Economics Development Research paper

Three Countries: Guinea, Nepal, Cambodia

The paper will count for 20% of your final grade. These are the criteria I use for grading:

30%: appropriate collection of data and correct use of analytical techniques

25%: appropriate use of tables and graphs and quantitative analyses to support the points made in the text.

35%: appropriate use of economic theories and concepts from this and previous courses, as well as plausible references to policies and events as explanations for the economy’s performance

10% overall coherence of writing and conformity with grammatical conventions.

You have a limit of 15 pages (double-spaced, Times New Roman font size 12), excluding tables and graphs. That is a strict maximum. Keep in mind what the Voltaire once wrote: “I apologize this letter is too long. I did not have enough time to write a shorter one.”

Hence, think hard before typing, omit needless words, and make strategic use of tables and graphs to convey your points (“a picture is worth a thousand words”): why waste words describing blow-by-blow how investment grew year by year, when a well-designed graph would instantly convey everything?

You will summarize, analyze, compare with another LDC, and critique.

Some good sources of country analyses:

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/cameroon

If you scroll down, you can see “View all research”. You can find documents that are typically called “Country Economic Memorandum” and they analyze the economy for, say, 1990-1995.

http://www.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=country&geography_id=1600000160

If you scroll down, you will see “Country Profile”, which unfortunately the EIU discontinued in 2009. Each annual report gives a nice summary of economic and political developments in the country in the previous year. If you go through Bobst, you can download the pdfs for free. (The “Country Report”, which is monthly, is less useful for you because it is a blow-by-blow report and does not have the long-term perspective you need.)

https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/HND

If you scroll down, you will see a link to the “Article IV Consultation with Honduras”. An Article IV report is an annual “medical checkup” done by the IMF. They’re not as helpful for your paper, but they do give you a good idea of the country’s policy choices, both good and bad.