Economics Dissertation Topics

Economics is about making choices in the face of scarcity and uncertainty and ensuring that resource allocation is effectively and efficiently done. What was popularised by writers, researchers and philosophers such as Adam Smith in the 1770s, has become a field with significant relevance and importance in today’s society that is highly financialised and globalised. Dating back to medieval scholastics as well as literature published back in the 15th and 18th century, through the 19th century, the concerns of economics have largely focused on aspects such as choices of individuals, borrowing, money, consumption and production, occupations and employment, markets, trade, pricing of assets, taxes, and most recently human behaviour in relation to economic decisions.

There are multitudes of research studies, within the existing literature, that have been conducted in relation to the above concerns and many of these have resulted in a number of models that attempt to provide possible explanations to real world problems. As the world continues to evolve with the advent of technological advancements that have increased the pace of transformation and globalisation, new areas in economics have emerged as worthwhile research targets. The following are possible economics dissertation topics to choose from for your academic research project in economics:

Economic Geography Dissertation Topics
Economic Sociology Dissertation Topics
Institutional Economics Dissertation Topics
Microeconomics Dissertation Topics
Macroeconomics Dissertation Topics
Regional Development Dissertation Topics
Employment Economics Dissertation Topics
Financial Economics Dissertation Topics

Economic Geography Dissertation Topics

This is the area in economics academic literature that is concerned with the role of geographic location and place with the economical outcomes. It focuses on describing and analyzing patterns and trends in human behavior and activity to gain understanding of the processes and drivers that shape and affect the economic and cultural landscapes. Within regions and localities, there are great dynamics that shape the nature and extent of economic activity. Below are some suggestions for economics dissertation topics on economic geography:

The impact of local and regional cultures on shaping entrepreneurial economic development.
Can entrepreneurial attitude be exported? The role of emigrants in introducing new entrepreneurial attitudes.
Differences of entrepreneurial behaviour in rural and urban areas.
Is there any relationship between mature industries dominating small towns and their local cultural factors?
The role of local culture in promoting regional innovation networks.
National, regional and local policies to support local clusters: opportunities.
How can policy support the creation of a local cluster?
Are networks affected by local proximity? Differences between co-localised and dispersed networks.
The likelihood impact of Brexit on policy outcomes that shape the local economy in UK cities.
A model for the development of information and communication technology incubators in the UK. Analysis of the concentration of Top 50 IT companies.
What is causing regional divergence? An analysis of the richest and poorest regions in the UK.
The economic geography of recession. Difference between regional and city economics in the UK.
Why are housing built in flood-prone coastal areas?
Understanding educational progression at the local level: A comparison of the North and South cities in the UK.
How COVID has contributed to house price volatility in various cities in the UK.
How the COVID lockdown has affected social life of big cities.
Will coronavirus cause a big city exodus?

Economic Sociology Dissertation Topics

Economic sociology refers to sociological aspects influencing the economic indicators and their relationship with social outcomes. It is the study of how the material conditions of life are produced and reproduced through social processes and broadly covers the sociology of markets and the sociology of consumptions. Possible economics dissertation topics in this area include:

The role of social networks in supporting innovation activities in mature industries.
The financial and non-financial support of family in the development of successful entrepreneurship.
The private network as the facilitator of the firm start-up.
Exploring the differences between trust and power in local productive systems.
Social contracts and peer-pressure as the source of traditional industry development in the UK.
Can cultural mix increase productivity in creative industries? Evidence from the UK.
The role of social and intellectual capital in rural places in the UK.
Is social capital a critical factor in the British creative industries?
How can universities take advantage of social networks to induce entrepreneurial action among their students?
The role and contribution of social entrepreneurship in the UK.
The economic impact of migration from different regions of the world to the UK. Comparative analysis between the EU and the non-EU migration.
Is the relationship between economic and social development linear?
The convergence of economic systems in the wake of globalisation and their implications on the social development across developed, emerging and developing national economies.

