Macroeconomics

Please take into account the general information on formal standards in the Guidelines on how to write papers and theses

The guide was designed to help and support you in the process of writing your research paper.

Bachelor theses

Can I write my bachelor thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics?

Yes, the Chair of Macroeconomics supervises bachelor theses.

Which topics are supervised?

You can write bachelor theses at the Chair of Macroeconomics on the following topics:

Behavioral Macroeconomics
Monetary Theory and Policy
Financial and Real Estate Markets
Foreign trade
Financial and Euro Crisis
General Macroeconomics
Sustainability, Resources and Growth

Topics from other areas are usually not supported.

You can find a list of topics of the past

here

How will the bachelor thesis be supervised?

When you write your thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics, you must participate in the Junior Colloquium of the Chair of Macroeconomics. This will take place approximately two weeks after the start and about a week before filing the BSc thesis. In this colloquium, you will have to shortly (10 minutes) present your work (with PowerPoint presentation and outline as a handout). The staff of the chair will then discuss with you about your subject and give you tips. If necessary, further meetings can be arranged.

What conditions need to be met for writing a bachelor thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics?

There are no mandatory requirements. However, it is recommended to have attended one or several courses offered by the Chair in the profiling phase. Also you should have good English language skills and be willing to engage with mathematical models.

What should I do if I want to write the thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics?

There are two ways how you can write your thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics.

1. Put the Chair of Macroeconomics as your first preference in Wiwi-BOS. You will automatically take part in the general lottery.
2. You agree on a thesis without taking part in the lottery draw. Please contact Professor Roos via E-Mail to arrange a meeting.
   Please also note that participating in the Wiwi-BOS is the general rule and we will only assign other theses in exceptional cases.

For more Information:

Please take note of the following guidelines before you begin working on your dissertation: A guide for the preparation of seminar papers and final theses at the Chair of Macroeconomics:

Guidelines on how to write papers and theses

Master Theses

Can I write my thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics?

Yes, the Chair of Macroeconomics supervises master theses.

What conditions exist for writing a thesis?

As a rule, you must have already successfully taken part in a seminar at our Chair. You should ideally have an economics focus in macroeconomics. Of course good English language skills and the willingness to engage with original scientific literature is important.

What do I have to do in order to write my thesis at the Chair of Macroeconomics?

If you meet the requirements, you can contact Professor Roos by E-Mail to arrange a meeting.

For more information:

Please take note of the following guidelines before you start working on your dissertation: A guide for the preparation of seminar papers and final theses at the Chair of Macroeconomics:

Guidelines on how to write papers and theses

Here you can find a description of the criteria according to which diploma theses are evaluated at the Chair of Macroeconomics:

Criteria for the Evaluation of Master Theses

Topics

Short title: Statistical determination of the role of energy efficiency to reducing CO2 emissions

The aim of the project is to apply statistical regression analysis on time-series for energy demand in total and by sector to isolate the specific contribution of energy efficiency from four other drivers:

1. GDP
2. Global warming (reducing the need for heating in winter)
3. Energy price (including CO2 costs)
4. Changes to the structure of the economy, especially deindustrialisation.

This would be undertaken for selected EU countries and will make an important contribution to the body of knowledge available on the real contribution of efficiency measures. It should therefore lead to recognition for the student and the publication of a good academic paper.

A high quality postgraduate education orientated on current scientific research is an important goal of the chair of macroeconomics.
For this purpose the assistance and the mentoring of the chair’s doctoral candidates follows a structured program.

Furthermore the chair supports the membership of the doctoral candidates in the RUB Research School

The Chair of Macroeconomics offers you several possibilites to convert modules you have achieved while studying abroad or at another German university into credits at the RUB.

On each page you will find all the important information and what you have to pay attention to in order to get the credits.

Furthermore the required forms for the procedure will be provided.

Important Information

• Refrain from asking for credits for obviously unsuitable modules.
• For a transfer of credit for courses in the area of macroeconomics, please contact Matthias Reccius at the Chair of Macroeconomics. Alternatively, if you require a transfer of credit for courses related to international economics (international trade, international finance or international macroeconomics) please contact Prof. Busse at the Chair of International Economics.
• Converting credits from undergraduate / BA / B.Sc courses into MSc courses is usually not possible. Exceptions are only possible if it can be shown that a broad congruence of content is existing.
• If the course attended abroad does not have enough credits or does not cover substantial content it is possible to arrange some type of additional performance eg. an oral examination.

General information on studying abroad

The Chair of Macroeconomics advocates students that are internationally mobile and want to gain experience at foreign universities. Therefore, we are generally willing to transfer credits achieved at a foreign university to credits at the RUB.

In the past problems have occured because students applied for such a credit-transfer only after their time abroad. To avoid such problems, it is necessary to get the consent of the chair before your stay abroad. This is consistent with the practice of the whole faculty. It is not possible to transfer your credits if you did not receive a written consent before your semester abroad. Thus, it is absolutely necessary that you contact the chair beforehand. Please send your inquiries directly to Matthias Reccius.

BSC-/MSC

For students in the BSc/MSc the recognition of credits from foreign universities is very easy. You simply have to get them accreditted to the designated placeholder-modules that can be found in the module handbook. These modules are called Applied Economics I, II & III for BSc students and Advanced Applied Economics I, II & III for MSc students. For these modules, no examination is required. It is only verified whether the level complies with the level of our modules.

Procedure

If you are planning to study abroad and you want to get credits acquired at the foreign university accreddited at the RUB, please proceed as follows:

1. Identify courses at the host university and the chair of macroeconomics, which might be similar in content and therefore could be eligible for acknowledgment.
2. Get hold of course descriptions of the courses abroad and compare them with the course description of the chair of macroeconomics of the RUB. You have good chances for accreditation when the literature is the same and at least 50% of the subjects that are dealt with coincide.
3. Please download the acknowledgment form and fill it out before you hand it in with the other necessary documents.
4. Important for ERASMUS-Students: Please organize additionally the document of the International Office, which states the courses you are about to take abroad. This one is supposed to be filled out beforehand, as well as the acknowledgement form.
   You can find the acknowledgement form here
5. Send the acknowledgment form with the course descriptions to Matthias Reccius or bring your documents on paper to the secretary of the department.
6. The chair will check the application immediatly and notify you of the result by email. If your accreditation is granted, you can pick up the acknowledgment form signed by Prof. Roos at the chair. Keep the acknowledgment form until your return from abroad.
7. After your return please obtain the form for the recognition of foreign credits at the faculty’s examination office and fill it out.
8. Attend the consultation hour and bring along this form, an official proof of performance from the host university (e.g. transcript) and the signed acknowledgment form.

Other German Universities

Apart from the possibility to get credits transferred from your study abroad or from modules offered at the TU Dortmund, it is of course possible to convert credits from modules that are offered at other German universities as well.

In order to get those credits converted, it is absolutely necessary that the modules are widely consistent with the modules offered by the chair, both in extent and content.

To find out whether an accreditation is possible please write an E-Mail to Matthias Reccius containing all the important information about the module (Curriculum, scripts, bibliography etc.).

The Bochum International Summer School as well as the Bochum International Spring School were founded by the faculty of economics at the Ruhr-University Bochum. Both are supervised by the Chair of Macroeconomics.

The B.I.S.S. is aimed at students from different economics degree-courses (Bachelor, Masters and Diploma) in Bochum, but from other surrounding universities as well.

The B.I.S.S. offers courses from economics and business administration with international guest lecturers. Both the events as well as the exams are held or written in English.

You can find further information about this program here.