BSc · MSc · PhD · Economics dissertations
50 economics research questions, each with an econometric method, free data source and a related university thesis. Browse by research field, or start with the data you can access.
50 Research topics
10 Sub-fields
10 Datasets
4 Universities
2018–26 Thesis years
By Siddharth Gupta · Statssy
Economics students have access to exceptionally rich public datasets from the World Bank, IMF, central banks and international statistical agencies.
The harder question is often methodological: fixed or random effects? VAR or ARDL? Does the series need differencing? This guide matches each proposed research question with a study design, an econometric method, a dataset and an example thesis.
How to use this list Choose two or three topics within an economics sub-field you know. Open the datasets to confirm the countries, years and variables available. Read the related university thesis, focusing on its data and methods. Decide whether you have a time series, cross-section or panel; this narrows the modelling options. Discuss your shortlist with your supervisor or book a free call . Jump to a sub-field 01. Monetary policy and inflation 02. Economic growth and productivity 03. Development economics 04. International trade and FDI 05. Labour economics 06. Public economics and fiscal policy 07. Inequality and poverty 08. Environmental and energy economics 09. Financial economics and banking 10. The Indian economy Economics research area 01 / 10
Monetary policy and inflation Monetary topics follow one economy over time. FRED gives you decades of monthly data in a few clicks.
TOPIC 01 Does the Federal Reserve follow a Taylor rule, and did that change after 2008? Study design Time series Econometric method OLS with a structural break test Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 02 Does inflation uncertainty rise more after inflation goes up than after it falls? Study design Time series Econometric method Asymmetric GARCH model Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 03 Do interest rate rises cut business investment, and how fast? Study design Time series Econometric method Vector autoregression (VAR) Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 04 Did countries that spent more on pandemic support see higher inflation afterwards? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset IMF Data Open TOPIC 05 Does an inverted yield curve predict a US recession? Study design Time series Econometric method Probit regression Dataset FRED Open Economics research area 02 / 10
Economic growth and productivity Growth topics compare countries over long periods. Penn World Table and Maddison are the standard sources.
TOPIC 06 Do poorer countries grow faster once human capital is accounted for? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Conditional convergence regression Dataset Penn World Table Open TOPIC 07 Which economies caught up with Western Europe after 1950, and when did it start? Study design Long-run time series Econometric method Structural break tests Dataset Maddison Project Database Open TOPIC 08 How much of productivity growth comes from capital and how much from human capital? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Growth accounting with panel regression Dataset Penn World Table Open TOPIC 09 Does credit to the private sector predict GDP growth? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression with lags Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 10 Do stronger institutions predict more new business creation? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Random effects panel regression Dataset QoG Data + World Bank WDI Open Economics research area 03 / 10
Development economics Development topics test what reduces poverty and improves lives. WDI covers almost every indicator you need.
TOPIC 11 Does wider access to bank accounts lower poverty in developing countries? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 12 Do remittances lower poverty rates in the countries that receive them? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Instrumental variable regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 13 Did countries that started cash transfer programmes see more births with skilled staff? Study design Quasi-experimental Econometric method Difference-in-differences Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 14 Does farm productivity growth reduce rural poverty? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 15 Does food price inflation raise undernourishment? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open Economics research area 04 / 10
International trade and FDI Trade topics use gravity models and panel data. IMF trade flows and WDI cover both goods and investment.
TOPIC 16 Does distance still shape trade as much as it did 30 years ago? Study design Bilateral panel Econometric method Gravity model with PPML Dataset IMF Data Open TOPIC 17 Do corruption and weak institutions reduce clean technology trade? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset QoG Data + World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 18 Does foreign direct investment raise manufacturing output in developing countries? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method System GMM Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 19 How did the 2025 US tariff announcements affect import prices? Study design Time series Econometric method Interrupted time series Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 20 Does tourism income raise growth in small island economies? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open Economics research area 05 / 10
Labour economics Labour topics study jobs, wages and who gets them. ILOSTAT has global data by sex, age and migrant status.
TOPIC 21 Does longer paid maternity leave raise women’s labour force participation? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset ILOSTAT Open TOPIC 22 Do youth minimum wages change youth employment rates? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Difference-in-differences Dataset ILOSTAT Open TOPIC 23 Do migrants face higher unemployment than natives, and is the gap shrinking? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Panel regression with a time trend Dataset ILOSTAT Open TOPIC 24 Does falling fertility raise women’s labour force participation? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Instrumental variable panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 25 Have real wages kept pace with productivity in OECD countries? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Panel cointegration test Dataset OECD Data Explorer Open View the printable 50-topic guide
Economics research area 06 / 10
Public economics and fiscal policy Fiscal topics ask what taxes and spending actually do. OECD and IMF data let you compare dozens of countries.
