ECONOMICS 411: Senior Seminar
Topic: POVERTY AND WELFARE
Fall 2006
Instructor:
Kate Stirling
Email:
stirling@ups.edu
Phone:
X3590
Office:
Office Hours:
MWF 10:30-12, Th 2:30 –4
If your class or work schedule conflicts with my office hours, please email,
call, or talk with me before or after class to arrange an alternative time.
McIntyre 213 I
COURSE GOALS:
Apply our understanding of economics in reading, discussion, and writing;
Improve our critical thinking skills;
Expand our ability to analyze social and economic issues;
Enhance our understanding of economic theory and research.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To understand and appreciate the complexity of poverty in the United States;
To reach an understanding of the mechanisms and efficiency of our local and federal
welfare programs;
To gain some insight into the culture of poverty and its social processes;
To formulate an individual response and propose public policy on the basis of our
analysis of poverty;
To become acquainted with alternative perspectives on poverty issues;
To successfully design and complete an undergraduate research project.
TEXTBOOKS:
Poverty in America: A Handbook, 2nd edition, John Iceland, (University of California Press: 2006).
The New World of Welfare, Rebecca Blank and Ron Haskins, Editors, (Brookings Institute: 2001).
American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare, Jason DeParle,
(Penguin Books: 2004).
One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All, Mark Robert Rank, (Oxford:
2004)
Other assigned readings will be determined by your theses topics and distributed in class or on
reserve in the economics department.
411 Syllabus – Page two
GRADES:
o In total, your thesis accounts for 85 percent of your final grade for the seminar. That 85 percent
is broken down as follows:
a. The final thesis is worth 50 percent of your grade (for the seminar overall).
b. The draft of your thesis (due on 11/20) counts for 20 percent of your seminar grade.
c. The other components of the thesis (described on pages four and five of this syllabus)
comprise the other 15 percent.
o
The small assignments and class participation are worth the remaining 15% of your grade.
COURSE WORK:

A thesis, including various components which will be due over the course of the semester.
These components are described on pages four and five this syllabus. The due dates are
detailed on the next page.

Presentation of the thesis to the rest of the seminar participants

Choosing an article for the rest of the seminar to read and leading the discussion on that article.
This will likely be the article you review in your 9/25 thesis proposal, but you may choose a
different one if you prefer.

Regular small writing assignments, typically providing a response to the assigned reading or
discussion topic

Acting as a “reader” and “discussant” of the paper for one of your peers. I will assign
readers/discussants after your research proposals have finalized on 9/25.

