Research Project Instructions

Research Project Instructions ECON 320 – International Trade Summer 2009 Instructions: 1. Form a group of no more than three students. 2. Choose a country, except those listed below, to research. a. May not choose Canada, United States, Mexico, or any member of the European Union as of May 1, 2009. You may choose candidate countries for the European Union, e.g., Turkey. 3. Groups will research a country’s political economy, cultural background, economic conditions, and interaction with international economic institutions (e.g., IMF). 4. The research project will be turned in over four phases with roughly two to three weeks between phases. Each phase will be turned in at the beginning of class. 5. The groups will give a 30 minute presentation on their country at the end of the semester. Phases Phase 1 – Due May 19. Phase 1 will cover the country’s political structure, underlying political philosophy, market structure, legal system, and culture. This phase should permit the reader to have a basic idea of the role for the Head of Government, Head of State, legislature, and court system. The reader should also be able to comprehend the amount of social and economic freedom to be experienced in the country. Finally, one should understand the basic culture of the society that governs the population’s daily activities. This phase should adequately communicate the above criteria. At a minimum, it is unlikely this information could be summarized in less than two pages. Phase 2 – Due May 28. Phase 2 will cover the country’s economic system in greater detail than Phase 1. In particular, this phase will explore the country’s involvement in international trade, its political policy regarding trade, current and historical levels of foreign direct investment, and activity in global and regional trade agreements. The reader should be able to understand the country’s attitude toward trade and whether trade has been important to the country. Moreover, the reader should understand if international investors are investing into the country and whether this investment has increase, decreased, or remained stable. Lastly, the reader should be able to comprehend the country’s activity in global trade (e.g., WTO) and regional trade agreements (e.g., NAFTA). This phase should adequately communicate the above criteria. At a minimum, it is unlikely this information could be summarized in less than three pages.

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Phase 3 – Due June 9. Phase 3 will cover the country’s monetary system as it relates to international trade. In particular, this phase will explore the country’s involvement in borrowing of funds (e.g., IMF), a country’s monetary reserves, and current accounts. The reader should be able to comprehend whether the country has or had fiscal problems and resorted to lending. Similarly, the reader should understand whether trade has benefited or harmed the country’s monetary reserves. This phase should adequately communicate the above criteria. At a minimum, it is unlikely this information could be summarized in less than one-and-a-half pages. Phase 4 – Due June 9. Phase 4 will include revisions to the prior phases and also offer some economic policy advice to the country. In particular, the policy advice should note aspects of the country which is helping their economy. Also, the policy advice should note aspects of the country’s political structure, economic structure, culture, or economic policy that is hindering their economic growth. The resulting economic policy should be clearly linked to the facts stated in the first three phases by using the theory learned in class and readings. This phase should adequately communicate the above criteria. At a minimum, it is unlikely the policy information could be summarized in less than one page. In total, the entire paper is unlikely to be summarized in less than seven to eight pages. Presentation The presentation should highlight main points from each phase of the research project. An outstanding presentation will connect the facts observed in the first three phases to link to policy advice. Paper Guidelines Papers should be double-spaced using Times New Roman, size 12 font. Margins should be 1” on all sides. Papers will not be graded on their length, but the content, clarity, and knowledge of facts and theory. At the end of the semester, each student should save their group paper to each student’s P:\ drive.

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