Microsoft Word - Writing Assignment.docx
Eco 209 Writing Assignment.
Prof. Denislamova
Worth: 10%
Due: 11:59pm Toronto Time March 30th
Format: a max 2000 words policy
ief (there is no required minimum word limit).
Late Penalty: 20% of the total assignment grade per 24 hours of late submission. The first 24 hours start straight
after 12am Toronto time on March 31st, so if you submit the assignment at 12.01am Toronto time on March 31st,
you will suffer a 20% late penalty.
Academic Integrity Statement:
Academic integrity is fundamental to maintaining the value of our academic programs and upholding the standards
of excellence. All students are expected to adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity and to take
esponsibility for maintaining the integrity of their work. This is an individual assessment. You may NOT discuss this
assessment with ANYONE while the submission window is open. The use of AI generative systems that generate
original content is prohibited and will be considered a violation of academic integrity. The use of tools that help
students improve their writing and do not produce content (such as Grammarly) is allowed.
Submission Instructions
Start and submit the assessment well before the deadline to avoid any last-minute issues. Again, to be clear, if you
wait till the last minute to submit and then have issues like internet connectivity/outages, illness, computer crashes,
personal problems etc., you WILL NOT get any reduced penalties.
You must submit your assignment on both Quercus and Crowdmark.
Submission steps:
1) Complete your work in Microsoft Word.
2) Submit the Microsoft Word file on Quercus
3) Convert the Microsoft Word file into a pdf file (File -> Save as -> file type pdf)
4) Submit the pdf file on Crowdmark
5) Complete both steps before the deadline
You must verify (the co
ect version of) your work was submitted before the deadline. Details in the links below. This
is your responsibility and we will not accept any excuses for not checking. You can keep resubmitting till the
deadline.
o https:
crowdmark.com/help/verifying-that-an-assignment-was-submitted/
Make sure that you properly acknowledge your sources using your prefe
ed citation style (I routinely go for the APA
citation style).
If you are experiencing extreme circumstances beyond your control you need to email your college registrar (
https:
future.utoronto.ca/cu
ent-students
egistrars/ ) and XXXXXXXXXX at the earliest indication
of trouble.
Writing Help: If you are anxious about writing in general or writing in English, please make an appointment with
your college writing center for help (https:
writing.utoronto.ca/writing- centres/).
No available times? Check back later as they have many cancellations.
The task.
Consider the following scenario.
You work for a major company in either the US, the Eurozone or Canada.
You were tasked with writing a policy
ief for the senior executive management and the members of the board that
oadly addresses the topic of the recent state of the economy in the country of your choosing (you must focus on
either the US or Canada) and takes a stance in the ongoing debate about the possibility and the severity of a
ecession as a result of the policy that are targeting the increase in inflation. In particular, your
ief should address
the following questions:
1. What is the nature of the recent increase in inflation & what policies, if any, did the central bank and the
fiscal authorities implement to combat the rise in inflation? Your description should be
ief.
2. What are the competing views on whether the measures that you described in 1. will result in the economy
going into a severe recession?
a. In order to answer this question, you will need to find and read in detail at least five articles that
outline different views on the recent developments in the economy (you must choose either the US,
the Eurozone or Canada). You will need to reference the articles in your
ief.
3. How “good” are the opinions described in 2? This is where you get to apply the knowledge you have
accumulated in this class and look at the opinions through the lens of the models we have studied in class
a. Are they consistent with the models? Can the models that we discussed generate the predictions
and substantiate the views described in 2? Consider yourself to be the expert who is evaluating how
well-founded the opinions of other experts are given what you have learnt about how the economy
ehaves in Eco209.
4. What is your position on whether the economy is heading toward a recession and if it is heading toward a
ecession, how severe? Your answer should be well substantiated for a good mark.
5. Should the government implement any fiscal or monetary policies to try and co
ect the course of output
and employment, and if so, how will these measures interact with the effort to combat inflation? You should
take a stance on what you think the government should prioritize and provide a well-argued position.
Your
ief should address all of the questions above, but it does not have to do it in this order: you have to
determine what would make your
ief the most internally consistent and logical. Your
ief should be well
structured, with an introduction and logical paragraphs and be internally cohesive.
What is a policy
ief?
A policy
ief presents a concise summary of information that can help readers quickly understand, and oftentimes
make decisions about, important issues. Your policy
ief should include:
1. An introduction that
iefly describes the recent trends in inflation, as well as major recent developments in
the economy and the world in general that you think might be relevant. Be selective: many things happen in
the world, not all of them will be important for your policy
ief, keep your introduction concise.
2. Describe and evaluate the views on the directions of the economy based on the articles that you choose.
3. Analyse how “well-founded” these views are given what you have learnt, and based on your analysis,
present and defend your position
4. Analyse whether additional government intervention is necessary given the priorities that you argue about
and if it is, what policies governments can engage in and which ones will be effective.