Institutional Economics Dissertation Topics

Institutional Economics relates to a variety of economics traditions that are concerned with social institutions which are linked to consumption, distribution and production of goods and services as well as the underlying corresponding social relations. In essence, Institutional Economics has a relatively broad inquiry scope and is considered to have relatively close ties with other disciplines such as anthropology, economic sociology, psychology, economic history, behavioural economics, behavioural finance, physical science, management and business studies, and nowadays neuro, cognitive and brain science. This implies that there are various dissertation topics that can fall under the Institutional Economics bracket; some of these include the following.

An assessment of the implications of Institutional Economics methodologies for the analysis of the property market.
A study of how the theoretical assumptions of the New Institutional Economics’ (NIE) micro analytical level influence a firm’s choice of governance structures.
How do habits and routines affect productivity? The case of (an industry).
How does the culture mix impact on the organisation of firms in the UK?
Resilience to economic shrinking in an emerging economy: the role of social capabilities.
Financial constraint, trust, and export performances: The case of UK SMEs.
Efficiency in the property market in the UK: An institutional perspective.
Transaction costs and economic development.
A resource-based theory analysis to firm co-operation.
How can transaction costs economics account for inter-firm collaboration?
Ownership and control in the UK: An institutional analysis.
Institutions and policies of economic freedom: different effects on income and growth.
How does job experience relate to entrepreneurship? Evidence from the UK.
Educational aspects of entrepreneurship. The role of formal school in promoting entrepreneurial capacities in the UK.
Latent entrepreneurship: the UK vs Europe.

Microeconomics Dissertation Topics

Microeconomics has to do with supply and demand, and with the way they interact in various markets. It is andconcerned with how economic agents, that is, individual decision-makers (both consumers and producers) behave in different economic settings. The overarching goal of microeconomic research is to identify the incentives of various agents and trade-offs that they may face. To understand behaviour of individuals in terms of their economic decision-making, researchers build various models, use data and conduct experiments.

The following are the examples of dissertation topics on ‘Microeconomics’:

The evolution of household consumption in the UK over the last 10 years: Trends in consumer behaviour.
Are mergers and acquisitions related to productivity in UK firms?
Is the minimum wage still relevant in the UK economy?
Is the British retail sector becoming less oligopolistic? An analysis of the impact of new supermarkets.
Are British oligopolistic markets really oligopolistic?
Conditions for the existence of a knowledge firm.
Characteristics of the innovative organisation in the UK.
Are UK firms more innovative than their European counterparts?
The impact of the European regional policy on British small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The energy market in the UK: A microeconomic approach.
The impact of regulation on British industries: The case study of Uk energy sector.
Does firm size affect firm profits? Evidence from telecommunication firms in the UK.
Game theory and decision theory.

Macroeconomics Dissertation Topics

Macroeconomics is concerned with how the overall economy works and how all markets interact to generate big phenomena that economists call aggregate variables. It studies such things as employment, gross domestic product, inflation, national income, employment and the interaction between the global economy and financial markets.

The following are the examples of dissertation topics on ‘Macroeconomics’:

How do interest rates affect consumption in the UK?
What is the role of the dollar evolution in UK spending?
The magnitude of the impact of oil price changes on UK consumption.
The impact of Brexit on consumer spending in the UK.
The impact of Brexit on employment and labour in the UK.
What factors influence the salary inequality across the UK?
The evolution of the exchange rates in the UK: Causes and consequences.
Negative interest household savings in the UK.
The impact of the common agriculture policy (CAP) on British agriculture.
Economic growth and productivity. The UK in the century transition.
Interest rates and foreign direct investment in the UK.
Brexit and foreign direct investment in the UK.
Monetary policy pass-through for the UK after Brexit.
Development of UK monetary policy overtime.
Does inflation affect firms’ profits in the UK?
Macroeconomic determinant of house prices in the UK.
Unemployment and regional mobility of labour in the UK.
The impact of finance on growth: The case of UK.
Economic growth and unemployment: Is there a relationship in the UK?
The macroeconomics of SMEs entrepreneurship in the UK.
Global economic recession and factors that contribute to it.
Is the UK insurance system economically viable?
How does the Greek financial crisis impact the EU economy overtime?
The impact of COVID income inequality in the UK.
Coronavirus and wage inequality: The case of UK manufacturing sector.
COVID and economic recession: Will the impact be more pronounced than the 2007 financial recession?
Role of information technology in economic development.
Social inequality: the difference between wealth and income.
Why is insurance necessary for the economic development of a country?
How is the tax burden shared between buyers and sellers in the UK?
Asymmetric information and adverse market selection: A case study of UK insurance market.
Economic rent and transfer earnings in the UK.

