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.

5/7/2009
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.

5/7/2009