The
ief should be written in connected prose and in logically ordered paragraphs. You can, but do not have to,
provide headings for your paragraphs and a title for the
ief as a whole.
You must have at least five references. Any references you cite should be identified and listed at the end of the
paper using the citation style of your choice. The bibliography does not count towards the word limit. You do not
need to cite the lectures or the textbook.
What audience are you writing for?
Think about senior management/ board of directors for a big company. Most of them would be highly educated, but
will not necessarily have an economics degree, so they might not be familiar with academic economics terminology
or economic models. Please write in a way that would make the
ief accessible to people without an economics
degree.
Given your target audience, in your
ief, you should rely on theoretical insights from the models studied in class to
motivate your analysis, but DO NOT explicitly refer to the models. You can use terms like “cost-push inflation”,
“aggregate demand”, “open market operations”, “disinflation” without definition, but do not use terms like the AS-
AD model or the ISMP model or refer to parameter names like “a-bar”.
Sources
Find at least five articles that discuss whether the economy is in a recession due to government policy or not. You
must use reputable sources: reputable news agencies, newspapers and journals, both academic and non-academic.
You can get started by looking at The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Brookings.edu, Vox.eu,
etc. (this is not an exhaustive list).
You can refer to the Chicago Manual of Style for advice on how to write up your references. It is available at
http:
www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html.
How to format your assignment
To be able to earn full marks you must do the following:
• Your assignment must have an introduction and be separated into logical paragraphs.
• Your assignment must be typed, double-spaced, and have a font size of 12 points.
Writing Assignment Ru
ic (total points: 100)
Introduction
(max 8 points)
Excellent (8pnts)
Grabs reader attention.
States only the relevant
ecent trends, data, events
& policies in a concise and
clear manner.
Clearly states the position
that the
ief is going to
take
Good (6pnts)
States mostly the
elevant recent trends,
data, events & policies in
a mostly concise and
clear manner.
Clearly states the position
that the
ief is going to
take
Fair (4pnts)
Overly wordy in the setup
of the trends, data, facts
& policies, a lot of
i
elevant information.
Attempts to clearly states
the position that the
ief
is going to take.
Poor (0-2pnts)
Overly wordy (or
insufficient) setup, a lot of
i
elevant as well as
elevant information.
No statement on the
position that the
ief is
going to take
Review &
Analysis of the
“Literature”
And Own
Position on
where the
economy is
going
(max 45 points)
Excellent (35-45pnts)
Considers a
oad set of
perspectives, clearly and
concisely outlines points of
difference and consensus
among the perspectives
Provides a complete,
concise and clear analysis
of the perspectives, shows
very good understanding of
course concepts
Takes a clear and confident
position, relates it back to
the perspectives of others,
presents a concise and
clear defense of the
position which is firmly
ooted in and demonstrates
very good understanding of
the course concepts
Good (25-34pnts)
Considers a
oad set of
perspectives, clearly and
concisely outlines points
of difference and
consensus among the
perspectives
Provides a mostly
complete, concise and
clear analysis of the
perspectives, shows good
understanding of course
concepts
Takes a position, relates it
ack to the perspectives
of others, presents a
mostly concise and clear
defense of the position
which is firmly rooted in
and demonstrates good
understanding of the
course concepts
Fair (13-24pnts)
Considers a
oad set of
perspectives, without
clearly and concisely
outlining points of
difference and consensus
Provides a mostly
complete, concise and
clear analysis of the
perspectives, shows
decent understanding of
course concepts
Takes a position, without
elating it back to the
perspectives of others,
presents a somewhat
concise and clear defense
of the position, showing a
decent understanding of
the course material
Poor (0-12pnts)
Considers some
perspectives in a
disorganizes fashion,
without clearly and
concisely outlining points
of difference and
consensus
Provides a mostly
incomplete and unclear
analysis of the
perspectives, shows
limited understanding of
course concepts
Takes a vague position,
without relating it back to
the perspectives of others,
presents a somewhat
concise and clear defense
of the position, showing a
limited understanding of
the course material
Analysis and
Own Position
on the tradeoffs
& priorities for
the government
(max 25 points)
Excellent (20-25pnts)
Takes a clear, well-argued
and confident position on
whether the government
should course-co
ect and
acks it up with clear
economic analysis and data
which shows very good
understanding of course
concepts
Good (14-19pnts)
Takes a clear position on
whether the government
should course-co
ect
and backs it up with
mostly clear economic
analysis which shows
good understanding of
course concepts
Fair (6-13pnts)
Takes a position on
whether the government
should course-co
ect
and backs it up with
mostly clear economic
analysis which shows
decent understanding of
course concepts
Poor (0-5pnts)