiliary services is based on linkages to the local industry, and to which extent it is a result of the international orientation of the service providers themselves.

Data: Veritas, surveys developed together with supervisor

Suitable for Profiles: STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Stig Tenold

Innovation and the Patent System

Background:

Intellectual property rights are usually associated with the patent system – patents and patent laws. The relationship between patents and innovations has been studied extensively, for example how patent laws create incentives to invent, promote innovation and encourage economic growth. Historical or modern data analysis, however, gives no clear answers, and there is a potential for research that addresses several questions: Does the existence of strong patent laws encourage innovation? What proportion of innovations is patented? Is this share constant across industries? How does patenting and licensing affect the diffusion of knowledge? Such questions have only to a limited extent been studied in a Norwegian context.

Key Reference:

P. Moser, ‘Patents and Innovation: Evidence from Economic History’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 27 (1), 2013.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Bjørn L. Basberg

The Gender Wage Gap

Background:

How large is the gender wage gap and why do we observe a gender wage gap. These are important questions that occupy economists, business operations and politicians. Students can address this question empirically by documenting the gender wage gap with international data (e.g. OECD, Eurostat, ILO) or national data sets. An interesting focus is to look at young adults or young adults in the NEET (not in education and employment) group. It could be interesting to compare the measure across data sources and discuss differences and explanations.

There is also a new data source made available for research for young adults in developing countries which could be explored in this thesis (see Bandiera et al. (2022). Other macro-data sources that could be explored and compared across countries, demographic groups and time are found on the webpages of the OECD, Eurostat and ILO. Students could also use historical data for a thesis on this topic.

Key References:

Bandiera, Oriana, Ahmed Elsayed, Andrea Smurra, and Céline Zipfel. 2022. "Young Adults and Labor Markets in Africa." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36 (1): 81-100.

Kunze, A. (2018). The gender wage gap in developed countries. The Oxford handbook of women and the economy, 369-394.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Environmental & Resource Economics

Climate Change in the Arctic and Economic Activities

Background:

Climate change is evident in the Arctic in the way of increased temperatures, decreasing ice and consequently increased accessibility. Maritime transport, fisheries and resource exploitation (mineral oil in particular) are industries that already are pushing the frontiers further north. Since the Arctic Ocean is surrounded by several national states (Canada, the United States, Russia, Norway and Denmark / Greenland), the political tension in the region has increased in a classic ‘race for property rights’ that has historic parallels. Other non-Arctic nations, China in particular, shows increased interest in the region.

There are many potential issues and questions that could be analysed in an economic framework. What have been the recent trends, and how do businesses and stakeholders view the future? How does the government-business interaction play out in the different countries involved? Climate change involves changes in both costs and benefits. How could this be modelled and analysed?

Key References:

A.S. Crépin et.al., ‘Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society (ACCESS): Integrated Perspectives’, Ambio, Dec. (46) 2017, 341-354

G. Eskeland and L.S. Flottorp, ‘Climate Change in the Arctic: A Discussion of the Impact on Economic Activity’, in Glomsrød et.al. (eds.), The Economy of the North, SSB, 2006.

Data: Climate change reports, government papers and statistics, business prospects.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Bjørn L. Basberg

Commercial Activity in the Antarctic Region

Background:

The Antarctic region has a long history of resource exploitation (e.g. sealing, whaling). Today, human activity in the region is dominated by science, but there are also industries like fisheries, tourism and bio-prospecting. Such industries have, to a small extent, been analysed in an economic context and several questions are interesting to pursue. What is the economic scale of these operations? What is the economic and financial importance for the companies involved? Are management and regulatory systems sufficient?

Key Reference:

B.L. Basberg, ‘Perspectives on the Economic History of the Antarctic Region’, International Journal of Maritime History, VO. XVIII (2), 2006.

Data: Economics and business statistics on tourism from the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) and on fisheries from the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Bjørn L. Basberg

Economic Perspectives on Tourism in the Polar Regions

Background:

Polar tourism, especially shipborne cruise tourism both in the Arctic and in the Antarctic has increased for many years. Business prospects and plans seem to indicate that this will continue.

There are, however, serious challenges ahead. Climate change involves increased accessibility, but also alters the unique experience that constitutes the rationale for the industry. Concerns about long travel time is also a factor that creates uncertainties about future demand for such travels.

Several questions could be analysed about this industry in an economic context. Is it possible, within a traditional business model, to create an environmental and social sustainable industry? There seems to be large future uncertainties connected to both the supply and the demand side in this market. How could that be modelled and analysed?

Key Reference:

M. Lamers and B. Amelung, ‘Climate Change and its Impact for Cruise Tourism’ in M. Lück et. al. (eds), Cruise Tourism in Polar Regions. Promoting Environmental and Social Sustainability? London 2010, p. 147-165.

Data: Climate change reports, statistics and reports from the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), tour operator plans and annual reports.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Bjørn L. Basberg

Reflections of Climate Change: Suffering and Regret

Background:

With increasing consumption and production of goods and services, the human made effects on climate change are getting bigger and bigger. For some activities the potential effects are well-known, such as plastic taking at least 400 years to dissolve completely in nature. For some other activities the effects can be ambiguous and unknown to the consumers, such as the impact of an email inbox size on the environment. When there is ambiguity about the consequences of their actions, people may suffer from both the direct effects of climate change and the regret from contributing to this. The Master's thesis project should investigate regret and regret aversion when making decisions that have potential consequences for the climate. Treatment variation could be driven by using manipulated regret lotteries for consumption (or digital) decisions.

Key References:

Imas, A., Lam´e, D., Wilson, A. J. (2020). Reversals between one-shot and repeated decisions in incentive design: the case of regret. Mimeo

Robinson, P. J., Botzen, W. J. (2018). The impact of regret and worry on the threshold level of concern for flood insurance demand: Evidence from Dutch homeowners. Judgment and Decision Making, 13(3), 237-245.

Volpp, K. G., John, L. K., Troxel, A. B., Norton, L., Fassbender, J., Loewenstein, G. (2008). Financial incentive–based approaches for weight loss: a randomized trial. Jama, 300(22), 2631-2637.

Zeelenberg, M., Pieters, R. (2007). A theory of regret regulation 1.0. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(1), 3-18.

Data: Collect your own data either through a survey experiment or by conducting an online experiment on a crowdsourcing platform.

Supervisors: Reserachers from FAIR and Telenor Research.

