Honors Theses Archive Look up past theses using keywords, author or advisor name, or JEL codes.
Edward Tower Best Thesis Prize
The Department of Economics is pleased to be able to offer the Edward Tower 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.
| Year | Winner(s) | Thesis |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Ian Carlson Bailey | "Radio Waves and Ballot Boxes: How Conservative Broadcasting Influenced Southern Electoral Behavior" |
| 2024 | Marcos Hirai Catao | "Affirmative Action and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Brazil" |
| 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" |
First awarded in 2024 and named in memory of Professor Craufurd D. Goodwin, former Chair of the Department of Economics (2002-2003).
| Year | Winner | Thesis |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Lewis Zhu | The Changing Impact of School Suspensions on Student Outcomes: Evidence from North Carolina public schools |
| 2024 | Lilia Qian | Beyond the But-For World: Weak-necessity causal reasoning for model-based counterfactuals in law and economics |
Each year at the Honors Poster Session, students and faculty vote for their choices for best poster. Best Poster--Faculty Choice and Best Poster--Student Choice are awarded at the Economics Recognition Ceremony each May and usually carry a cash award.
| Year | Faculty Choice | Student Choice |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Michelle Schultze | Nick Papavassiliou |
| 2024 | Heera Rajavel | Lucas Johnson |
| 2023 | Richard Lombardo | Yinhong Zhao |
| 2022 | Despina Chouliara, Nehal Jain, Arthur Luetkemeyer, Bryn Elizabeth Wilson | Praneeth Kandula |