Guide to Economics Final Examination 2022

Title: ‘Discuss the extent to which an increase in investment is the most important factor in increasing economic growth in a
country of your choice.’

—The task is to examine whether an increased investment is the main driver of economic growth in your country of choice.  Investment may be by domestic firms or firms based in other countries.  The report should not be a discussion about foreign direct investment in the country.

—A good starting point would be to read Gillespie’s (2016) Chapter 21 – Investment.

—

—Argue the cases for and against investment being the main driver of growth using examples from a country of your choice.

—All sources used must be in English.

Allocation of Marks

Presentation:  15%: Reference list (8%); citations (4%); structure/format (3%)

Introduction:  5% (approx. 150 words)

Main Body

a)Theory:  20% (approx. 500 words)

1. b) Country
   Example  50%  (approx. 1200 words) [(i) 300 words; (ii) 900 words – 3 x 300
   words]

Conclusion:  10%  (approx. 200 words)

Format

The submission should be in report format to include:

Title page:  Report title and student ID only

Report:  May include section headings but no bullet points.

Introduction (5%)

—It is important to define the main economic terms in the report title in your introduction.

—

—Then you need to explain what you are planning to write about in the main body of your report – your thesis statement

REMEMBER – All definitions must come from academic sources: i.e. textbooks or economic dictionaries

All definitions should be quoted throughout.  These must be Leeds-Harvard referenced within the report and in the Reference List.

All paraphrased work needs to be Leeds–Harvard referenced within the report, including diagram explanations.

Introduction (5%)

• Definitions required: Investment, economic growth
• The thesis statement must indicate the country choice and outline the arguments to
  be put forward in the report and in what order.

• You need to ensure that your introduction reflects the task or question in the title.
• This section should be approximately 150 words
• Main Body of the Report 70%
• —Each paragraph should make a different point.—Quotes should not be used to make your point; this is poor academic practice and the passage should be paraphrased.  Quotes should only ever be used to support a point you have already made.—Diagrams or charts may be used to support examples, where requested or appropriate.

  —All diagrams and charts must be sourced and explained within the report.

     To source a diagram or chart you need to put:

  Author’s/authors family name/names, year of publication of the source, and the page number.

  E.g.  Gillespie (2014:23), Mankiw and Taylor (2011:56)

• Main Body of the Report 70%
• Theory (20%)
  1. a) Explain investment and the various forms it can take e.g. traditional investment in physical
     capital, Research, and Development, new improvements in processes and productivity, ICT systems or ways of working. The importance of well-targeted investment for future growth e.g. building houses will not directly drive growth but it may improve labor market flexibility whereas investment in new digital technologies will directly drive future growth in a knowledge economy.
  2. b) Explain actual economic growth and the role of investment in increasing aggregate demand and put it into context g comparing the effect of an increase/decrease in investment with an increase/decrease in consumption. Include the AD schedule and an AD shift diagram explained.
  3. c) Theory should then explain potential economic growth and the role of investment in increasing capital
     stock and productivity. LRAS diagram explained. However, efficiencies may also be achieved through other supply-side changes such as stronger competition in product markets, globalization, and tougher competition laws or regulations. Examples are needed here.
     This section should be approximately 500 words
• Main Body of the Report 70%
• Country Examples (50%)Use researched examples from a country of your choice to(i) Argue the case for increased investment being the main driver of growth in the country. Present
  levels of investment over the past 15-20 years, noting any changes.  Evidence should be
  presented linking investment to growth e.g  GDP, employment, and trade.

             (20% of Country examples section)

  (ii) Argue the case against increased investment being the main driver of economic growth in the
  country.  Investment on its own is unlikely to permanently increase potential growth; it is only
  one factor and its effects on growth will be limited unless it is supported.  In some countries,
  there are other drivers of economic growth that may be more important than investment
  (usually, problems to be solved for investment to be effective).

  Three examples should be discussed. 30% of country examples section (ideas on next slide)
  This section should be approximately 1200 words [(i) 300 words; (ii) 900 words – 3 x 300 words]

• Conclusion (10%)
  The Conclusion must make a clear judgment about the extent to which investment is the most important factor
  in increasing economic growth in the country of your choice.  Justify the judgment made with supporting
  comments.The conclusion should be approximately 200 words (10%)
• Conclusion
• In the conclusion, you cannot use phrases such as- In my view- I believe

  – In my opinion

  Begin the conclusion with

  This report has shown…

  The evidence presented in the report would suggest…

  Investment is/is not the most important factor…

  Or something similar

  Suggested Sources for the theory section

Reference List (10%)

Make sure you include a Leeds-Harvard Reference List at the end of your report.  All sources listed in the Leeds-Harvard reference list must be cited in the report; this will be checked.