Energy Efficiency and Electricity Consumption: Drivers of Green Technology Adoption

Note: Theses under this topic may be eligible for the Equinor scholarship for Master's theses

Background:

Key References:

Hunt Allcott and Michael Greenstone (2012) "Is There an Energy Efficiency Gap", Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, pp. 3-28

Hunt Allcott (2016) "Paternalism and Energy Efficiency: An Overview", Annual Review of Economics 8, pp. 145-176

Anna Sahari (2019) "Electricity prices and consumers' long-term technology choices: Evidence from heating investments", European Economic Review 114, pp. 19-53

Suitable for Profiles: BUS, ECN, ECO, ENE, FIN

Supervisors: Samuel D. Hirshman, Eirik G. Kristiansen, Mateusz Mysliwski, Morten Sæthre

Firms & Ethics

Diversity in Firms, Top Leadership, Financial and Technology Sector

Background:

Societies and firms are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, language background and age. Gender imbalances are particularly pronounced when we look at top leadership, but also sectors such as the financial and technology sector. But the goal of firms increasing diversity is not restricted to gender balance, but also other demographic characteristics such as age, ethnic background etc.

Equality is high on the political agenda and more and more firms acknowledge that in order to recruit the best workers they need to make diversity and inclusive worklife part of their strategic goals. Firms increasingly integrate gender equality and business ethics as part of their corporate management strategy.

A Master's thesis in this area can be an empirical thesis where students assemble or collect novel data that allows them to measure diversity in firms and policies that firms design to increase diversity. Students could measure corporate social responsibility along various dimensions and investigate whether such policies do lead to improved firm performance. Students could also study more conceptually why firms care about diversity.

Depending on the study profile of the student this thesis can focus on financial outcomes, socio-economic outcomes, careers or theory and empirical methods.

Data: SNF database merged with other data (for Norway), Orbis database (for international study).

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, BUS, FIN

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Do Business Organisations in Europe Use Diversity and Inclusive Worklife Policies?

Background:

I am looking for Master's students who collect data from business organisations in Europe, a sample or as many as possible, to measure business organisations' D&I policies (e.g. a webpage) and what policies they have. This thesis can take different forms depending on the interests and skills of the students. The thesis could have a focus on the discussion about what D&I are, how to categorise those and how to measure the outcomes of interest. The collection of the data demands a plan of how to collect this data (manually from webpages, scaping, or other methods). The thesis may have the design of the data collection as the main part, hand-collection of data or developing an algorithm. Students may also use the plan if there is time to collect a small sample. The most ambitious plan is to collect a large sample that may be merged with other data. If the latter part is the main part, the literature overview of D&I and the more conceptual discussion may be shorter. Instead there could be some empirical descriptive analysis part of the thesis. This thesis leaves a lot of space for the students to find their own focus matching with their interests.

Key References:

Hospido, L., Laeven, L., & Lamo, A. (2019). The gender promotion gap: evidence from central banking. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1-45.

Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American sociological review, 71(4), 589-617.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, FOR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Do Universities in Europe Have Diversity and Inclusive Worklife Policies?

Background:

I am looking for Master's students who collect data from universities in Europe, a sample or as many as possible, to measure whether universities and economic faculties in Europe have D&I policies (e.g. a webpage) and what policies they have. This thesis can take different forms depending on the interests and skills of the students. The thesis could take a focus on the discussion what D&I are, how to categorise those and then how to measure the outcomes of interest. The collection of the data demands a plan how to collect these data (manually from webpages, scaping, or other methods). The thesis may have the design of the data collection as the main part. Students may also use the plan if there is time to collect a small sample. The most ambitious plan is to collect a large sample that may be merged with other data on representation of women among Professors in Economics. If the latter part is the main part, the literature overview of D&I and the more conceptual discussion may be shorter. Students could collect data on universities overall, or focus on departments of Economics, or Engineering or other fields. This thesis leaves a lot of space for the students to find their own focus matching with their interests.

Key References:

Auriol, E., Friebel, G., Weinberger, A., & Wilhelm, S. (2022). Underrepresentation of women in the economics profession more pronounced in the United States compared to heterogeneous Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(16), e2118853119.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, FOR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Firm Behaviour, Recruitment and Personnel Policies

Background:

I am looking for Master's tudents who are interested in working together with a firm to evaluate certain firm policies and personnel data. The thesis may require designing a survey, preparing confidential data, analysing data collected by the firm. Topics may be on performance evaluation, recruitment, careers, firm performance or accounting. The students could also come up with their own ideas.

If students have interest or an idea please get in touch early in the process of planning the Master's thesis.

Data: Prepared together with the supervisor

Suitable for Profiles: BUS, ECN, FIN, STR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

The Gender Wage Gap

Background:

Key References:

Bandiera, Oriana, Ahmed Elsayed, Andrea Smurra, and Céline Zipfel. 2022. "Young Adults and Labor Markets in Africa." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36 (1): 81-100.

Kunze, A. (2018). The gender wage gap in developed countries. The Oxford handbook of women and the economy, 369-394.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Who Should Get Internet?

Background:

Access to broadband internet has been found to increase employment and wages, labour productivity, financial technology and banking, and education among other things. A question that still needs to be answered is how to evaluate the expansion of broadband internet in developed countries, where penetration rates are already very high. For example, in Norway 11% of the population still does not have access to internet broadband. A recent public debate has raised the issue on whether the Norwegian government should step in and extend the coverage to the entire population. The Master's thesis project should investigate people’s perspectives on broadband expansion in Norway. It should, for example, elicit the willingness to pay for (fast) broadband and evaluate different scenarios in a cost and benefit analysis of a potential public investment. Moreover, based on previous evidence that connectivity can enable higher economic productivity, the project could explore whether resources for the broadband expansion should be allocated to all the uncovered areas or whether they should only focus on the most productive areas with more growth potential.

Key References:

Akerman, Anders, Ingvil Gaarder, and Magne Mogstad (2015). ”The skill complementarity of broadband internet.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 130.4 : 1781-1824.

M. Bhuller, T. Havnes, E. Leuven and M. Mogstad (2013). “Broadband Internet: An Information Superhighway to Sex Crime?” Review of Economic Studies, 80, 1237-1266.

Data: Collect your own data either by conducting an experiment on the online labor market Amazon Mechanical Turk or by doing a survey experiment.

Supervisors: Reserachers from FAIR and Telenor Research.

International Trade & Globalisation

How are Global Value Chains Affected by the Pandemic and Recent Geopolitical Events?

Background:

An important aspect of the trends towards more globalisation since the turn of the century, has been the increasing importance of ever more complex (global) supply chains in many industries. The unprecedented technological development of information and communication technology (ICT), combined with more integrated markets and reduced transportation and transaction costs, have made it both technically feasible and economically profitable to split the production process and produce parts and components in various parts of the world. This is often called global value chains (GVC).

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, spring 2020, it became clear that many of these supply chains are very vulnerable to market disruptions, be it production in various regions or in transportation and international infrastructure. Supply shortages and long delivery times for key components and products have had a significant negative impact on firms and industries in all parts of the world, and many firms have had to reconsider their global value chains.

