Economics for Business 2
Group presentation and individual assignment for Semester 1, 2016
You will be assigned to a group in your tutorial and your group needs to make a presentation on ONE of these topics in Week 8. The presentation is worth 15% of the marks for this subject.
You then need to submit an INDIVIDUAL assignment on the topic. The word limit is a maximum of 2,000 words and a hard copy of your assignment must be submitted in Week 10 to your tutor. The individual assignment is worth 25% of the marks for this subject.
All assignments must be submitted to Turnitin on the UTS Online site for this subject. If your assignment is not submitted together with an ‘originality report’ from Turnitin, it will not be marked.
It is also essential that your individual assignment is correctly referenced.
I suggest you use the following link to ensure that your referencing is correctly done: http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/help/referencing
The following website: http://www.harvardgenerator.com/ is also useful for checking that your references are done correctly. If you fail to reference correctly you will not pass this assignment.
1. Trade and Comparative Advantage
In April 2014 the Australian government signed new trade agreements with both Japan and Korea.
1. What were the main changes in the trade agreement between Australia and Japan?
2. What were the main changes in the trade agreement between Australia and Korea?
3. From analysing these trade agreements, in what products and services do you think Australia, Japan and Korea have a comparative advantage?
4. Who were the winners and losers from these trade agreements in Australia, Japan and Korea?
5. Do you think that these trade deals benefit all three countries equally? (This must be answered as part of your presentation – in your individual assignment you should write 250-500 words on this issue)
OR
2. Fiscal Policy
a. Has the government been following an expansionary or contractionary fiscal policy between 2010 and 2015? Give evidence to support your answer. You need to consider what was happening to the budget deficit or surplus over this period.
b. Does a budget deficit always indicate an expansionary fiscal policy? Does a budget surplus always indicate that fiscal policy is contractionary? Explain your answer.
c. What type of fiscal policy – expansionary or contractionary – was the government implementing in its May 2015 Budget? Give figures to support your answer.
d. Do you think that Australia’s fiscal policies between 2010 and 2015 have been the correct policies for the economy over this period? (This must be answered as part of your presentation – in your individual assignment you should write 250-500 words on this issue)
OR
3. Income inequity in Australia
The benefits of economic growth are notshared equally and can result in an unequal distribution of income – and this can have some disadvantages for the economy.
1. How unequal is the distribution of income in Australia? Has the distribution of income become more or less equal over the past 10 years? Give evidence to support your answer.
2. What are the causes of income inequality?
3. What actions does the government take to make income distribution more equal in Australia? Why does the government do this?
4. Do you think income inequality is good or bad for the economy? Give reasons to support your answer. (This must be answered as part of your presentation – in your individual assignment you should write 250-500 words on this issue)
Marking criteria
Marking criteria for both the group presentation and individual assignment are available on the UTS Online site for this subject.I have deliberately not given a list of references for these assignments. One of the aims of this assignment is to get you to do your own research on these topics – both as a group and individually.