A minimum of 15 and a maximum of 25 sources should be used in the report.

The Reference List should be

• on a new page
• created using the Leeds-Harvard referencing system as used in EAP
  https://library.leeds.ac.uk/referencing-examples/9/leeds-harvard
• in alphabetical order by the family names of the author or authors example:
  Anderton, A. (2008) Economics, 5th edition, Harlow, Pearson Education (no pages for books)
• all authors of a text must be included. (‘et al’ is not acceptable)
• information taken from any online source must be referenced according to Leeds-Harvard guidance for the type of document e.g. PDF, report, ebook, book chapter, and be entered on the same list.
• Reports without a reference list will not achieve a ‘Pass’ grade.Citations  for quotes and information Presented in your report (5%)Throughout your report, you will need to tell us which books, journals, websites, or other sources you used to write your report.

  Citations tell us the author(s), publication year, and page for quotes, paraphrased work (information put into your own words), and diagrams.

  In Economics, regular citations are expected throughout the submission. EAP recommends a minimum of 2 citations per paragraph or once approximately every 50 words.

  Submission without acknowledgment of the authors used (i.e. no citations) will be
  regarded as academic misconduct and will not achieve a ‘Pass’ grade.

  Reports submitted with 5-10 citations will most likely achieve a very low Credit because large sections of the report will have no sources cited for the information
  presented.

• Plagiarism
• Definition:Literary theft. ”Plagiarism occurs when a writer duplicates anotherwriter’s language or ideas and then calls the work his or her own.

  Copyright laws protect writers’ words as their legal property.”

  (www.dictionary.com/browse/plagiarism)

  Warwick University has a very strict policy on plagiarism.

  Plagiarism is regarded as Academic Misconduct and reports
  containing plagiarism will receive zero marks (0) and

  there will be no opportunity to correct or resubmit wor

• Do’s and Don’ts
• Do’s—Do use a range of sources within your report – You should use a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 25  sources (textbooks, websites, journals).— Do draw your own economic models either in Word or PowerPoint.

  —Do give each diagram/model a title and cite the source below the diagram/model.

  —Do make use of diagrams or charts throughout your work and make sure they have a title and are accurately labeled and sourced.

  —Do make sure you explain all your diagrams/models/charts and include a citation for the explanation.

• Do’s:—Do make sure every quote is in quotation marks (“..”) and is properly referenced otherwise it is considered plagiarism.—Do make sure you source paraphrased work in every paragraph, approximately every 50 words.  Explanations of economic models must have a cited source.

  —Do spell check and grammar check your work?

  —Do make sure the page number is included for citations from books; ebooks, including PDFs, reports, and journals.

• Do’s and Don’ts
• Don’ts—Do not assume the reader understands your thought processes. Explain all your ideas as if the reader does not know the topic. Try to use one paragraph to make one point and then make a different point in a new paragraph.—Do not start sentences with the following (or similar):

  – Because….- And…  – But…  – As everyone knows…. – All in all…… – Nowadays  –  Besides

  These are very, very annoying!

  • Do not end sentences with and vice versa or and so on or etc.

  Do not use ‘I’, ‘We’, or other personal pronouns in academic papers. ‘We’ indicates that more than one author is responsible for the work. You must be the only author of the work.

• Do’s and Don’ts
• Don’ts—Do not copy and paste or scan diagrams or text relating to economic models from websites or books.—Don’t ‘signpost’ in your report – this means that there is no need to tell us at the beginning of each paragraph what you will be writing about next. This wastes valuable words!

  —Do not insert diagrams or text as pictures to avoid the word count – the words will be counted and checked for plagiarism

• Do’s and Don’ts
• Don’ts—Do not include diagrams without explaining them. Diagrams should support your arguments.—Do NOT use quotes to make your point; paraphrase the passage.  Quotes should only ever be used to support a point you have already made.

  —Do not exceed the word limit: any words over 2200 will not be marked. 

  —

  Finally…..

  —Never use any Google source such as WIKIPEDIA or INVESTOPEDIA, ehow,  economicsabout.com, amosweb, wiktionary, or similar internet sources.

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