The present geopolitical situation adds to the pressure on supply chains and exposes the vulnerability of relying on certain sources of raw material and key parts and components in various industries.

Possible Approaches:

Given the general picture above, several master thesis topics are possible, depending on the interests of the students. Here are some suggestions:

Choose an industry (or a firm) and study how the global supply chains in that industry developed before the pandemic and how they have changed recently. Assess how the pandemic and the geopolitical situation have affected the situation and what the future development might be.
Choose several industries and compare their development over time both before and during the pandemic.
There could also be room for a more theoretical thesis, perhaps with examples from various industries, in which the basis for growing GVC-trade over a long period is analysed, followed by a discussion of why and how the recent events have had such a negative impact in GVCs, and what the future development may be.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, BUS, STR

Supervisors: Linda Orvedal or Jan I. Haaland

How Will Brexit and the New Trade Agreements Affect Norway and Norwegian Industry?

Background:

The UK's decision to leave the EU (BREXIT) will have implications not only for the UK and the EU, but also for other countries. After a long period of debate and negotiations, the UK and the EU agreed on the new “Trade and Cooperation Agreement” on the 24th December 2020. The agreement has been in place since 1st January 2021, although parts of it is still debated. In June 2021 Norway, together with the other EEA countries (Iceland and Liechtenstein), agreed on a free-trade agreement with the UK.

Both the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and the EU and the new free-trade agreement between the UK and the EEA countries will have profound implications for trade between the UK and Norway, for many reasons. Firstly, the UK is an important trading partner for Norway, for goods and services, as well as investments and mobility of labour. All of this has been affected by Brexit, even if new agreements are in place. Secondly, through the European Economic Area (EEA) Norway is part of the EU single market, but not part of the EU Customs Union. Hence, the UK’s departure from the EU customs union will have implications for Norway’s trade both with the EU and the UK. And thirdly, Brexit has initiated a new discussion about the EEA (EØS) agreement in Norway; hence the implications may be even more serious.

Possible Approach:

There could be many interesting ways of approaching the question of how BREXIT may affect Norway and Norwegian industry. One approach could be to take a general national view and discuss possible implications of BREXIT and the new trade agreements for overall trade and economic interactions between the UK and Norway.

Another approach could be to select a particular industry and study the possible implications for that industry.

A third option could be to focus on the implications of a possible future change in the trade relations between the EU and Norway.

All three approaches would need a good combination of theoretical understanding of trade agreements and possible future trade regimes, and empirical observations and analysis of the actual trade relations between the two countries.

Key References:

Standard international economics textbooks for the understanding of trade policies and trade agreements.

www.wto.org for more specific information about the multilateral trade system and regional trade agreements.

For BREXIT the literature is evolving constantly. A good source is UK Trade Policy Observatory (https://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/uktpo/) with many blogs and reports on recent developments.

When it comes to the new trade agreement between Norway and the UK, there are so far few independent analyses of possible consequences, but official information about the agreement is given on the governments’ webpages:

Norwegian Government: https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/inngar-historisk-frihandelsavtale-med-storbritannia/id2857147/
UK Government’s: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/united-kingdom-signs-free-trade-deal-with-norway-iceland-and-liechtenstein

Data: Industrial characteristics and trade data

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, INB

Supervisors: Linda Orvedal or Jan I. Haaland

Sustainability and Global Value Chains

Background:

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) cover a number of areas of great importance for both national and multinational companies, and many companies use the SDGs both in their strategies and in marketing as something they will contribute to. Areas like decent work and economic growth (SDG8), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG9), responsible consumption and production (SDG12), climate action (SDG13) all have direct links to companies, but the same is true for most of the SDGs. For some key areas, like human rights and labour conditions, there are also more specific international agreements and rules that companies are obliged to adhere to.

A key feature of international business today, is the reliance on global value chains (GVC for short, also called global supply chains), where the final products are made up of parts and components produced by a number of suppliers and sub-suppliers in different parts of the world. Some of these GVCs are very complex, and it is not easy for the companies to keep track of the whole supply chain. Yet, the companies’ responsibility to adhere to national and international rules, as well as their commitment to contribute to the SDGs, cover not only their own parts of the production process, but the whole supply chain.

Possible Approaches:

How do multinationals go about keeping track of their GVCs and ensuring that their obligations and commitments to e.g. human rights, labour conditions and/or environment issues are fulfilled throughout the supply chain?

There could be several approaches to this research question, depending on the students’ interest. One possibility is to choose an industry or a firm and try to map the situation for that industry/firm. Another possibility could be to start out with international rules and regulations in one or a few areas (e.g. human rights, or climate emissions) and to study how various industries relate to the regulations and how this affects their global value chains.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ENE, BUS, STR

Supervisors: Linda Orvedal or Jan I. Haaland

The War in Ukraine - Implications for Key Markets in Europe and Globally

Background:

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has affected the European and world economy in many ways. Energy and food markets have been disrupted with huge implications for both Europe and the rest of the world, but other markets have also seen significant changes due to the war. The market implications follow directly from the fact that the war prevents Ukraine from producing and exporting many products, as well as from the economic sanctions towards Russia and the Russian reactions. Although the immediate and short-term effects have been huge, it is still too early to say what the longer-term effects may be.

Possible Approaches:

There are two possible approaches:

Choose an industry/product, study how the war has affected the international markets for that industry so far, and try to assess how the future development may be.
Look at the broader picture and assess how various international markets have been affected and what the future development may by.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, ENE

Supervisors: Linda Orvedal or Jan I. Haaland

Labour Economics

DO BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS IN EUROPE USE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVE WORKLIFE POLICIES?

Background:

Key References:

Hospido, L., Laeven, L., & Lamo, A. (2019). The gender promotion gap: evidence from central banking. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1-45.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, FOR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Do Flexible Pay Schemes Explain the Rise of Wage Inequality?

Background:

In most developed countries, wage inequality has increased in the last decades. A popular explanation is that it is increasingly common to have pay set at the worker rather than at the sectoral level. This leaves more room for wage negotiations, potentially driving labour market inequality. This aim of this Master's thesis would be to assess the role of flexible pay setting in developing wage inequality using unique data on workers’ pay components (e.g., overtime, bonuses). You will have access to microdata for 25 European countries (SES data) to implement your analysis.

Key References:

Lemieux, Thomas, MacLeod, W Bentley and Parent, Daniel. 2009. "Performance Pay and Wage Inequality" The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124 (1): 1-49.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Antoine Bertheau

DO UNIVERSITIES IN EUROPE HAVE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVE WORKLIFE POLICIES?

