Dissertation Title: Examples
1. Public Sector Economics: public transport, health care system, pension scheme, education, welfare, etc.
• A look at the various differences between the UK and the Middle East: Taxation.
• Rail transport in Europe • Recent railway accidents and how it has affected the railway industry.
• Is the UK benefit system an incentive to find work? Case studies: Young single parents and college leavers • The cost of education in the UK.
• The effect of an ageing population upon an economy.
• With the increasing ageing population, will the current pension scheme able to cope?
• UK pensions policy: economic effects and future changes.
• Inefficiency within the NHS.
• Is the NHS fulfilling its objective? Could the NHS do better?
• The cost and benefits of road transport.
• The economics of tolled motorways.
• The funding and financial structure of the NHS: A critique.
• Income inequality in current China: its implications on the social economy and some suggestions.
• Gender inequality in education and its effect on poverty: A cross-state study of India.
• A critical evaluation of how the NHS is financed and alternative models.
• Pension schemes in the UK: Is there a problem with publicly funded/state pension?
• A comparative analysis of higher education funding in countries in Europe.
• Privatisation: A case study on British Rail.
• The rationale and effectiveness of family planning programs.
• The optimal balance between an efficient and fair allocation of health care in a national context.
• Investigating participation rates of post-compulsory education in the UK.
• The privatisation of the British Rail: A social welfare analysis.
• An econometric analysis of the demand for road transport within the united Kingdom from 1965 to 2000 • Investigating the trade-off between defense, health and education expenditures:
A time series analysis of the US economy 1970-2002.
• How different are income and consumption taxes.
• When and to what extent is PFI appropriate as a method of public sector service provision?
• A comparison between health services in the United Kingdom and France.
• Pension plans and their effect on personal savings: Evidence from the UK.
2. Finance, Investment, Banking, Monetary Economics: modelling financial series, portfolio management, financial crisis, monetary policy, etc.
• The role of monetary policy and its effectiveness in controlling the rate of inflation.
• The effect of debt crisis in Argentina • Analysis of the strategy undertaken by a Cypriot bank.
• Does asset price volatility affect the real economy?
• The Asian tigers economic crisis.
• Implications of the Government debt on crowding out in the UK economy.
• How effective are monetary and fiscal policy 1.
• The effectiveness of some simple stock market investment strategies.
• Monetary policy in developing countries.
• Testing the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis.
• The use of bond future in portfolio management: An empirical analysis of the effectiveness of the theoretical portfolio hedge • The determinants of investment: an econometric study.
• The ups and downs of the stock markets and trying to come up on top.
• A critical analysis of portfolio investment theories.
• Is it financially viable to insure against the risks of the stock market?
• The German and English banking systems: A comparison; which one is better for customers? Which one is better for firms?
• Argentina’s disaster, the IMF and the World Bank.
• Tax evasion and the government revenue.
• What similarities are there in the types of firms in the FTSE 100 and NYSE? • How does the central bank work in financial markets in the US?
• Factors affecting the performance of shares in Hong Kong after the Asian financial crisis.
• Japan’s financial crisis and its banking system.
• Evaluation of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) in the stock market.
• The economic impact of mandatory provident fund (MPF) in Hong Kong.
• The examination of CEO compensations of US banks and bank holding companies (financial services)
• Stockholding in Cyprus.
• The link exchange rate system in Hong Kong.
• Major market shocks and their implications.
• To what extent does payment card fraud affect UK bank profitability and bank stakeholders? Does this justify fraud prevention?
• The impact of Central Bank independence on price stability: Does independence lead to increased price stability?
• Analysis of the weak and semi-strong forms of efficiency in SGX (Singapore Exchange)
• An assessment of financial assets.
• A study of managing risk using financial futures (behaviour approach) • Inflation targeting and its economic impact in the UK.
• A review of UK stock market efficiency using the random walk model.
• Optimal rate of inflation for transition economies:
Case study; the central bank of Armenia.
• Evaluating the Swedish monetary policy using the Taylor rule as a guideline for the time period 1995M1-2000M6.