Active class participation. Because our class is of seminar format, regular class attendance is
mandatory for its - and your - success. If for some reason you are going to miss our
seminar, you need to provide a written explanation for your absence. This explanation
should be delivered to my office or sent by email no more than 24 hours after the day you
miss. Please note that more than three unexcused absences will lower your course grade.
Active class participation includes reading the required textbooks or articles chosen by your
classmates and being prepared for discussion of them. The schedule of those reading is as
follows:
8/30 and 9/11 Poverty in America
9/13 - 9/20
American Dream
10/2 – 10/18 The New World of Welfare
10/25 – 11/6 Your article presentations
11/8 – 11/15 One Nation, Underprivileged
411 Syllabus – page three
Due Dates for Thesis Preparation
Unless you experience a serious family or health emergency,
these are hard and fast due dates.
With the exception of the final product, for each of the items listed below, turn in three hard
copies. One of these is for your reader/discussant.
By 9/5 at 3:00 PM
Email your classmates and me three potential research topics.
Write a paragraph for each topic explaining why it interests you. Include any
other thoughts/concerns/questions you may have about each of these topics. If
one topic is particularly appealing to you at this time, identify it. If you have
already decided on a topic, you only need to include that one.
To prepare for tomorrow’s class, be sure to carefully read each of your
classmates’ research ideas and be prepared to discuss them.
9/6
Present three potential topics/questions for your research project.
You will present your research ideas to the rest of the class
9/25
Due: Minimum three-page (typed) thesis proposal.
Presented and discussed in class on 9/25 and 9/27.
The requirements for the proposal are as follows:
1. The primary component of the proposal is a clear and succinct
statement of your specific, focused research question/hypothesis.
Briefly motivate the importance of your topic; that is, explain why the
reader would likely be interested in this topic.
2. Your proposal should include the beginning of your economic theory
section of the thesis. What is the appropriate economic model? What
are the economic tools you will employ? What is the economic
reasoning behind your study?
3. The proposal should also identify at least one other important paper
(or chapter) related to your specific topic: here, you are beginning
your literature review. You need to summarize how this research
relates to your topic: that is, what does it find that you intend to build
upon or, perhaps, wherein you question the findings, or most simply,
what it shows/finds/concludes that is specifically related to your
research question. Thus, note that you are not summarizing the article
per se, rather you are summarizing those portions that are relevant to
your research. (These general guidelines pertain to all of the research
you will include in your literature review in the final thesis.) This
portion and items 1 and 2 should consist of approximately two pages,
while items 4 and 5 may be one or more pages.
4. Also include a sentence outline of the components of the thesis, as
you envision it at this stage of the process.
5. Finally, it should include a list of any other (besides the one described
above) specifically-relevant sources you have found to date.
411 Syllabus - page four
10/11
Due: Minimum of five pages of “research progress”
This is an expansion of the proposal you turned on 9/26. You may have some
preliminary findings at this stage or you may have revised your
question/hypotheses based on the work you’ve done since. At this point, your
theory section should be a minimum of two pages, and your literature review
should be expanded to include three key papers and/or chapters on your topic.
(Review the instructions above: these citations must be clearly integrated with
your topic.)
11/1
Due: Minimum of eight-ten pages of “research progress”
By this date, almost all research should be concluded and you are conducting
the writing and analysis portion of your thesis. Hand in everything you’ve
completed so far. You should have been building the thesis in the previous
steps, so by now you will hand in solid drafts of the introduction, economic
theory, and literature review. The literature review should be complete by
now, to include a bare minimum of five key papers on your topic. Also,
include any initial findings or limitations of the study you have encountered.
All research has limitations: you want to be explicit about yours. Also, hand
in a list of your references to date; these are not included in the eight-page
minimum.
11/21 by 4:00 PM
Due: Complete Solid Draft of your Thesis.
Note: This due date is the Tuesday – not a class day – before Thanksgiving
Break. We will not hold class on Monday 11/20.
Deliver a hard copy to my office (or to Reggie Tison, department secretary)
no later than the assigned date and time. Do not put them in my campus
mailbox. No electronic submissions.
11/27 – 12/6
Thesis Presentations
12/13
Due: Final Thesis
These may be not submitted electronically.
411 Syllabus - page five
Senior Thesis Guidelines
(Developed and revised in collaboration with members of the University of Puget Sound Economics Department, August
2006)
Thesis Description: A thesis, as distinct from a research paper, has a unique
contribution from the author. That is, a thesis is more than just a recounting,
retelling, digest, or recapitulation of an argument. The ultimate purpose of a thesis is
for the author to present a new, unique, or different contribution to the literature. As
the name suggests, a thesis has a “thesis” to it – a particular argument or assertion by
the author. This might take the form of a theoretical innovation, an application of
theory to a new example, an empirical test of an economic hypothesis, an unusual
interpretation of an argument, or a fresh approach to the literature in a particular area.
Thesis Content: While the thesis statement forms the core of the paper, all theses include
the following elements, although not always in this order.
1. Introduction and Statement of your Thesis Question: Begin with motivating the topic,
explaining why it is important. This introduction may be one – two pages in length.
Then provide a clear and smooth transition from that introductory material to your
particular thesis question, to include a brief statement of the argument, its key elements,
and how it differs from previous research in this area (i.e. what is your contribution to
this research area?). At the end of the introduction provide an overview of the rest of the
thesis.
2. Review of the Literature: This section explains how the thesis argument fits into the
general field, and also identifies the most important work in the particular area. The
hardest part is selecting carefully the literature to review and summarizing the arguments
cogently. This section should set the stage for the paper and provide a solid background
drawn from existing work in the area so the reader will appreciate why this paper is
different.
3. Economics Context: All papers should be undertaken in the context of an economic
model or theory, analyzed within an economic argument, or in some fashion explicitly
employ economic reasoning and tools. Depending on your thesis, you may have a
separate section for the economics or it may be integrated within the literature review
and your findings. However you choose to pursue the economics, your thesis must
inform the reader what type of economic issue is being addressed, the format of the
economic argument, and the particular aspect of economics under consideration.
Your Findings: This section is key to a successful thesis. Based on the theoretical
argument, this section will explain your results. The material in this section clearly
identifies how the economic theory was used, what unique aspects are present, how this
work differs from earlier work, how it is similar to other results. At the end of this
section the reader should understand what was done, why it is different, what makes it
interesting, and how it contrasts with the existing literature. Your research question,
along with your and your particular tastes, preferences, and proclivities will influence
how you explore the topic and report your findings. For example:
o
An empirical paper will discuss the data used, variable definitions, model
specification, and problems of missing data or variables, and then present the
statistical results.
o
A theoretical contribution will present the argument, in all needed detail, logical
structure used, and conclusions.
411 Syllabus - page six
Your Findings, continued:
o
A comparative study will isolate the differences of comparison, offer
explanations for the differences, and explain what is important.
o
A case study will offer the detailed information of the case, the source of the data,
the structure of the case analysis, and conclusions.
4. Limitations of the project: Briefly describe what would be needed to expand upon this
project (such as a different data set) and/or why your findings should be viewed with
some caution. What more is needed in this research area for us to be more confident
about your conclusions?
5. Policy Implications: Not all theses will logically require a policy section, but papers that
are directly related to issues of poverty and welfare most certainly will. The objective of
this section is to derive the logical public policy based on your findings. Note that this
may consist of eliminating an existing policy or suggesting new ones.
6. Conclusion: This is a brief summary statement of what was done, why it is interesting,
and noting weaknesses, concerns, and possible suggestions for future research.
7. References: A complete listing of all work cited in the paper. It is also customary to
include works not cited but relied upon. In addition to citations for standard monographs
and articles, any material obtained from the Web must be properly referenced. The idea
is that the reader should be able to find all the materials used in the paper. These should
begin on a new, separate page from the rest of the thesis.
Citation Style: American Psychological Association (APA) citation style is standard in
Economics. The Collins Library maintains an APA Style Guide web page.
Thesis Length: The approximate length of the thesis, not including the list of references,
should be 20-30 pages.