Background:

Key References:

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, FOR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Gender Differences in Labour Markets

Background:

Despite the fact that great gender convergence in employment is observed in labour markets, large gender differences remain. Women earn 16 per cent less on average in terms of hourly wages than men in the EU. Women also work in very different occupations and industries than men. True, if we compare men and women in the same job and in the same firm, we find very small wage differences; however, very few men and women work in the same job in the same firm. There are many more differences in labour markets between men and women which invites important research questions suitable for a Master's thesis. You could look for questions related to graduates in economics and business administration (use data from NHH). You could study questions at the national level for Norway or another country, or internationally. International evidence is very important to learn and valuable to your career if you work, for example, in a company that does trade with EU and the world. Germany is a country important to learn about, since it is one of the main trading partners of Norway, followed by the UK.

Data:

SIAB (German register data, employer-employee matched panel, 1975-2015
SOEP (Socio Economic Panel for Germany, 1984-2016)
Mikrodata.no at NSD provides access to the Norwegian register data
NHH annual graduate survey

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, FIN, STR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

How Did the Internet Change the Channels of Job Search?

Background:

People that search for a job have several options to find it: read newspapers, go to employment agencies, browse the web and mobilise their local networks of friends and relatives. Networking has increasingly become important for job search. Social networks are an important source of information in the labour market and many workers find jobs through friends and relatives. On the other hand, an increasing number of people use the internet to look for new jobs. One reason online job search has become so popular is that it has changed the search process considerably. Employment websites allow job seekers to access thousands of job offers and use intelligent filter mechanisms to find suitable vacancies.

Key References:

Kuhn, P. J. and M. Skuterud (2004): “Internet Job Search and Unemployment Durations," The American Economic Review, 94, 218-232.

Data: Norwegian Labour Force Survey

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Aline Bütikofer

Human Capital, Apprenticeship Training, Aspirations to Success, Early Career, Youth Employment and Youth Labour Markets

Background:

Some research has debunked the argument that job-hopping can propel a person onward and upward more rapidly than would be possible by staying in one place. In this thesis students can study and quantify mobility during the early career after first entry into the labour market and after completion of education. How do high achievers, who eventually will fill top positions, perform during the early career. Students could also analyse what women versus men’s early career looks like. Is it important to be mobile, or how long is it optimal to stay in the first job?

The thesis can focus more on firms and careers and strategic human capital or take a more labour economics and empirical methods direction.

See an example of a paper here:

Bonet, R., Cappeli, P., Hamori, M. (2020). “Gender differences in speed of advancement: an empirical examination of top executives in the fortune 100 firms”. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 41 (4): 708-737

Data: This project requires individual panel data on employment and wage histories.

SIAB (German register data, employer-employee matched panel, 1975-2015)
SOEP (Socio Economic Panel for Germany, 1984-2016)
Mikrodata.no at NSD provides access to the Norwegian register data

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, BUS, FIN, STR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Labour Markets, Gender Differences and Family Policy

Background:

Despite the fact that great gender convergence in employment is observed in labour markets, large gender differences remain. In the EU, women earn 16 per cent less than men on average in terms of hourly wages. Women also work in very different occupations and industries than men. True, if we compare men and women in the same job and in the same firm, we find very small wage differences; however, very few men and women work in the same job in the same firm. In addition, differentials build up over careers and these may not be reflected in cross-sectional differentials.

There is a great need for studies focusing on occupations, industries, and selected groups. Students could look for questions related to graduates in economics and business administration using data from NHH surveys. Students could study questions on labour markets and policies fighting unfair differences at the national level for Norway or another country, or internationally (EIGE database).

International evidence on labour markets is very important to learn and valuable to your career if you work, for example, in a company that does trade with EU and the world. Labour is the main input factor to the firm. Germany is a country important to learn about, since it is one of the main trading partners of Norway, followed by the UK etc.

Data: Data can be collected from several sources:

EIGE database, ILO
SIAB (German register data, employer-employee matched panel, 1975-2015)
SOEP (Socio Economic Panel for Germany, 1984-2016)
Mikrodata.no at NSD provides access to the Norwegian register data
NHH annual graduate survey

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, BUS, FIN, STR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

THE GENDER WAGE GAP

Background:

Key References:

Bandiera, Oriana, Ahmed Elsayed, Andrea Smurra, and Céline Zipfel. 2022. "Young Adults and Labor Markets in Africa." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36 (1): 81-100.

Kunze, A. (2018). The gender wage gap in developed countries. The Oxford handbook of women and the economy, 369-394.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Macroeconomics

Assessing the Norwegian Macroeconomic Policy Framework

Background:

The design of monetary and fiscal policy has moved towards a rule-based framework, exemplified by the so-called Taylor rule or the “Handlingsreglene”, governing the management of the oil fund in Norway. How does monetary and/or fiscal policy respond to shocks affecting the Norwegian economy? Are the responses of macroeconomic policy stable over time? How did the economy and financial markets respond to the introduction of these rules?

Key References:

Clarida, R., J. Gali and M. Gertler. (1999). The Science of Monetary Policy: A New Keynesian Perspective, Journal of Economic Literature 37(4): 1661-1707.

J. Taylor (2000). Reassessing Discretionary Fiscal Policy. Journal of Economic Perspectives 14(3): 21-36.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, FIE

Supervisor: Gernot Doppelhofer

Business Cycles and Gender

Background:

Men and women work in different sectors, which are differently susceptible to business cycle fluctuations. In the US, the stereotype is that men work in the construction sector, which is highly business cycle sensitive, while women work in the education sector, in which hours worked do not fluctuate much over the business cycle. There are also differences in the aggregate behavior of hours worked in the group of people living in one-person households and those living in couple households. Are the same patterns true in Norway as well? What could the reason be for why / why not?

Key References:

Albanesi, S. and A. Şahin (2018). The Gender Unemployment Gap. Review of Economic Dynamics 30, 47–67.

Olsson, J. Singles, Couples, and Their Labor Supply: Long-run Trends and Short-run Fluctuations. Working paper.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO

Supervisor: Jonna Olsson

Economic Growth and the Input Factor Labour

Background:

How much does the input factor labour account for in the Norwegian national product? A Norwegian minister once said in public: Women are more worth than oil in Norway. Is that true and how can we measure the contribution over time? In this thesis students can conceptionally think about a growth model and how to measure the contribution of labour to growth and the level of production in an economy. This could include a literature survey and an overview of estimates for different countries and time periods. Then they can take the model to Norwegian data or other data to estimate the contribution. For the empirical estimations the students could explore Norwegian register data accessible on microdata at NHH. This is a sketch of the idea and the students can develop their own ideas.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

How Prevalent is Download Rigidity in Nominal Wages in Norway?

