Assessment Task 2
Case Study Assignment
Semester 2 2015
A. Instructions to Students:
1. Due date: This assessment is to be submitted by 5PM Monday 5 October.
2. Lodgement:
The assignment is to be submitted via Turnitin. One submission per group.
Please Note: Do not submit it via Business Central on level 7 or the School of Vocational Business Education on level 5 and do not email it.
Students are advised to retain a copy of their assignment.
3. Penalty for lateness
Assignments not received by the due date will be penalised at a rate of 10% of the overall mark per day.
4. Table of contents and annotation
Your assignment must provide a table of contents, references and any appendices, if required. These do not count toward your word limit.
Annotation: Students are required to acknowledge all sources of information including statistical tables and charts and to include a bibliography of cited texts.
Note that failure to acknowledge sources and to properly reference data/facts in this assignment can result in the material not be included in your assessment or a mark deduction for the question.
5. Weighting. This assessment totals 40 marks and accounts for 20% of the total assessment for this course.
6. Group Assignments
The assessment must be completed by students working in groups. Groups should consist of 4 or 5 members. Five is the maximum group size.
Students must attach their names on the assignment attachment sheet and sign the sheet.
Group submissions:
• The attached Group Submission form with group members’ names, student numbers and signatures must be submitted to your lecturer in class by end of week 7 – Friday 21 August.
• Students working together on this project will receive the same mark.
Where individual group members have not contributed to the assignment, the course co-ordinator or your lecturer may allocate marks accordingly
7. The case-study assignment relates to two of the Asian economies listed below, that may include Australia. You may choose another economy in discussion with your lecturer.
8. Work Requirement
This Assessment involves a 1000 to 1500 word written report (approximately 4 to 5 pages A 4), excluding data tables, graphs and diagrams.
B. Aims of the assessment
To assess the learning outcomes of the course by applying the study of macroeconomic concepts and the underlying skills and knowledge to a comparative study of the recent performance of two economies selected for the assignment.
This assessment has as objective to establish the recent status of a selected Asian economy and to compare it with another Asian economy (that may include Australia).
Task
The following is a list of Asian economies you can select from for your group’s selected country.
China
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
Vietnam
Australia
Based on research undertaken under this assignment you will evaluate the economic performance of your selected countries overt the period 2010 – 2014.
1. Economic growth and the Business Cycle (5 marks)
With reference to your selected economies:
• List in the form of a table the value of the Real GDP over the past 5 years, 2010 – 2014.
• Graph the business cycle for both countries over this period.
• Identify and explain the business cycle over the period in your selected economies.
(Estimate word limit 150 words)
2. Aggregate Demand – Aggregate Supply (11 marks)
• Identify two determinants of aggregate demand and two determinants of aggregate supply that have impacted on the level of economic activity for your selected economies in the past 12 months – i.e. 2014.
• Explain the impact of these determinants on the level of economic activity and the price level.
• Demonstrate this on a AD-AS diagram.
(Estimate word limit 250 words)
3. Prices and the inflation rate (6 marks)
• Examine the situation of inflation over the past 2 years, 2013 – 2014.
List and illustrate the inflation rate in the past two years (use data for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) OR the GDP Deflator for your selected economies).
• Identify the prevailing type of inflation (e.g. cost-push, demand–pull) over the last two years. Explain your answer.
(Estimate word limit 200 words)
4. The Labour Force and unemployment (5 marks)
• List and illustrate the changes in the Labour Force, unemployment and unemployment rate over the past two years.
• Identify and explain the types and causes of unemployment which have prevailed over the period for each of your two economies.
(Estimate word limit 150 words)
5. Exchange rate and its impact on economic activity (8 marks)
You should examine:
• Identify and illustrate the exchange rate of the two currencies in the past two years (in relation to the US dollar).
• Identify and explain two main factors influencing movements in the exchange rate over the period.
• What impact has the movement had on the level of economic activity (RGDP) and the price level?
• Demonstrate this on a AD-AS diagram.
(Estimate word limit 200 words)
6. Comparison (5 marks)
• Which of the two economies you have selected have had the better economic performance? Explain your answer giving 3 reasons (criteria) for your choice.
(Estimate word limit 150 words)
Indicative Sources of Information
A good starting point for data relevant to the assignment is Trading Economics, www.tradingeconomics.com/
Link to website is https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=trading%20economics
Note that this site is light on explanation and qualitative analysis. It is suggested that students reference the respective countries Central Bank or Monetary Authorities for a more detailed analysis. Most central banks will have reports on the recent macroeconomic performance of the country and the macroeconomic factors that impact on recent economic activity.
For central bank and monetary authority websites the following link is useful
https://www.bis.org/cbanks.htm
You can complement and supplement the ADB data with national statistics for each economy (e.g. for Singapore www.singstat.gov.sg) and data from other international economic organizations such as:
• the World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/home.aspx
• IMF: http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm
http://www.imf.org/external/country/index.htm
• DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) Countries and Regions has useful overview / data on RGDP and unemployment. A good starting point but is very trade focused. http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/Pages/countries-and-regions.aspx
• For historical exchange rate data for the US dollar compared to some 80 currencies you can also consult:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/agricultural-exchange-rate-data-set.aspx#28285
• The starting point for the collection of statistics for Asian economies should be the Asian Development Bank and the statistical database of the Asian Development Bank
http://www.adb.org/
http://www.adb.org/data/main
http://www.adb.org/countries/main
Students are encouraged to use the Internet to research additional sources of information.
ECON1246 / ECON1273 Macroeconomics 1
Due Date: 5 October 2015
Semester 2, 2015
Group Submission Form
To be completed and given to your teacher by week ending Friday 21 August 2015 during class
1. Students within a team must be from the same class.
2. Each student within a team will be awarded the same result for this piece of assessment.
3. Students are advised to carefully consider team submission. Teachers will not consider requests for special consideration in cases where students do not complete assessment requirements due to the failure of group members to participate in the completion of the project.
Student names and student numbers
1. ¬________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________________
Student Signatures
1. _______________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________
4. _______________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________
Teacher :
————————————————————————————