• Are macroeconomic variables such as GDP, inflation, interest rate, unit wage cost, play significant role in determining UK’s unemployment rate? Is China heading towards a financial crisis?
• The determinant factors on stock prices: How debt, dividends, insider share holdings and institutional investors ownership and firm size affect the stock price.
3. International Trade.
• Trading with China.
• Does international trade and integration lead to economic growth?
• Developing countries’ gains and losses from international trade.
• Currency unions and trade: To what extent does a currency union affect trade?
• Economic effect of a dictatorship upon the country in question and international trade 2
• Gains and losses from International trade for the UK.
• The impact on China and other countries after China entered the World Trade Organization.
• The importance of international trade in developing countries.
• Foreign direct investment in China: Determinants and impact.
• The economic implications of opening borders to Cyprus.
• The effect of the banana crisis on the Jamaican and British economies.
• Export and import trade in garments between UK and Hong Kong.
• To what extent are the gains to developing countries from trade liberalisation exaggerated?
• Foreign direct investment and wages: Evidence from USA and China.
• Evaluating the effect of exchange rate changes on trade balances in the short and long run in China and the UK.
• The roles of exchange rate and exchange rate regime in China’s export.
4. Economic Development and Growth.
• Poverty in Nigeria. what should be done?
• Estimating the effect of international aid on development in Uganda or Malawi.
• The effects of a multinational cooperation on a developing country.
• The impact of external debt on economic growth in Uganda in the 1980s and 90s.
• The problems faced by Brazil in achieving economic growth: the constraints on reform.
• To what extent have the Labour’s measures to reduce poverty within the UK been successful?
• What are the economic and environmental implications of the regional airport expansions at Nottingham East Midlands airport and West Midlands International airports for the Midlands.
• How successful have international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF been in helping economies recover from financial crises?
• Population growth and economic development.
• The role of multinationals in economic development.
• The impact of education on economic growth in China.
• WTO and economic development in China.
• The effects of foreign investment on the Chinese economy.
• Trade policies and economic growth.
• Examining the effects of a debt burden whilst trying to achieve economic growth in Mexico (1970-2000)
• The economic consequences of child labour.
• What influence does income inequality, foreign aid and poverty have on economic growth in the Brazilian economy?
• The future economic growth in China as a result of recent and proposed policy implementation.
• Foreign aid and economic growth in India: An econometric analysis using time series data.
• An empirical investigation testing the predictions of the SOlow Model to the recent economic growth experienced in India.
• ‘Super’ casinos will be built in the UK in 2006: Will they reduce unemployment and promote economic growth?
• Analysing the extent to which the oil reserves in Nigeria have contributed to its current state of poverty.
• Has the foreign aid donated to Tanzania been a significant factor in the achievement of economic growth over the past two decades?
• An investigation into the poverty reduction methods used in India: Are they successful in alleviating poverty?
• Does the central bank independence affect the economic growth rates in African countries in the period 1990-1997? • Immigration in the UK over the period 1971-2001: Causes and impact on GDP and GDP per capita • The key to development in Nigeria: Resource curse or debt overhang?
• Analysis of the Bulgarian Foreign trade after the years of economic transition: Development, tendencies and impact on the economy.
5. Labour Economics
• The European labour force
• A study on the effects of the introduction of the minimum wage.
• Discrimination against women in the labour market.
• European unemployment.
• Employment in the UK.
• Causes of unemployment in the UK and the trade-off with inflation.
• Different patterns in occupations and and earning throughout the labour market.
• Henry Ford’s $5 workday: A discussion of the theory of efficiency wages.
• The changing role of women in the labour force and its effect on society: Comparing UK, USA & Africa
• The change in working practices within the UK.
• The role of racial discrimination in the labour market.
• Human capital: what determines individuals’ wage rate.
• To what extent does there appear to be discrimination in the labour market, and if so what are the economic effect of such a bias?
• Assessing the determinants of earning for single parents using the UK family resource survey 1999/2000.
• The effect of minimum wages on foreign domestic helpers’ employment in Hong Kong.