Background:

Since Keynes, macroeconomists typically assume that wages are rigid, i.e., cannot be adjusted downward. However, the empirical evidence is still scant. In Norway, we now have good data to test this assumption empirically. The Master's thesis would aim to assess the degree of wage rigidity using rich Norwegian administrative datasets (on firms and their employees).

Key References:

Elsby, Michael W. L, Solon, Gary (2019). How Prevalent is Downward Rigidity in Nominal Wages? International Evidence from Payroll Records and Pay Slips, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 185-201.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Antoine Bertheau

Is there a Beveridge Curve in the Norwegian Housing Market?

Background:

Originally, the Beveridge curve measures the relationship between the number of vacant positions and the number of unemployed people in the labour market. It gives expression to the existence of search frictions in this market. But the housing market is also characterised by such frictions: it takes time for a buyer to find a suitable house and for a seller to get in touch with a buyer.

This project would consist in (i) collecting monthly data about the number of buyers searching for a house, e.g., based on data about visits during house showings, (ii) collecting data about the number of houses for sale, and (iii) estimating the relationship between both variables during the business cycle. Focus can be on the housing market for one of the larger cities in Norway.

Key References:

Genvose and Han (2012). Search and Matching in the Housing Market. Journal of Urban Economics.

Gabrovski and Ortego-Marti (2019). The Cyclical Behavior of the Beveridge Curve in the Housing Market.

Gabrovski and Ortego-Marti (2022) On the Slope of the Beveridge Curve in the Housing Market.

Data: Data from eiendomnorge.no, real estate agencies, etc.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, FIN, BAN

Supervisor: Fred Schroyen

Nowcasting and Predicting the Norwegian Economy

Background:

A large number of indicators have been proposed to predict the current and future state of the economy. A lot of macroeconomic or financial data is being reported at different points in time and some is subject to revision. The measurement of current and future economic conditions is essential for the conduct of macroeconomic policy, dating of business cycles and household or financial decision making. What are important factors when predicting current and future economic activity and financial variables, such as exchange rates, stock prices, etc.?

Key References:

Stock, J. and M. Watson. (1999). Forecasting Inflation. Journal of Monetary Economics v44(2): 293-335

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, FIE

Supervisor: Gernot Doppelhofer

Price Changes Among Manufacturing Firms

Background:

To understand how prices are adjusted and why is very important for consumers, firm owners and managers, regulators and macro economists. The typical IO question; How does a firm set the price or quantity in relation to other market participants? Macro economists: Monetary policy only has a real effect if prices (and wages) are sticky (think of the IS-LM or AD-AS models). Price adjustment costs and their nature are central for industrial organisation and the macro economy. What do we know empirically about the micro behaviour of firms? Do we see some patterns in firms’ price setting? Do we observe immediate responses to demand-, technology-, and cost-shocks?

Based on survey information from Statistics Norway about product prices in the manufacturing industry, merged with register data on firms’ revenue, costs, investments, and labour demand there are several topics for empirical Master's theses on pricing behaviour, either seen through the lenses of an IO scholar, or a macro economist.

Data: As the data include highly sensitive information, it is necessary to apply for access to the data.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Øivind A. Nilsen

The Price Development in the Real Estate Market in a Non-Scandinavian Country

Background:

In many European countries, the housing market is characterised by soaring prices. Is this price evolution reflecting a development in the underlying fundamentals for this market, or are actual prices and fundamentals little connected, thereby possibly indicating a price bubble? Using quarterly data on real estate prices, this project would estimate a model for the housing market allowing for both fundamentals and error-correction mechanisms.

Key References:

Bergman and Sørensen (2021). The Interaction of Actual and Fundamental House Prices: A General Model with an Application to Sweden, Journal of Housing Economics 54.

Data: Real estate price statistics, housing stock statistics, national account data.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, FIN

Supervisor: Fred Schroyen

Corporate Sustainability, Firm Performance and Economic Growth

Background:

Firms, consumers, investors and stakeholders more generally are increasingly informing their decisions based on  environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials. 

Policies are put in place fostering ESG reporting. Governments are implementing regulations requiring organisations to increase transparency in areas such as diversity, equal pay, carbon emissions and complying with responsible working conditions. On the 21st of April 2021, the EU commission announced the adoption of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in line with the commitment made under the European Green Deal. The proposed directive will also entail a dramatic increase in the number of companies subject to the EU sustainability reporting requirements across the EU countries.

The hypothesis or claim is that sustainable growth is the only way to build a successful business and have a lasting impact on our environment and society. More empirical research is needed in this area and this topic area offers opportunities for mastertheses in, for example, macroeconomics, public economics, management, finance, and resource economics.

Research questions could be:

Collect data on how many firms report on ESG and make reports publicly available in Norway or the EU. Here students can focus on one aspect or a subset.

What is the quality of ESG reporting and are firms pursuing the attempted goals? E.g. what is the quality of firms’ reports on gender equality and gender diversity consistent with national statistics? Students can collect their own data for a subset of Norwegian firms and compare these to Norwegian micro-statistics or indicators based on firm-level data.

Consultancies are providing guidance and software to help firms report on ESG. An interesting thesis could contain collecting data on these and organise an overview of the work of consultancies in this area, e.g. on equality and gender diversity or environment. This material could then be critically assessed comparing it to main indicators and challenges in terms of equality and D&I.

Students interested in macroeconomics could quantify the contribution of human capital to growth and discuss the expected chances coming from ESG reporting and the transition of the economy.

Key References:

Gillan, S. L., Koch, A., & Starks, L. T. (2021). Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance. Journal of Corporate Finance, 66, 101889.

Post, C., & Byron, K. (2015). Women on boards and firm financial performance: A meta-analysis. Academy of management Journal, 58(5), 1546-1571.

Miller, A. R. (2018). Women and leadership in Averett, S., & Hoffman, S. D. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford handbook of women and the economy. Oxford University Press.

Kunze, A. (2020): Kjønnsmessig mangfold i ledelsen" (Gender diversity in top management), Magma, No. 320, Årgang 23, 3/2020.

Data: Sources and methods:

Firm level data collected by the students (could use hand collection, text analysis, scaping, or other methods)
Firm level data: SNF database, BoardEx Data
Microdata
Regression analysis (programs STATA or R)
OECD data, EIGE data (on equality, wages, education, job titles)

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisors: Astrid Kunze, Krisztina Molnar or Antoine Bertheau

Microeconomics & Industrial Organisation

Competition and Pricing in the European Airline Industry

Background:

The airline industry is comprised of large, capital-intensive firms competing about availability and prices, who make decisions over prices, routes to operate and fleet. Important features of competition is price discrimination, use of loyalty programs and entry in or exit from specific routes, in the face of potentially tough competition and volatile demand over the business cycle. The European and Norwegian airline industry has changed dramatically over the years, with changing technologies, travel habits, regulations, taxation and industry structure. The rise of low-cost carriers from the late 90s and early 2000s and the strategic responses of flag carriers, for instance by reducing prices in response to even merely the threat of entry has been important for the development of the industry we see today, in addition to the growing domestic, regional and international policy debates on how to handle the carbon footprint of the sector in later years.