Regional Development Dissertation Topics

This discipline is focused on understanding the dynamics of regions as smaller economies with their own circumstances and outcomes. The focus is on the internal working of the regional economies as well as on their interaction with other regions. There is a component of economic growth and development at a regional level. The suggestions below will give you further ideas for your economics dissertation topics:

Regional development and profitability of the businesses. What are the factors underpinning this relationship?
The contribution of entrepreneurial networks for regional development.
Implications and development of regional development policy in the UK.
Infrastructures and regional development. How can the rail and road network explain the differences in the development of regions in the UK.
Regional comparative advantage in natural resources and regional development.
Effect of regional policy surrounding start-ups on regional development: more new firms or better old ones?
The role of broadband internet technology in regional development: co-relation between internet speeds and regional development?
Public investment and regional output: Evidence from the UK regions.
Robustness of regional institutions and development: How to search for a link?
Regional aspects of entrepreneurship in the UK.
Differences between types and extent of entrepreneurship and unemployment across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Convergence and endogenous growth differences between South East England and the rest of the UK.

Employment/Labour Economics Dissertation Topics

Employment is considered to be a key concept in economics and its significance is reflected in the perception that people at work are seen as individuals/groups of individuals involved in the production of services and goods. Such production requires human capital and time; thus, organisations of different types pay people that are involved in the production process providing them with income that is later used to boost economic activity. In macroeconomics, low rates of national employment may signal underdevelopment or long-lasting depression while high rates of national employment may signal economic growth and development. Below is a list of dissertation topics that cover the area of employment economics.

Work from home or office and employee wellbeing: The case of the COVID pandemic.
A study of how flexible employment affects political support for social policy protection.
The impact of gender inequality in employment on economic growth and workforce productivity.
The influence of economic cycles on employment, workforce productivity and innovation: a study of manufacturing industries.
Local pools on unemployment in the UK: Looking for similarities.
Factors determining self-employment in the UK.
The effects of minimum wages on British employment.
How does technological innovation affect British unemployment? Evidence from the manufacturing industries.
A comparison of self-employment across Europe: Where does the UK stand?
Government policies in support of self-employment: Evidence from the UK.
The effects of immigration on British employment and productivity.

Financial Economics Dissertation Topics

Financial economics concentrates on exchanges in which money of one type or another is likely to appear on both sides of a trade. Financial markets are crucial in facilitating these exchanges at a relatively reduced transaction cost. In many such cases, the amount of money to be transferred in the future is uncertain. Financial economists thus deal with both time and uncertainty. Often the latter is called risk. Financial economics is thus a branch of economics that examines the utilisation and distribution of economic resources in financial markets in which decisions must be made under uncertainty.

The following are examples of dissertation topics on ‘Financial Economics’:

How has the coronavirus pandemic affected the UK stock market?
How is the FTSE affected by interest rates?
Does CAPM measure the risk of stocks listed on the FTSE 100?
How does the behaviour of the FSTE 100 affect economic growth?
Behavioural finance: A study on the motivation of British investors.
The determinants of corporate debt in the UK.
The role of private equity and debt market in the finances of SMEs in the UK.
Do SMEs achieve higher profitability rates than large corporations in the UK?
The financial structure of British firms: A comparison with the European Union.
Financial markets and financial intermediation in the UK.
Temporary and permanent components of asset prices in the UK.
Capital and financial structure of UK companies.
Investor protection and corporate governance: Comparison between EU and US financial market.
Political uncertainty on asset prices.

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