• Immigrants and factors affecting their hourly wages in the UK.
• The effect of immigration on wages in the UK: 1996-2000 • Is child labour unambiguously ruinous for a country, purely in an economical context?
• What effect has the introduction of a National Minimum Wage had on employment in the United Kingdom?
• Regional unemployment disparities in the UK: A case based on the South East region.
• Analysis of minimum wage policy on employment and its feasibility in Hong Kong.
6. Microeconomics: oligopoly, collusion, cartel, competition policy, etc.
• Collusion and law.
• How effective is advertising as a barrier to entry?
• The advantages of R & D and innovation in competitive markets • Marketing strategies and research as a business approach.
• The theory behind mergers and benefits to industry.
• Economic regulation of monopolies in the UK and USA.
• Price discrimination in the UK car industry.
• Industrial concentration with the record industry.
• The use of internet as a marketing and sales device.
• Competition in the British wine market 4.
• Does empirical evidence back up the point of theoretical barriers to entry?
• Price discrimination in the European car market.
• Hostile takeovers
• The effects that government regulations have on monopoly power.
• The strategy and managerial turnaround of Marks and Spencer.
• The effect of mergers on the UK banking sector.
• Profitability related to market structure.
• Strategic profile of the BMW motor group and selected acquisitions.
• Copyright in the entertainment industry.
• Barriers to enter in the UK competitive market.
• Are the firms in the mobile phone industry oligopolies?
• The role of information in product selection and advertising.
• Competitiveness of Hong Kong among the Tigers.
• The announcement of mergers and acquisitions on shareholder value.
• Reputation, predation, management and strategic behaviour of supermarkets.
• The theory of asymmetric information with financial markets: The principle-agent and rogue trader problems.
• OPEC: Group behaviour and bounded rationality.
• A theoretical and empirical survey into the effects of asymmetric information on the automobile insurance markets, and the role that experience rating plays.
• The impact of low-cost carrier entry to the air-transport market: Competitive advantage, efficiency gains and future implications.
• Geographical price discrimination in the English car market.
• Through the evolution and application of Game Theory can we understand more clearly utility as a measure of psychological fulfillment?
• Entry deterrence in imperfectly competitive supermarket firms in Hong Kong.
• Barriers to entry: Theory and evidence, corporate diversification, motivation and outcomes.
• Competition in the fixed line telecommunication market.
7. European Union: economics of integration, EU policy, single currency, etc.
• Should the UK enter the single currency? • Monetary integration: costs and benefits to the UK.
• Analysing the economic rationale for the UK’s membership of the European single currency.
• The UK and EU: economic gains and losses.
• Pressure to reduce car prices in the UK to match the European norm.
• UK and the European Monetary Union: A discussion of the economic benefits and costs.
• Should Britain enter the EU or adopt Euro?
• The effects of a single currency on an economy.
• Will entering the single currency affect the NHS?
• The economic implications of the UK entering into the European single currency.
• How joining and staying out of the single currency will affect the UK’s economy and prosperity
• An economic analysis of the EU common agricultural policy (CAP)
• Should Britain join the Euro? Is the economic and monetary union economically viable for Britain?
• How might EU enlargement affect the UK’s economy in the short-run and in the long-run?
• The effects of European economic integration on FDI determinants: The impact of Euro on UK level of FDI
• Are the broad restraints of the European single currency too restrictive to allow a group of nations to flourish?
• The impact of the EU enlargement during 2000-2004 on the wages in the UK.
• Have European business cycles converged due to monetary integration?
8. Environmental Economics and Tourism.
• Tourism in Ghana (the land of hospitality)
• The externalities that arise from landfill and incineration.
• Environmental pollution (externalities) as a result of global warming.
• International terrorism and its economic impact on tourism in the UK and USA.
• The economics of traffic congestion and an analysis of the solution.
• Live music: excess volume as an externality.
• Sustainable development: The transposition of the end of life vehicles directive in the UK.
• The economics of congestion.
• The dynamic nature of holiday markets in the UK.
• A study of the London traffic congestion charge.