There are many possible directions for a Master's thesis on this topic, for instance:

What factors determine how an incumbent airline responds to increased threat of entry on a route?
How would carbon taxation influence fleet choices and competition in the industry?
What is the effect of loyalty programs on demand and competition?
Differences in price discrimination across routes and carriers: What are the main drivers?
Aircraft investment and the business cycle: A recipe for hysteresis?

Key Literature:

Goolsbee, A. and Syverson, C. (2008) "How Do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123, pp. 1611–1633

Borenstein, S. and Rose, N. L. (1994) "Competition and Price Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry", Journal of Political Economy, 102, pp. 653–683

"Aviation Industry Leaders Report 2022: Recovery through Resilience", KPMG, edited by Victoria Tozer-Pennington.

Data: Data on number of passengers and prices for separate routes, airlines and ticket classes can be made available by supervisors.

Suitable for Profiles: BAN, BUS, ECN, ECO, ENE, FIN

Supervisors: Lars Sørgard, Mateusz Mysliwski or Morten Sæthre

Do Economic Booms and Busts Affect Sleeping Patterns and the Number of Hours of Leisure Activities?

Background:

Although health is usually thought to worsen when the economy weakens, substantial recent research suggests that mortality actually declines during such periods. Could this decline in mortality be explained by people enjoying more free time and more sleep during recession?

Key Reference:

Christopher J. Ruhm (2000): “Are Recessions Good for Your Health?” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115 (2): 617-650.

Data: Norwegian time use survey 1971-2010.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Aline Bütikofer

Do Smoking Policies Affect Smoking Behaviour, and Do Better Educated Individuals React Faster to Policy Changes?

Background:

The strong correlation between education and health, even after controlling for income, has been recognized as a robust empirical observation in the social sciences and economic literature (Deaton and Paxson 2003; Lleras-Muney 2004). The decision to smoke or not to smoke is a conscious choice that directly affects the health status and ultimately the mortality of individuals. It therefore provides an interesting opportunity to investigate how education, by influencing behaviors, affects health outcomes.

Key Reference:

Damien de Walque (2010): “Education, Information, and Smoking Decisions: Evidence from Smoking Histories in the United States, 1940–2000” Journal of Human Resources, 45:682-717.

Data: Norwegian smoking habit survey from 1973-2011

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Aline Bütikofer

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION: DRIVERS OF GREEN TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

Note: Theses under this topic may be eligible for the Equinor scholarship for Master's theses

Background:

Key References:

Hunt Allcott and Michael Greenstone (2012) "Is There an Energy Efficiency Gap", Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, pp. 3-28

Hunt Allcott (2016) "Paternalism and Energy Efficiency: An Overview", Annual Review of Economics 8, pp. 145-176

Anna Sahari (2019) "Electricity prices and consumers' long-term technology choices: Evidence from heating investments", European Economic Review 114, pp. 19-53

Suitable for Profiles: BUS, ECN, ECO, ENE, FIN

Supervisors: Samuel D. Hirshman, Eirik G. Kristiansen, Mateusz Mysliwski, Morten Sæthre

How Can We Explain CEO Pay?

Background:

There is a widespread suspicion that top managers and other key persons are overpaid. They are frequently lavishly rewarded when the firm is lucky and not penalised when the firm is unlucky. Some receive discretionary severance pay that the firms are not committed to pay. Pay structure and level seem to depend on the owner structure. There are a large set of observations that are puzzling if you believe that owners should provide cost efficient incentives to managers. The project might examine pay structure in a particular industry or across countries and compare observations with empirical predictions from analytical models.

Key References:

Bebchuk, L. A. and J. M. Fried (2004) Pay without performance: The unfulfilled promise of executive compensation, Harvard University Press.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, FIN

Supervisor: Eirik G. Kristiansen

How Should We Pay for Drugs? Is Netflix a Model?

Background:

Health plans negotiate rebates on list prices with drug companies. If the net price is sufficiently low, the health plan may decide to include the drug in their plan so that the drug is reimbursed and available for patients. The current model is that health plans pay a uniform net price per unit purchased from the drug company. Recently, a different payment regime has been proposed, called the Netflix model. Instead of paying a uniform price, proponents of the Netflix model argue that health plans should instead pay a fixed (subscription) fee to the drug company for getting access to the drug at marginal costs (or zero costs). The argument is that two-part tariffs is more efficient given the high innovation costs and low production costs. Opponents argue that the Netflix model will extract more consumer surplus and lead to higher costs for health plans. Some countries and health plans are now testing the Netflix model, which also seems to be relevant for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Key Literature:

Barros, P. and X. Martinez-Giralt (2012). Health Economics: An Industrial Organization Perspective. Routledge. Chapter 17.

The Economist (2019): The Antibiotic Industry is Broken. Take Inspiration from the Entertainment Industry. Leader.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, BUS, STR

Supervisor: Kurt R. Brekke

IS THERE A BEVERIDGE CURVE IN THE NORWEGIAN HOUSING MARKET?

Background:

Key References:

Genvose and Han (2012). Search and Matching in the Housing Market. Journal of Urban Economics.

Gabrovski and Ortego-Marti (2019). The Cyclical Behavior of the Beveridge Curve in the Housing Market.

Gabrovski and Ortego-Marti (2022) On the Slope of the Beveridge Curve in the Housing Market.

Data: Data from eiendomnorge.no, real estate agencies, etc.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, FIN, BAN

Supervisor: Fred Schroyen

Management Practices and Firms

Background:

We know very little about the management practices in Norway. International data have shown that great differences exist between family businesses, multinationals and that the public sector has relatively worse management practices. Questions related to measurement and comparison of management practices invite to a great number of research ideas for a Master's thesis. You can explore existing data sets, and create extended data by merging additional firm level information.

Key References:

Corecon. Empirical Project 6: Measuring Management Practices.

Data: World Management Survey

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, FIN, STR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

Maximum Likelihood Estimation of a Demand System

Background:

The almost ideal demand (AID) system was developed by Deaton and Muellbauer (1980). It specifies a household’s set of demand functions for different goods and services. The AID system combines flexibility and consistency with theoretical properties with a specification for the demand equations that allows for tractable estimation.

