Showcases, Awards & Past Theses

Honors Thesis Poster Session

Every spring, students have the opportunity to present their honors research in a poster format at the poster session. Other students and faculty are welcome to attend.

Best Thesis Prize

The Department of Economics is pleased to be able to offer the Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Best Thesis Prize, given yearly in recognition of outstanding research by an undergraduate and through the honors program. All theses that earn Distinction are published and available through Perkins Library. Another quick source is the Duke Journal of EconomicsEach year it publishes top undergraduate theses, including Best Thesis Prize winners.

Those interested in viewing all past theses may do so via the Honors Theses Archive.

Year Winner(s) Thesis
2023 Yinhong "William" Zhao "The Cost Of Market Delay: Evidence From the Ethereum Transaction Fee Market"
2022 Ryan Hastings "Does Responsiveness to Mortality Risk Vary by Age? Evidence from Pandemic Health Outcomes and Movement Patterns"
  Anh-Huy Nguyen "Revisiting California Proposition 209: Changes in Science Persistence Rates and Overall Graduation Rates"
  George Rateb "The Case for Clemency: Differential Impacts of Pretrial Detention on Case and Crime Outcomes"
  Tony Sun "Short and Long-Term Impacts of a Large-Scale Natural Disaster on Individual Labor Outcomes: Evidence from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami"
2021 Jessica Schultz "Inflation Expectations over the Life Cycle under Rational Inattention"
  Tianjiu Zuo "Municipal and Cooperative Internet on Broadband Entry and Competition"
2020 Ralph Lawton "Evolution of Wealth and Consumption in the Aftermath of a Major Natural Disaster"
2019 Lucas Do "Investigating a Case of Alleged Collusion in Michigan Public Oil and Gas Lease Auctions"
2018 Maya Durvasula "24K Magic: Evidence on Maternal Asset Ownership and Children’s Long Term Outcomes in "Indonesia
2017 Zachary Lim, Gerald Tan and Jackie Xiao "Structural Estimation of FCC Bidder Valuation"
2016 Clement Lee "The Market for Apples: A Theory of Identity and Consumption"
2015 Jonathan Gao "Competition from Incumbent Firms During Airline Mergers"
2014 Alexander Bloedel "Faith in the Future and Social Conflict: Economic Growth as a Mechanism for Political Stabilization"
2013 Mitchel Gorecki "Geo-Spatial Modeling of Online Ad Distributions"
2012 Peichun Wang "Empirical Evidence of Airline Merger Waves Based on a Selective Entry Model"
2011 Jeffrey Shih-kai Shen "Market Power & Reciprocity among Vertically Integrated Cable Providers"
2010 Matthew Rognlie "Spurious Jump Detection and Intraday Changes in Volatility"
2009 Sarah Murray "Valuing Localized Externalities: Hog Operations in North Carolina"
  Allison Smith "Does the Quality of Public Transit Affect Commuters' Response to Gasoline Price Changes?"
2008 Andrey Fradkin "A Comparative Study of the International Content of Implied Volatiling"
2007 R. Selin Dilmener "A Theory of Evacuation as a Coordination Problem"
  Tzuo Hann Law "The Elusiveness of Systematic Jumps"
2006 Joel Wiles "Mixed Strategy Equilibrium in Tennis Serves"
2005 Shiying Lee "Financial Market Development: Does Financial Liberalization Induce Regulatory Governance Reform?"
  Yuanshu Deng "Another Pricey European Import: An Economic Analysis of the Artist's Resale Right"