NOTE TO STUDENTS: The following instructions are for Part II (the summative assessment). The instructions for Part I are available separately on Blackboard.  Part I (the formative assessment) is an extra credit assignment designed to help you identify a paper topic.  I will review the instructions for both assignments in class. See the class schedule in the Syllabus and the assignment folders on Blackboard for additional details and deadlines.

What you will be turning in on Blackboard for Part II:

You will turn in a document containing ONLY the following three items:

1) The Data Table

2) The 1250-word paper

3) The bibliography.

I will not grade papers that contain the instructions to this assignment so please don’t include anything from this document in your submission EXCEPT for the data table.

The Instructions for the Macroeconomic Policy Paper (Part II)  begin on the next page
 

ECO 201  D. Premnath

FOREIGN COUNTRY MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT Part II

(worth 11% of your class grade)

Your job is to propose a macroeconomic policy for a foreign country of interest to you. Your paper will take the form of an economic briefing and policy proposal addressed to the leader of the country you have chosen to study. You will be writing the economic briefing and policy proposal in your capacity as the Head of the Council of Economic Advisors for your country. You are the most powerful Economic Policymaker in your country and your analysis and proposals will carry great weight so have confidence in your knowledge and expertise!  Don’t be afraid to advocate for your policy goals and policy proposals on the basis of your personal values. This is an acceptable approach, as long as you can support your arguments with economic data and economic reasoning.

Research TASK #1: Select a foreign country that most interests you. Optional: State why you selected this country on your assignment.

Research TASK #2: Identify and Assess Data. Identify and study recent data and trends in GDP, GDP per capita, economic growth, unemployment, poverty, and inflation about your country. In addition to these six indicators, please provide information on at least two additional indicators you believe reflect your country’s standard of living or inform your exposition of the macroeconomic challenge faced by your country. Please review my document (available on Blackboard) on conducting library research.

Note: A valuable source for current data is the “Guide to Country Comparisons” on the CIA World Fact Book Website at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Other sources for macroeconomic data include the World Bank, IMF, OECD, and UN

Research TASK #3: 

· Identify a minimum of three (I highly recommend more than three) recent macroeconomic news, magazine or academic journal articles concerning your country. The Economist is an excellent source. (Also see the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, The Times of London, OECD country reports, World Bank country reports).

· Read the assigned article by the IMF on Systemic reform (available on Blackboard)

WRITING TASK #1: In 1250 of your OWN (Typed) words, based on the information you collected, 

1) Characterize the macroeconomic state and direction of your country (Minimum 250 words), 

2) Identify what you believe is the major macroeconomic challenge facing your country (Minimum 250 words).

Most importantly, 

3) Recommend a macroeconomic policy (fiscal, systematic reform, and/or long-term growth) to the leaders of your country. Explain why your policy might help your country’s economy. Support/defend your proposal with data and economic theory (Minimum 750 words). 

Writing TASK #2: Appropriately provide your references, including links to any online sources used. At least three (preferably more) sources in addition to the data sources, IMF paper and your textbook must be referenced. Please include a bibliography and the Data Table in your final paper submission. Note: The Data Table is approximately 200 words so your final paper word count should be well over  1500 words, 1250 for your paper plus 200 for the Data Table. The bibliography will add to this word count. This is a minimum suggested word count. You may submit a paper upto 3000 words long.

Deadlines for Part I and Part II are clearly posted in the Syllabus as well as on Blackboard, and late assignments will not be accepted

PART I: Students should inform me about the country they will be choosing to study, complete the macroeconomic data table, and provide me with a link and summary of one of the news/magazine articles they will be using (Tasks 1, 2 and 3) . 

You can find additional guidance on this preliminary deadline/ Part I of the assignment on Blackboard. 

Once on Blackboard click on Course Content on the left-hand side of the Home Page for this course.

Under Course Content click on the Unit titled Assignments and Tests. 

Under Assignments and Tests you will find a file titled “Macroeconomic Analysis Assignment Part I” Please click on this file which contains detailed instructions on how to complete Part I of the assignment.

Students who meet the above deadline will receive up to 4 extra credit points (added to their course grade at the end of the semester).

I will review your assignment and provide feedback. If you wish to change your paper topic please email your request to me at least a week before the deadline for Part II. 

Part II Macroeconomic Analysis Assignment Part 

Students will be held to the highest standards for academic integrity. Please read the  attached information on Montgomery College’s plagiarism policy. 

Plagiarism Policy: https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/_documents/academics/support/learning-centers/writing-reading-learning-ctr-germantown/academic-dishonesty-and-how-it-is-handled.pdf

You will submit an electronic copy of the data table, paper and bibliography through Blackboard. 