However, one of the weaknesses of the AID system is that the crucial property of negativity (that compensated demand functions should always slope downwards—the “law of demand”) cannot be imposed under estimation without giving up the flexibility of the system.

To remedy this weakness, Moschini (1998) suggested incorporating the negativity property “at the mean data point”, i.e., to make sure that if the household has the average income level and faces the average prices in the dataset, then its behavior respects the “law of demand”. While not solving the problem completely, this is a big step forward.

The purpose of this Master's thesis would be to write a maximum likelihood estimation programme in Stata that incorporates Moschini’s restriction, and use it on household budget survey data for Norway to obtain estimates for income and price elasticities.

Key References:

Deaton A and J Muellbauer (1980). An Almost Ideal Demand System. American Economic Review 70, pp. 312-336.

Moschini (1998) The Semi-Flexible Almost Ideal Demand System, European Economic Review 42, pp. 349-364.

Data: Household budget survey data collected by Statistics Norway (SSBs Forbruksundersøkelsen 1999-2012)

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN

Supervisor: Fred Schroyen

Merger Remedies: Is the Cure Effective in Restoring Competition?

Background:

Mergers that restrict competition should be stopped by competition authorities. However, companies may propose remedies that reduce or eliminate the competitive harm to get the merger cleared. Such remedies can be structural or behavioural. Structural remedies usually imply that competing activities are divested to a new or existing company in the market. Behavioural remedies are usually commitments to abstain from various forms of anti-competitive behavior for a given period after the merger. Merger remedies can be a win-win in the sense that the harm to competition can be solved and otherwise profitable mergers can be carried out. However, recent studies show that this instrument in merger control is inefficient in restoring competition and that mergers that are cleared with remedies tend to result in price increases after the merger. Why is that? Is the problem mainly related to behavioural remedies? Are there inherent incentive or information problems? How can merger control be improved? This project should combine theory and data. Data can be made available upon request.

Key Reference:

Kwoka, J. (2015). Mergers, Merger Control and Remedies: A Retrospective Analysis of US Policy. The MIT Press.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, BUS, STR

Supervisor: Lars Sørgard

The Market for Gift Cards

Background:

In Norway, and in many other countries, gift cards have become popular. Both firms, organisations, and private persons buy gift cards as presents during the Christmas season or on occasions like birthdays. Like money, gift cards give the recipient a wider variety of things to choose from. At the same time, gift cards are more memorable than an envelope with cash. But gift cards come with restrictions. They can only be used in certain stores/chains of stores, and they expire after a well-defined period. For these reasons, a second-hand market for gift cards has developed. You can buy gift cards on finn.no or Ebay at a discount of their nominal value.

Key Literature:

Offenberg, Jennifer Pate (2007). Markets: Gift Cards. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21, pp. 227-238.

Data: Data from finn.no, Bygavekort Bergen, etc.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO

Supervisor: Fred Schroyen

The Peak-end-Rule and Domestic Violence

Background:

The peak-end-rule says that the most memorable parts of an experience are the peak (i.e the most enjoyable period) and the end. Daniel Kahneman and co-authors have for example shown that you can make patients better off by simply extending a painful medical treatment with a more joyful period at the end. The idea of this Master's thesis proposal is to test the peak-end-rule in a relevant, high-stake, real-world environment. In particular, the aim is to combine data from e.g. the Premier League in England with regional data on domestic violence and other offensive behavior, and test whether football fans are more upset, and therefore commit more criminal acts, when their team lost because of a goal occurring in the final minutes of the game as opposed to the same nominal loss, but were the score was determined earlier in the game. The thesis will also include a replication of the paper by Card and Dahl (2011) on prospect theory and violence.

Key Reference:

Card and Dahl (2011). Family Violence and Football: The Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Violent Behavior, Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO

Supervisor: Mathias Ekström

THE PRICE DEVELOPMENT IN THE REAL ESTATE MARKET IN A NON-SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRY

Background:

Key References:

Bergman and Sørensen (2021). The Interaction of Actual and Fundamental House Prices: A General Model with an Application to Sweden, Journal of Housing Economics 54.

Data: Real estate price statistics, housing stock statistics, national account data.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, FIN

Supervisor: Fred Schroyen

The Use of Budget Survey Data to Estimate Demand Functions

Background:

In many countries, the statistical office regularly carries out a household budget survey. This survey documents how households allocate their budget over different commodity and service groups. The same statistical office also constructs price indices for different consumption categories. Using these two data sources, the Master's thesis would consist in estimating a system of demand functions that describes the price and income sensitivity of the different consumption categories, and in testing the microeconomic properties of such functions. Estimation can be carried out with existing user friendly Stata programmes.

Key References:

Deaton, A., and Muellbauer, J. (1980). An Almost Ideal Demand System. American Economic Review, vol 70, pp. 312-336.

Banks J., Blundell, R., and Lewbell A. (1997) Quadratic Engel Curves and Consumer Demand. Review of Economics and Statistics, vol 79, pp. 527-539.

Data: Household budget survey data and price indices for your country

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO

Supervisor: Fred Schroyen

Public Economics

DO BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS IN EUROPE USE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVE WORKLIFE POLICIES?

Background:

Key References:

Hospido, L., Laeven, L., & Lamo, A. (2019). The gender promotion gap: evidence from central banking. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1-45.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, FOR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

DO UNIVERSITIES IN EUROPE HAVE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVE WORKLIFE POLICIES?

Background:

Key References:

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, STR, FOR

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE INPUT FACTOR LABOUR

Background:

Suitable for Profiles: ECN

Supervisor: Astrid Kunze

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION: DRIVERS OF GREEN TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

Note: Theses under this topic may be eligible for the Equinor scholarship for Master's theses

Background:

Key References:

Hunt Allcott and Michael Greenstone (2012) "Is There an Energy Efficiency Gap", Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, pp. 3-28

Hunt Allcott (2016) "Paternalism and Energy Efficiency: An Overview", Annual Review of Economics 8, pp. 145-176

Anna Sahari (2019) "Electricity prices and consumers' long-term technology choices: Evidence from heating investments", European Economic Review 114, pp. 19-53

Suitable for Profiles: BUS, ECN, ECO, ENE, FIN

Supervisors: Samuel D. Hirshman, Eirik G. Kristiansen, Mateusz Mysliwski, Morten Sæthre

Four Topics on Challenges in the Electricity Markets

Background:

There is a dramatic transition taking place in energy markets, where renewable energy is about to replace energy based on fossil fuels. In Europe, coal, gas and oil is about to be replaced by renewable energy such as solar power and wind power. One challenge, though, is that renewable energy is intermittent. For example, wind power produces for full capacity in some time periods, and have zero production in other time periods. This irregularity may lead to increased volatility in electricity prices, with very low prices when the wind is blowing and very high prices when it is not.

