Advanced International Trade Theory and Policy
Final Project
This final project is intended to bring together the conceptual ideas about international trade presented in class and have you apply them to the study of one country. The end product will be a short paper, no less than 1500 words (about five double-spaced pages). You should feel free to write about whatever topic (relevant to international trade) you want. Want to explore, say, how copycat generic drugs from India have impacted pharmaceuticals markets? Go for it. Interested in the history of illegal ivory trade from Kenya? Great! Want to investigate the Maquiladora boom in Mexico? Awesome. Is your idea related to the international trade in goods and/or services? That will do just fine.
If you would like more structure, here is a basic one that might suit you: Imagine that you work as an analyst for an international consulting company. Your firm is looking for business opportunities in a new country. Your boss asks you to provide background information regarding this country’s trading history. You will want to provide plenty of factual information. For example, what and how much goods the country exports and imports. How has the country’s trade position changed over time (say, the last 50-75 years)? You might include graphs showing changes overtime. What factor inputs are abundant/scarce? What does the country seem to have a comparative advantage in producing? What are government policies toward trade? Any barriers to trade we should know about? You will want to be able to answer these basic questions in your paper.
If you don’t have inspiration for which particular country you want to focus on, I suggest it be a country large enough to be interesting(and have information out there) but not large enough so as to be overwhelming. You might try countries like Canada, Spain, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, or Argentina.
You are invited to focus on one or more “specialty” topics related to trade that we were able to cover only briefly (if at all) in class. You might be interested in things like immigration patterns for your country, inequality, trade treaties, howyour country treats intellectual property, outsourcing, taxation of multinational corporations, environmental regulations, and any other area of interest that might relate to trade.
If you’re not sure whether or not your topic is acceptable, please ask the instructor.
I want you to feel free to make this project your own. The rubric posted below is a rough guide, at best. The hope is that as you start investigating your country, you will discover some aspect of your country’s experience in international markets that you will really want to explore. If you write primarily about that and, of course, relate it to the ideas presented in the class in a thoughtful way, you will do well. If, on the other hand,your paper is a mishmash of bits and pieces you’ve lumped together from all corners of the internet, you will do badly.
Requirements
· 1500+ words
· Focus on a single country
· You are free to choose any topic, related to international trade, that is relevant to that country
· A clear introduction
· A clear conclusion
This is a paper, not a presentation or list of bullet points. As such, you first need an introduction that informs the reader what your paper is about (aka, your“thesis”). Each paragraph of the paper must relate to your thesis in some way. If it doesn’t, it probably doesn’t belong in the paper. By the time you get to the end of the paper,all your paragraphs must accomplish what you set out to accomplish in the thesis. Then write a one or two paragraph conclusion that ties everything up.
You must connect your paper to class content in a significant way. Which class content will depend on your topic. Whatever you choose may have relations to Heckscher-Ohlin, Stolper-Samuelson, Ricardo,Monopolistic Competition, Tariffs, Treaties, or any other topic we have covered. You might write a really good paper, but if it is not something that you can relate to our class in a meaningful way, then it is not appropriate for this project.
Plagiarism – stating or implying that another person’s work is your own – is unacceptable. Please refer to http://tlt.psu.edu/plagiarism/student-tutorial/defining-plagiarism-and-academic-integrity/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.for basic guidance on what constitutes proper usage of other people’s work vs.plagiarism. This website from Purdue University https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/930/01/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.provides suggestions to avoid common pitfalls when it comes to plagiarism. If you plagiarize and are caught, ignorance is not a defense. The University is unforgiving when it comes to plagiarism cases. You do not want to do this.
I hope that this project serves to help better connect the conceptual material that forms the bulk of the class to real-world experience. Remember, you are free to pick any (trade-related) topic that interests you. Have fun!
A grading rubric is included here and your reference.
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Capstone Project Rubric – 100 points possible
Criteria
Guidelines
Use and understanding of course concepts – 40 points possible
Writing correctly and appropriately applies concepts from course content
Followed project guidelines – 20 points possible
Writing fulfills requirements of the project, including submission by due date
Overall writing quality – 15 points possible
Writing conveys meaning smoothly and concisely. Thoughts are complete and do not raise further questions.
Proper length – 15 points possible
Writing meets or exceeds minimum word count as given in project
Proper grammar and punctuation – 10 points possible
Writing demonstrates use of proper and correct grammar and punctuation. Work is easy to read.
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Submission
The dropbox for this project uses TurnItIn (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
This tool is built into the Capstone Project dropbox in Canvas, but you may want to read the Turnitin instructions page for helpful information.