TOPIC 26 Did higher social spending lower poverty rates in OECD countries? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset OECD Data Explorer Open TOPIC 27 Does high public debt slow economic growth? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Panel threshold regression Dataset IMF Data Open TOPIC 28 Did the 2017 US tax cuts raise business investment? Study design Time series Econometric method Interrupted time series Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 29 Do in-work tax credits raise employment among low earners? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Difference-in-differences Dataset OECD Data Explorer Open TOPIC 30 Does government health spending lower out-of-pocket costs for households? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open Economics research area 07 / 10
Inequality and poverty Inequality topics track who gains from growth. The World Inequality Database gives top and bottom income shares for most countries.
TOPIC 31 Has the top 1 percent income share risen fastest in emerging economies? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Trend analysis with panel regression Dataset World Inequality Database Open TOPIC 32 Do countries with higher top income shares have lower social mobility? Study design Cross-country Econometric method Multiple linear regression Dataset World Inequality Database Open TOPIC 33 Is growth less pro-poor in more unequal countries? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Panel regression with an interaction term Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 34 Does food assistance take-up rise and fall with unemployment? Study design Time series Econometric method Distributed lag model Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 35 Did the US homeownership rate recover after the 2008 crisis, and for whom? Study design Time series Econometric method Interrupted time series Dataset FRED Open Economics research area 08 / 10
Environmental and energy economics Environmental topics link growth to emissions and climate risk. WDI and QoG include energy, emissions and governance data.
TOPIC 36 Do emissions rise with income and then fall once countries get rich? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Environmental Kuznets curve regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 37 Does a higher renewable energy share lower emissions per unit of GDP? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 38 Did unemployment rise in US counties hit by major hurricanes? Study design Event study Econometric method Difference-in-differences event study Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 39 Do natural disasters slow growth in developing countries? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open TOPIC 40 Do countries with stronger governance cope better with climate shocks? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Panel regression with an interaction term Dataset QoG Data Open Economics research area 09 / 10
Financial economics and banking Financial topics test how markets and banks pass on shocks. FRED and IMF data cover spreads, credit and volatility.
TOPIC 41 Does stress in one part of the banking sector spread to the rest? Study design Time series Econometric method Granger causality tests Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 42 What drives the spread between corporate and government bond yields? Study design Time series Econometric method Multiple regression with Newey-West errors Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 43 Does stock market volatility predict an economic slowdown? Study design Time series Econometric method GARCH with predictive regression Dataset FRED Open TOPIC 44 Does rapid credit growth predict banking crises? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Panel logit regression Dataset IMF Data Open TOPIC 45 Does financial depth help growth more in poor or in rich countries? Study design Cross-country panel Econometric method Quantile regression Dataset World Bank WDI Open Economics research area 10 / 10
The Indian economy India topics are ideal for Indian students and for anyone who wants a single-country study. RBI DBIE has monthly and state-level data for free.
TOPIC 46 Has inflation targeting since 2016 lowered and steadied inflation in India? Study design Time series Econometric method Interrupted time series Dataset RBI DBIE Open TOPIC 47 How quickly do repo rate changes pass through to bank lending rates? Study design Time series Econometric method Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model Dataset RBI DBIE Open TOPIC 48 Did farm loan waivers change agricultural credit growth across states? Study design State panel Econometric method Difference-in-differences Dataset RBI DBIE Open TOPIC 49 Do remittances to India rise when oil prices rise? Study design Time series Econometric method Vector error correction model (VECM) Dataset RBI DBIE + FRED Open TOPIC 50 Does state government debt slow state economic growth in India? Study design State panel Econometric method Fixed effects panel regression Dataset RBI DBIE Open View the printable 50-topic guide
Free economics datasets used in this guide All ten sources listed here provide publicly available data. Check the latest documentation and licensing requirements before choosing a series.
Growth, poverty, trade, health and energy; suited to cross-country panels.
Comparable GDP, capital, labour and productivity series.
US and international macroeconomic time series, including rates and inflation.
Government debt, prices, trade and financial-system indicators.
Harmonised labour, tax, productivity and social spending indicators.
Employment, unemployment, wages and labour force participation.
Long-run historical GDP per capita and population estimates.
National income and wealth distribution indicators over time.
Indian monetary policy, prices, credit, banking and state finances.
Governance, corruption, political institutions and policy indicators.
Printable economics research reference
Get all 50 topics in one PDF The printable guide will include the 50 research questions, econometric methods, data sources and related university thesis links. The download button will be added here once the PDF is created and uploaded to WordPress.
PDF download coming soon How to turn one of these into your own topic Narrow it. Choose a country, region or income group and a specific timeframe.Check the data first. Download the series and inspect missing years and revisions.Match your method to your design. Time series, cross-sectional and panel questions need different assumptions and estimators.Think about causal identification. Fixed effects control time-invariant confounders but do not automatically establish causality. Difference-in-differences and instrumental variables require explicit assumptions.Review related research. Search EconLit, RePEc and academic repositories to identify your contribution.For model selection, read dissertation topics using regression analysis and how to select dissertation statistics .
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