In the Norwegian electricity market more than 90 per cent of the production of electricity comes from hydro power. In contrast to wind power, hydro power is flexible since water can be stored in reservoirs. Such a flexibility is valuable, since one can reallocate production so that it produces when it is most needed. On the other hand, the total supply of energy in a hydro power system in one year is dependent on the weather. In a wet year with a lot of rain, the total production in Norway is approximately 30 per cent higher than the domestic consumption. However, in a dry year the domestic supply is lower than the domestic demand.

Due to a move from fossil fuels to electricity, the domestic demand is expected to increase the next years in Norway (and other countries). Unless Norway expands production substantially in the coming years, which is unlikely given the (lack of) decisions that have been made concerning new power plants, the next ten years will see periods with excess supply in the Norwegian electricity market to be fewer than before.

The present crisis, with gas being decisive for the prices in the electricity market for the whole of Europe, adds to the challenges Europe is facing with the transition to renewable energy. There is at present an ongoing debate in Europe whether there is a need for a structural reform of the market design of the electricity market. Some question the coordinated system of export or imports of electricity, while others question the model where the producer with the highest costs sets the price (the so-called merit order system).

Possible approaches:

Given the general picture above, several Master's thesis topics are possible, depending on the interests of the students. Some suggestions include:

Describe the present market design for electricity, and discuss pros and cons of the system that is used today. In particular, discuss how suitable such a system is for a future situation with much more intermittent electricity production (especially wind and solar power).
Consider the situation for Norway, with mostly hydro power. Discuss how Norway can gain from trade with the rest of Europe. In particular, what are the pros and cons of building more transmission lines (or scrapping some existing ones) between Norway and surrounding countries.
In Norway there is a rather high seller concentration in situations with bottlenecks on the transmission lines, and then markets becoming national or even smaller than that. Discuss how a producer with market power can behave in such a system, and whether there are any structural reforms that can curb any potential harmful exploitation of market power.
There are some large producers in the Norwegian electricity market, with water reservoirs that makes it possible to store water even from one year to another. Discuss how such a player should allocate its sales of water in order to maximize profits, and relate your predictions from theory to what you observe in this market.

Suitable for Profiles: ECN, ECO, BUS, STR

Supervisor: Lars Sørgard

How Effective Are the Norwegian Incentive Schemes for Electric Vehicles?

Background:

Several countries, including USA, Canada and Norway have introduced incentives to encourage the sale of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. There is a debate over the effectiveness of these policies in achieving the desired policy goals, such as reductions in CO2 emissions. The Norwegian incentive scheme is notable for high subsidies as well as other extensive benefits, including exemption from the registration tax, free toll roads, free parking, and programs for building charging stations. More detailed knowledge about the effects of specific parts of the incentive scheme would be helpful, both to inform possible improvements of the incentive schemes, but also for planning purposes in businesses and local governments. There are several open questions regarding the effect of the rich incentive scheme. One question regards how much the different policies contribute to increasing electric vehicle sales. A related question is whether they have differential impact on which modes of transportation consumers substitute away from, e.g., whether consumers substitute away from regular cars, public transport and biking, both at the intensive and the extensive margin. A Master's thesis on this topic could focus on one or several specific policies and subquestions.

Key References:

Fearnley et al (2015): "E-vehicle policies and incentives - assessment and recommendations"

TØI report 1421/2015

Chandra et al (2010): "Green drivers or free riders? An analysis of tax rebates for hybrids vehicles" Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 60: 78-93

Holtsmark (2012): "Elbilpolitikken - virker den etter hensikten?", Samfunnsøkonomen 5: 4-11

Data: Detailed data about car ownership including some usage measures per vehicle can be provided by the supervisor, in addition to data on tollroads and charging stations.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, ENE, BUS, FIE, INB

Supervisor: Morten Sæthre

Regulation of Financial Markets: How Can the Political Process Produce Very Different Regulations Across Countries?

Background:

Improved financial market regulation ensures that information is widely spread and investors can trust information and contracts. However, not all parties benefit from better regulation. For example, some established firms dislike that new entrants obtain financing, demand for labour may increase which again will increase wages. In an influential book, Rajan and Zingales describe how financial regulation across countries can be explained by political forces in favour and against better regulation. A possible Master's thesis could be to discuss how strong labour unions, industry structure, openness to trade and other institutional characteristics can explain the current regulation in Norway. The project might combine insights from analytical approaches discussed in Tirole with the empirical literature discussed in the book by Rajan and Zingales.

Key References:

Rajan R. G. and L. Zingales (2003). Saving capitalism from the capitalists. Princeton University Press.

Tirole, J (2006). The theory of Corporate Finance, Chapter 16 on Institutions, Public Policy and the Political Economy of Finance. Princeton University Press.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, FIN

Supervisor: Eirik G. Kristiansen

Technology Markets: How To (Not) Sell Technologies?

Background:

The best innovators are often not the best producers. Many patented technologies with different owners need to be used together in order to produce a valuable product. Consequently, there should be a vivid market for technology transactions. However, many claim that the market is smaller than expected and not working very well. Know-how is not easy to sell: no one is willing to buy something before they have seen it, and when they have seen it (and can use it) why should they pay for it? Will the patent system solve the problem or can patenting prevent investments in new technologies? You might use Apple (or another firm) as a motivating example for a study of how firms might organise sales and purchases of technologies.

Key References:

Bessen, J. and M.J. Meurer, (2008). Patent failure: How judges, bureaucrats, and lawyers put innovation at risk. Princeton University Press.

Jaffe, A. B. and J. Lerner (2004). Innovation and its Discontents: How our broken patent system is endangering innovation and progress, and what to do about it. Princeton University Press.

Suitable for Profiles: ECO, ECN, FIN, STR

Supervisor: Eirik G. Kristiansen

The Death of Queen Elizabeth II - A Monetary Policy Shock

Background:

Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022. The queen liked to "keep calm, and carry on" whatever happened. In contrast to this spirit, the next day Bank of England announced delaying their upcoming pre-scheduled monetary policy meeting from 15 to 22 September. The rescheduling was unexpected, i.e., an exogenous monetary policy shock. This time it was not an unexpected decision but an unexpected 'lack of'. Financial markets expected a new interest rate hike. However, for a further week, interest rates stayed the same.

The thesis should investigate the effect of this unexpected delay of MPC decisions on financial markets. Our method to isolate this story from other news events is to use high-frequency data in a narrow window around the announcement.

Key Reference:

Nakamura, Emi, and Jón Steinsson. “High Frequency Identification of Monetary Non-Neutrality: The Information Effect.” Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Supervisors: Markus Karlman or Krisztina Molnar