All students on the above course are required to prepare for the course work project. The project will in general be linked to one or more of the topics covered in the course but will have more of an applied emphasis. The aim of this project is to check your skills and interpretation and analyzing powers to understand Macroeconomic policies, theories and Banking and financial environment in a country. Students may discuss the topic with the lecturer.
The project question
Select a country of your choice. You are required to research on the following with respect to the country of your choice:
– The soundness and sustainability of the financial market (Part 1)
– The efficiency of the financial institutions (Part 1)
– how the interest rates are determined in the country and the competitiveness of the interest rate policy with respect to foreign investment, lending and borrowing (Part 2)
– The effect of financial crisis on the country in general and financial market in particular (Part 3)
– The role of Central bank (Part 4)
– the effectiveness of monetary policy of the country with examples (Part 4)
– Based on your analysis, you suggestions for the country to strengthen their financial and economic performance. (Part 1 -4)
Structure of the project
You are required to give report of your project. Soft and hard copy of the report needs to be submitted. The soft copy should be send to Turnitin ID. The report should be structured in the following way:
• An introduction – where you clearly state the purpose of your work and a general introduction
• A brief review of literature
• Findings of your project
• Supporting materials
• References and Appendix (if any).
Extra marks will be given for the following:
• Use of statistics, data and diagrams to back up an argument
• Giving as many different arguments as possible
• Giving a clear structure to your answer
• Having a clear purpose and a nice introduction
• Studying all aspects of the topic
• Giving concrete facts and a solution
• Structure and flow
• Sentence construction
• Grammar and punctuations
• Presentation
• Logical conclusion
Assignment Format
• A title page/cover sheet that clearly shows
• Your names, ID numbers
• course name
• title of your essay
• due date and the approximate number of words
• Lecturer’s name
• Pages should be numbered.
• Pages must be securely fastened together (e.g., stapled at the top left corner).
• Check that:
• All the font size except the headings and sub headings should be Times New Roman 12.
• All the headings should be 18 font size.
• All the sub-headings should be 14 font size.
• Is double spaced on A4 paper
• Has three- four centimeter margins to allow room for the markers comments
• Is written on one face of a page only, on numbered pages
• References and citations style should be chosen as the Harvard style, http://library.curtin.edu.au/referencing/harvard.pdf
• Apply justify alignment to all the pages.
• The project report has a maximum length of 3,000 words (about 7 to 10 double-spaced pages). Abstracts, footnotes, references and appendices are excluded from the word count providing they are kept brief and do not incorporate material that should rightly be included in the body of the text
Please note the following:
• It must be emphasized that the project is part of your final course mark. Students’ attention is drawn to the Institute’s regulations on plagiarism. Each project will be passed through plagiarism-detection software after which the essays will be marked. Plagiarism is considered to be cheating and you will be penalized for it.
• Please hand in one hard copy to lecturer by 3 PM, January 4th 2013. There will be a penalty for late submission. If a student fails to submit by the set deadline (or extended deadline as appropriate) the following penalty:
Five marks out of 100 will be deducted for coursework submitted within the 24-hours of the deadline and a further five marks will be deducted for each subsequent 24-hour period (working days only) until the course work is submitted. Extension of the deadline can be granted only with formal permission from the Academic Coordinator and such permission will be granted only where there is a good reason backed by supporting evidence (e.g., medical certificate). Failure to meet a formally agreed extended deadline will incur penalties as above.
Money & Macro – Project
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
The project question
Select a country of your choice. You are required to research on the following with respect to the country of your choice:
– The soundness and sustainability of the financial market (Part 1)
Feel free to cover any topic related to the financial markets for the country you are covering.
Here are some examples, talk about the financial markets on the country you picked. List them and state their size in term of ($), number of transaction if possible, and the general characteristics such as, are they liquid or not, do they have global presence, etc. You also need to talk about the soundness and sustainability of the financial market during the financial crisis; example, was it easy to raise money during the financial crisis, what kind of problem these markets faced during the financial crisis ..etc.
All the above are examples of what you can write in this section but you do not have to limit yourself with it 100%. Every country is different so you can be creative in writing this part by covering information about financial markets that is related to your country. When reading this section, the reader should be able to get a very good idea of the financial market of your country.
– The efficiency of the financial institutions (Part 1)
Here, you need to cover extensively the financial institutions in the country you picked. List the number of FI such as number of commercial banks, insurance companies, investment banks, mutual funds etc. State their size in terms of assets etc. You also need to talk about the efficiency of the FI such as Number of banks that went bank bankrupt during the financial crisis, how efficient FI during the conduct of monetary policy etc.
All the above is an example of what you can write in this section but you do not have to limit yourself with it 100%. Every country is different so you can be creative in writing this part by covering information about FI that is related to your country.
– how the interest rates are determined in the country and the competitiveness of the interest rate policy with respect to foreign investment, lending and borrowing (Part 2)
Here you need to talk about the process through which interest rates are determined in your country. Be specific in defining the process. Talk about how competitive the central bank in changing interest rate policy (increasing or decreasing) when foreign investment increase or decrease, and when lending & borrowing increase or decrease. Provide examples.