You will submit an electronic copy of your assignments through Blackboard using Safe Assign. 

The GRADING RUBRIC for the ECON 201 Macroeconomic Policy Paper Part II. 

(D. Premnath)

Objective 1 (Description) is worth 11 points or 5.5% of your term grade

Objective 2 (Prescription) is worth 11 points or 5.5% of term grade

Objective 1  (11 points)

Data (4 points)

Current data for these 6 +2 Macro indicators 3 points

Trend data for at least four of these indicators 1 point

Summary  500 words (5 points)

Summarizes macro trends and Identifies the key macroeconomic problems 3 points

or opportunities for this country 

Uses evidence from their data to support their area of focus 1 point

Analysis of either the cause of the problem or the relevance of the problem 1 point

Bibliography (2 points)

Uses an appropriate data source and article 1 point

Properly cites all sources using an established format 1 point

Objective 2  750 words  (11 points)

Describes the macroeconomic policy using economic theory 4 points

Explains why and how the policy might help their country’s economy  4 points

(using economic theory) 

Associates their recommendation with the macro data collected  1 point

Notes drawbacks/tradeoffs associated with policy  2 points

ECON 201 Macroeconomic Policy Paper Part II

Student Name:   Country: ________________________

· Please cite your data sources in your bibliography. 

· The Data Table will not count towards your paper’s final 1250 word count.  

MACROECONOMIC DATA ORGANIZER/TABLE (please include this table in your final paper)

Indicator

Prior Year 1

Enter the year

_____________

Prior Year 2 (optional)

Enter the year

_____________

2016/2017/2018

Enter the year

____________

2017/2018/2019

Enter the year

____________

GDP

GDP per capita

Economic Growth

Poverty Rate

Unemployment

Inflation

*Additional Indicator #1

*Additional Indicator #2

*Additional Indicator #3

(optional)

*Enter the title of the additional indicators you are providing in the first column.

Guidance for the Macroeconomic Data Organizer/Table:

· You must have data for 2018/2019 for all eight of your indicators

· In order to establish trends you will also need to try to find three years of data for at least four of your indicators 

· The Additional Indicators you provide should be relevant to your paper topic

· A good place to start is the CIA Factbook which generally has 2-3 years of data on the six required indicators

· Other sources to consider include the World Bank, the IMF (World Economic Outlook database), the OECD and the United Nations. The World Bank has good data on poverty.

The indicator I prefer (if available for your country) is the World Bank’s “Poverty Headcount ratio at National poverty lines- % of population”

· You might need to find data using multiple data sets.  I strongly encourage you to be consistent. If for instance, you are citing several years of unemployment data, it is best to use the same data source for all years. Poverty data can be difficult to interpret because some organizations base their definition of poverty on the overall standard of living in the country. I would like to see an explanatory footnote for your poverty data so I know the data source as well as their definition of poverty.

· The Data Table will not count towards your paper’s final word count. The Data table is around 200 words so your final paper’s word count should be well over 1500 words 1250 of your analysis plus 200 words for the data table plus additional words from your bibliography. 

X——————————————-X

ECON 201 Macroeconomic Policy Paper  

POLICY PROPOSAL ORGANIZER

NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT TURN THIS IN.  This organizer is meant for your personal use.  It will help you organize your thoughts and develop an outline for the policy proposal part of your paper

Main Economic Challenge or Opportunity

Key Economic Indicator (s)

Proposed Policy Tool (s)

Effect of the Policy on the Economy

Effect of the Policy on the Key Indicators

Main Drawbacks

EXAMPLE:

High Unemployment

Unemployment   Rate of 8%

Poverty Rate   of 32%

Economic   Growth – 3.6%

Expansionary   Fiscal Policy

(Increase   Government Spending and lower taxes)

Increase in   Aggregate Demand

(G increases   and multiplier effect on C)

*Increase in   GDP 

*decline in   both Poverty and Unemployment

* Increase in   budget deficit

*Possible   increase in inflation

Guidance for the Policy Proposal Organizer:

· I suggest you use the data table and/or the news article to help you identify the main economic challenge or opportunity facing your country

· Provide Key Economic Indicators from the Data Table to support your area of focus

· Propose a policy or a set of policies to address the macroeconomic challenge/opportunity

· Briefly describe the effect of the Policy on the Macroeconomy

· Briefly describe the effect of these economic changes on the Key Economic Indicators you are focusing on

· Note the main drawbacks/tradeoffs involved in using your chosen policy tool(s)

DO NOT TURN THIS IN!! This is for your personal use.