Please familiarize yourself with our current research topics. Note that there is a difference between "Public Finance" and "Finance". In "Public Finance", the role of the government in the economy and its budget is considered.
In general, our research focuses on the following topics:
- Inequality (e.g. income, wealth & gender Inequality)
- Social mobility
- Redistribution
- Income taxes and other taxes
- Public pensions
- Public policies (e.g. education & childcare policies)
- Migration
Within these topics, you're welcome to suggest your own ideas. Please note that this list is not exhaustive and we are open to exploring other topics related to macroeconomics and public finance.
Additionally, we have a list of currently available topics:
- Housing Policies in Europe
- MINT the Gap - Gender Differences in College Major Choices
- VAT Reform in Switzerland
- „Prämienverbilligung“ in the Swiss Health Insurance System
- Carbon Taxes and Emission Trading Schemes in Practice
- Green Subsidies: A Macroeconomic Growth Perspective
- Heterogenous Inflation Rates in Switzerland - Evidence from the Swiss Household Budget Survey
- The Role of Inequality for Populist Voting
- The Relationship between Income Taxes and Education Subsidies
- Approaches for the Measurement of CO2 footprints
- An Empirical Analysis of Non-Monetary Values of College Majors
- Comparing Carbon Footprints: An Empirical Analysis of Differences in Households' CO2 Footprints
Finally, we suggest you to think of an own topic by working with one of the following datasets:
- Swiss Inequality Database
- World Inequality Database
- Global Repository of Income Dynamics
- Absolventenstudien Hochschulen (Bundesamt für Statistik)
- Soziale und wirtschaftliche Lage der Studierenden (Bundesamt für Statistik)
- Eurostudent
- Transitions from Education to Employment
- American Community Survey
- National Longitudinal Surveys
- Panel Study of Income Dynamics
- German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)
- Haushaltsbudgeterhebung (Bundesamt für Statistik)
To get in touch and for further information, please send an email to dominik.sachs@unisg.ch (please cc lea.fricke@student.unisg.ch and tim.hug@student.unisg.ch) and include a transcript of your grades as well as a one page proposal if you suggest an own idea for your thesis. Especially let us know which methodological courses and thematically relevant elective courses you have particularly enjoyed during your studies. This way, we can better gauge where your strengths lie. If you haven't attended any of our courses, we'd be interested to know what drew you to our chair for your thesis.
Please be aware that it is your responsibility to ensure that you meet all the formal requirements at the University of St. Gallen. We are happy to assist you with content-related questions and guidance.