MacroEconomics
Undergraduate (1st and 2nd year)
5 pages
Discipline: Economics
Type of service: Research Paper
Spacing: Double spacing
Paper format: Chicago / Turabian
Number of sources: 13 sources
Paper GUIDELINES
for MacroEconomics 2301
for Phillip Tussing, Economics Instructor
Minimum 1,200-word Paper on a topic of interest to the student
Approval in advance: Topic for Paper must be approved in advance by the Instructor. It must be about:
- a real situation (current or historical, anywhere in the world) which illustrates one of the principles discussed in this course, as supplemented by information from research.
OR
- an Economist most of whose work was in Macroeconomics, who refers to a principle discussed in this course.
Grading Rubric: in three equal parts (too short Papers will receive reduced credit):
- 1. Paper considerations (33%): Writing ability, over minimum length, knowledge of the topic, grammar & spelling (use a Spellcheck). Use MLA, APA or Chicago Style rules.
- 2. Research (33%): A “Works Cited” page must be included, with not fewer than three (3) academic-level references, whether online or hardcopy, PLUS a reference to the specific relevant section of the Textbook — for a total of (4) references — Wikipedia is NOT acceptable as a reference, NOR ANY dictionary, NOR is a blog, nor general news sites such as Fox News, USA Today, Huffington Post, etc. The Economist is fine, as are The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week, and other reputable business-oriented publications. “Works Cited” page MUST be included. Simply listing the url of websites is NOT ACCEPTABLE — they must be identified clearly, stating the writer if known, publication, date, etc, as with any normal reference.
- 3. Analysis (33%): Topic must be specifically related to an Economics topic as studied in our class, WHICH MUST BE IDENTIFIED (for example: unemployment, inflation, economic growth, etc.), using a graph or description clarifying how the situation or economist in the Paper added to our understanding of this topic.
Cheating by copying from the Internet without quotation marks or citation can lead to a zero on the assignment at my discretion.
Topics:
Macroeconomics students must use as a topic economy-wide subjects. A few possibilities are:
–alternative allocative mechanisms (e.g. Command economies like Cuba or state-dominated economies like China, Russia or France),
–aggregate supply and demand analysis for the USA or some other economy over a business cycle, such as 2001-2009 or 1873-1879 or 1921-1933 or 1929-1939, etc, (for which see the “Business Cycle (Recession and Recovery) Page at www.nber.org)
–national income accounting for some country in some year with inputs for various sectors, with an analysis of why that country heavily produces in a given sector, such as a labor-dependent economy (such as Bangladesh or China or Vietnam), a mostly services economy (like the US or UK), a capital-dependent economy (like Germany), a manufacturing economy (China, Korea, Taiwan or Germany), or a resource-dependent economy (like Saudi Arabia, Curacao, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Venezuela, Russia, Canada),
–employment or unemployment levels in a given country (such as Greece or Spain, or Thailand, or group of countries, such as the Eurozone, or a state like Texas or North Dakota, or a region such as the Mid-West, or even a city like Houston or New Orleans or Las Vegas) at some period, with an analysis of why it is at the level it is,
–economic growth at a given stage in some country (such as Brazil under the generals, or South Korea under Park Chung-Hee or North Korea under Kim Il Sung, or a state, such as Texas or California or Florida, or a city like Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago), and why it is growing as it is,
–poverty in a given country (such as Niger, Somalia, Afghanistan, the USA, Denmark or Mexico) and why it is at the level it is,
–inflation or hyperinflation in some country at some period (Germany in 1923, Zimbabwe in 2008, Hungary in 1947, Brazil 1980-94, current Venezuela, etc.) and why it is at the level it is,
–international trade of a given country (China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, etc), and why that country predominantly produces products which heavily use a particular resource of production,
– developing country economics (Ghana, Bolivia, Mongolia, Jamaica, etc) and why it is at a particular stage of development,
–budget deficits somewhere (Greece, Japan, the USA, the UK, France, Italy, Ireland), and why they are the size they are,
–trade deficit somewhere (the USA, the UK) or surplus (China, Mexico) & why they are the magnitude they are,
–fiscal policy of some country (the Sequester in the US, Italy, Germany, France, Denmark) & why it includes a given level of taxes or government spending with respect to overall GDP and with respect to the national budget,
–monetary policy somewhere (the US, Japan, the Eurozone, Canada, China, Russia) & why
–health care (USA, Cuba, France, the UK, Canada)
–energy (the US, the UK, Germany, China, Europe, Brazil)
–pollution (in China, the US, Ecuador, Nigeria, the Czech Republic)
–climate change (and economic effects on the US, Bangladesh, Pacific island countries, China, Netherlands, Saharan countries)
–immigration (US, UK, Russia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar)
–aging and/or shrinking populations (Japan, US, Russia, Europe)
–urban sprawl (the US, Nigeria, Egypt, China, India, Mexico, the UK).
If you do not do the Paper, you will be assigned a ZERO for this portion of the course – NO EXCEPTIONS.
Possible locations for finding topics and/or relevant research:
Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/bls/topicsaz.htm
Bureau of Economic Analysis: http://www.bea.gov/
World Bank: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,menuPK:232599~pagePK:64133170~piPK:64133498~theSitePK:239419,00.html
CIA Country Facts: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
World Trade Org: http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/Statis_e.htm
Intl Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/external/pubind.htm