• The effect of congestion charges in major cities.
• Road usage in the UK: An empirical and econometric analysis.
• Tourism in Kenya: An empirical analysis on the effect of tourism on economic growth in the country.
• Economics of tourism: a case study on the impact of environmental issues in Malta
9. Property Market • The UK property market.
• Fluctuations in house prices • What factors influence the differences in regional house prices across the UK?
• A study of how the increase in the UK house prices over the last fifteen years affected the ability of first time buyers to get onto the property ladder.
• Property market in Hong Kong.
• A look at boom and bust: examining factors which affect UK house prices • Explaining house price variations between regions across the UK via the ripple effect hypothesis: How do the labour market structure and government policies affect such variations?
• Regional variations in the UK house prices: An empirical and comparative analysis of panel data between 1985-2003 • The effects of demographic age structure upon UK house prices.
• Causes of UK house price volatility and its macroeconomic effects.
• The relationship between oil prices and house prices in the Uk economy • The impact of rising house prices on the UK economy
10. Alcohol, Tobacco, Black Markets and Piracy: drugs market, illicit distilling, illegal immigration, pirate software and CDs etc.
• The economics of the illegal immigrant problem (in the UK)
• Has the introduction of home CD writers had a significant effect on the UK music industry?
• Underground economics: A study into the illegal re-sale of event tickets.
• Economic effects and consequences of alcohol/cigarette consumption in the UK 6
• Entry of pirated compact discs into the music/software industry in Singapore.
• The economic viability of legalizing cannabis in the UK
• Alcohol and tobacco: strain or gain to the United Kingdom’s economy?
• The effect of supply side enforcement policies on the illicit drugs market
• The illicit drugs market in the UK: Social costs and the government intervention.
• Tobacco consumption in the UK • The economics of tobacco taxation: How does excise tax affect the level and dem and of smoking in the United Kingdom?
• How does alcohol consumption affect the labour force participation rate in the US?
• Analysis and solutions for UK binge drinking.
• Unemployment and criminal activity: Is there a significant relationship?
• Piracy and the copyright industry.
• Change in income and consumption of tobacco in the US in the last 30 years.
• Illicit drug use and the UK labour market: An empirical analysis of its effect on the productivity and wages of young adults.
11. Others
• Restructuring a state-run economy through privatisation: Zambia as a case study.
• Does the “North-South divide” still exist? If yes, then where is the divide?
• The UK car market.
• The effect of the world trade tower disaster on American Airlines.
• The problems of an ageing population.
• The economic consequences of the September 11 attacks in America.
• HBSO: an agency problem or a business strategy?
• The economic effects of tobacco regulations.
• Diversification of KEO wine company in Cyprus.
• Economics of gambling • Immigration and the domestic economy.
• Does the Catholic Church behave as a multinational firm?
• How does SARS affect the Hong Kong business economy?
• The role of oil in Nigeria.
• The economic implications of the foot and mouth disease.
• The economics of terrorism.
• High street clothing stores vs. designer labels.
• The impact of oil discovery in Nigeria on the country’s agricultural industry.
• The effect of oil prices on the British economy.
• Efficiency in sports betting markets.
• The implementation and implication of a cashless economy.
• An essay on the economics and politics of prison privatization.
• Economics of gangsters.
• Film entertainment industry in the USA.
• Are Western countries such as the US and the UK still at risk of stagflation and a higher unemployment rate given OPEC’s ability to increase oil prices?
• The effect of demographic transition on an economy, with special reference to the UK economy.
• The impact of the BSE crisis of 1996 on beef and milk prices in the UK.
• The economic regeneration of London Docklands.
• Mining vs. the Zambian economy: The impact of copper mining on Zambia 7.
• The internet and its economic impact on the UK music industry.
• A critical introduction to hyperbolic discounting: several applications.
• Migration of Jews and the growth and stability of Israel.
• Analysis of non-durable luxury good industry
• Overall view of the Macau industry: how much impact does the gaming industry have on the economy and country?
• Evaluating the effects of 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing economy.
