Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten
Bachelor and Master Theses
Leitfaden zum Konzipieren und Schreiben wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten
(guidelines for designing and writing scientific papers, in German)
Bachelor's and Master's thesis topics to be assigned:
Youth financial inclusion in Kenya
The student will investigate age-related inequalities in financial inclusion in Kenya, considering the country’s pioneering role in adopting digital financial services. Despite the rapid growth of digital financial products, few digital and conventional providers specifically offer targeted youth products. The thesis will employ a concentration index (CI) approach to quantify and explain age-related disparities in different forms of financial inclusion. The CI method, widely used in health economics, is well-suited for the thesis, as its results can be used for policy recommendations aimed at enhancing financial inclusion among younger generations. To conduct the analysis, a comprehensive dataset with socio-economic variables from Kenya is available at the chair.Further inspiration can be found here:
UNDP Kenya (2020): Why financial access campaigns fail to promote sustainable livelihoods: A case study of the youth financial inclusion in Kenya.
and Wagstaff, A., O'Donnell, O., van Doorslaer, E., & Lindelow, M. (2008): Analyzing health equity using household survey data: A guide to techniques and their implementation. World Bank.
Contact: Anna Mader (anna.mader@uni-goettingen.de) or Oliver Mußhoff (oliver.musshoff@agr.uni-goettingen.de)
Sleep and Its Effect on Well-Being Across the Rural-Urban Interface in India
Utilize a comprehensive dataset collected from both farmer and non-farmer households around Bangalore, India, to explore sleep patterns and their relationship to well-being. The dataset covers sleep data (wrist-device and self-assessed), demographic and socioeconomic factors (e.g., age, income), economic outcomes (e.g., productivity), health metrics (e.g., heart rate, activity), and behavioral data (e.g., preferences).The primary focus is on sleep and farm performance, but students are encouraged to explore diverse research angles.
Contact: Oliver Mußhoff (oliver.musshoff@agr.uni-goettingen.de) or Hao Luo (hao.luo@uni-goettingen.de)
Review Study on the Role of Individual Economic Preferences
Empirical research highlights the important role of individual economic preferences, such as risk and time preferences, in shaping decision-making processes across diverse contexts. This master's thesis aims to systematically review the empirical literature on economic preferences, providing a comprehensive understanding of their influence on behavior and economic outcomes.Students are encouraged to tailor the review’s focus according to their interests, such as focusing on specific types of preferences, distinct population groups, or particular decision-making contexts.
Contact: Hao Luo (hao.luo@uni-goettingen.de)
Cooperation behaviour
Data is available that was collected in the context of surveys of first-semester students over a decade in Göttingen and Halle. The key question is: Does the cooperation behaviour of women or men differ depending on whether they are dealing with a woman or a man as a potential cooperation partner? The questionnaire has not been changed over time, so that a comparison of student behavior over the years is possible. For example, the question of whether cooperation behaviour before the Covid pandemic differs from that after the pandemic can also be answered.Contact: Mußhoff / Hirschauer (oliver.musshoff@uni-goettingen.de)
Master thesis: The importance of sleep for farm performance: An investigation among Indian smallholder farmers
We are looking for an ambitious master student who has a keen interest in behavioral economics, smallholder farmers, and econometric analysis.In this work, you will investigate the productivity of smallholder dairy farmers residing in and around Bangalore, India. You will use household-level survey data to investigate farm performance, for example by employing a stochastic frontier analysis. To explain farm performance, you can use a wide variety of standard socio-economic variables, but most prominently this work will explore the role of sleep. To measure sleep, we asked the farmers to wear a smart watch for 5-7 days. We also have self-reported sleep times and sleep quality.
Contact: Oliver Mußhoff (oliver.musshoff@uni-goettingen.de)
Master thesis: Determinants of willingness to pay for productive assets – insights from Indonesia
The student will work with a dataset from Indonesia from around 300 women. The aim of the master thesis is to understand potential drivers of the willingness to pay for productive assets such as bee-kits. Therefore, the student will identify e.g., key socio-economic factors influencing willingness to pay measures.Contact: Charlotte Reich (charlotte-elena.reich@uni-goettingen.de)
Microfinance
In contrast to farmers in the so-called Global North, those in the Global South often only have limited access to credit. This particularly affects informal, micro and small agricultural enterprises. A lack of access to credit can lead to reduced investment activity in the agricultural sector, which is critical given the great importance of agriculture in transition and developing countries for economic growth and employment. One reason for this is the inadequate positioning of financial institutions and financial products for agricultural enterprises and agricultural production processes in these countries. The object of research is therefore the investigation of credit access and credit repayment behavior of agricultural enterprises in order to be able to develop recommendations for action for financial institutions.Contact: Tim Ölkers (tim.oelkers@uni-goettingen.de)
Master thesis: Managing weather risks in agricultural microfinance through meso-level insurance
Weather risks in agricultural production are assumed to be a main driver of the risk in agricultural lending. In many developing countries, weather risk is substantial. Weather risks influence the profitability of agricultural production and increase the volatility of the annual cash flow. This jeopardizes the small-scale farmers’ capacity to handle their installment payments in due time. Accordingly, weather shocks are assumed to render the agricultural loan portfolios of financial institutions considerably riskier than urban business loan portfolios. In the absence of adequate risk management measures, e.g., insurance, the only option for financial institutions to deal with weather shocks is avoiding it. This often leads to partially or fully credit rationing of agricultural loan applications.To overcome this dilemma, meso-level or macro-level insurance solutions, especially for insuring agricultural weather risks, bear a high potential. In contrast to micro-level insurance solutions, where individuals are insured, meso-level or macro-level insurance solutions focus on insuring agricultural intermediaries. In this context, agricultural intermediaries can be any institution along the agricultural value chain, e.g., agricultural input suppliers, financial institutions, producer organizations, agricultural traders, which is exposed to the risks of primary agricultural production.
Within the master thesis a meso-level index-based weather insurance product for a microfinance institution (MFI) in Madagascar shall be developed and a cost-benefit-analysis of such product for the MFI and the MFIs clients under different weather scenarios is to be carried out. Therefore, we have access to a rich database of the MFIs agricultural loan portfolio (mainly rice farmers) comprising client and loan information. Furthermore, we have precipitation and wind speed data from different weather stations of Madagascar's central plateau.
Contact: Tim Ölkers (tim.oelkers@uni-goettingen.de)
Master thesis: Obstacles to Sustainable Economic Growth of Smallholder Farmers in the Larger Mekong Region
The student will analyze around 60 qualitative interviews conducted in Vietnam and Cambodia among smallholder farmers, extension workers, village chiefs, and other officials. The aim of the analysis is to understand why some smallholder farmers seem to be stuck in poverty.The student should:
• Be interested in qualitative research (previous experience is a plus)
• Possess good English language skills
Contact: Selina Bruns (selina.bruns@uni-goettingen.de)
If you are interested, please send your motivation and CV to selina.bruns@uni-goettingen.de
Other topics:
Your own ideas and concepts are also very welcome!