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.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Undergraduate Research Symposium provides a forum through which Honors Program students can give an oral presentation of their work and compete with students from other nearby North Carolina schools, including Davidson College, Elon University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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 Economics. Each 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 Thesis
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
  • 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
  • Allison Smith
2008 Andrey Fradkin A Comparative Study of the International Content of Implied Volatiling
2007
  • R. Selin Dilmener
  • Tzuo Hann Law
2006 Joel Wiles Mixed Strategy Equilibrium in Tennis Serves
2005
  • Shiying Lee
  • Yuanshu Deng