Every country is different so you can be creative in writing this part by covering information about interest rate policy that is related to your country, but have not covered above.
– The effect of financial crisis on the country in general and financial market in particular (Part 3)
In this section you need to cover in detail the effect of the financial crisis on your country. Almost, all countries in the world have been affected negatively or positively by the financial crisis. Make sure if it is positive effect to explain it or if it is negative effect to explain it.
– The role of Central bank (Part 4)
In this section you need to cover the central bank of your country. Talk about its role, structure, etc.
– the effectiveness of monetary policy of the country with examples (Part 4)
You just covered how the financial crisis has affected your country and also talked about the role of the central bank. Now, you need to talk about the effectiveness of the monetary policy of your central bank in helping your country cope with the financial crisis or any other crises faced by your country. Provide examples.
Every country is unique when it comes to this part. So, feel free to cover any relative information that is not mentioned above.
– Based on your analysis, you suggestions for the country to strengthen their financial and economic performance. (Part 1 -4)
Now, provide suggestions to the central bank of your country in how it could strengthen its performance. If the country is still in trouble due to the financial crisis and the policies of the central bank did not help in getting it out of the financial crisis, then make sure to suggest to the central bank some policies that could help in speeding the recovery of the financial crisis and get the country moving again. Make sure to relate the suggestions to the same theories learned in class (money supply, interest rate, bond selling, bond purchase, reserve ratio, monetary base etc).
Your project work will be assessed in relation to the following criteria:
• Content of the project: quality, relevance and depth of information, references and the way in which you have made use of the materials in terms of
– definition of the topic;
– analysis of the key issues;
– logical sequence of argument;
– constructive discussion and consideration of contrary arguments;
– demonstration of original and independent thinking;
– presentation and examination of personal views and conclusions
• Skills (which relate to your proficiency in the requirements for clear written presentation of the project)
– proficiency in language and communication;
– diagrammatic proficiency;
– accuracy, completeness and consistency of the way references are cited.
Based on the above criteria:
For a grade of >90%
– use and synthesis of suggested sources, high quality material not mentioned in class or on reading lists;
– considered use of technical terms, diagrams and/or other sources to define and set the topic in context;
– critical specification of the key issues;
– prioritization and exhibition of the key issues in a clear and logical sequence;
– relevant contrary arguments are identified and effectively dealt with;
– discussion forms a sound basis for clear, justified and comprehensive recommendations and conclusions;
– independence of thought and obvious originality;
– demonstrated ability to weigh arguments and form clear, considered personal viewpoints;
– use of high quality English proficiency
– references presented at ‘publishable’ standard.
Overall, your work demonstrates, in an interesting or challenging way, originality based on proficiency in all the learning objectives. It also reflects consistent excellence in communications competence, graphs, diagrams and referencing.
For a grade of 80-89 %
– use and synthesis of most suggested sources, and reference to additional, good quality material;
– adequate use of dictionary and technical terms, diagrams and/or other sources to define and set the topic in context;
– clear specification of the key issues;
– key issues generally presented in a logical sequence;
– relevant contrary arguments raised but might not be fully resolved;
– discussion leads to clear and justified recommendations and conclusions;
– independence of thought and frequent originality;
– general ability to weigh arguments and form personal viewpoints;
– proficient use of textual and contextual features of English language;
– proficient use of graphics;
– proficient cartography;
– References largely error free.
Overall, your work demonstrates a comprehensive awareness and understanding of the set material. It also reflects proficiency in the technical elements, communications competence, graphics, and referencing.
For a grade of 70-79%)
– use and synthesis of major suggested sources, and reference to some additional material of mixed quality;
– overall awareness of the key issues;
– the selected key issues generally presented in a logical sequence;
– some contrary arguments raised with inadequate appreciation of their significance;
– a clear statement of conclusions and recommendations;
– some independent thought but limited originality;
– difficulties in weighing arguments and presenting personal viewpoints;
– sometimes proficient and always passable proficiency use of English language;
– sometimes proficient and always passable use of graphs;
– some errors of omission or detail in presentation of references.
Overall, your work demonstrates the ability to use and apply fundamental concepts and skills, going beyond mere replication of content knowledge. It reflects passable and sometimes proficient communications competence, graphs and referencing.
For a grade of 50-69%
– limited use and synthesis of suggested sources;
– some awareness of the key issues;
– some attempt to order the argument, but flaws in logical discipline;
– few contrary arguments raised and little appreciation of their significance;
– a generally clear statement of conclusions and recommendations;
– little independent thought and minimal originality;
– little weighing of argument and lack of clarity in personal viewpoints;
– passable use of English language;
– passable use of graphics;
– Some errors of omission or detail in presentation of references.
–
Overall, your work satisfies the basic learning requirements of the assessment item. It also reflects passable proficiency in communications competence, graphics, cartography and referencing.
For a grade of 30-49%
– lack of awareness of sources or what the question is about;
– confused definitions;
– general inability to identify the key issues and order the argument;
– few, if any, contrary arguments raised and no appreciation of their significance;
– inadequate statement of conclusions or recommendations;
– no independent thought or originality;
– no ability to weigh arguments or form personal viewpoints;
– fail standard in the textual and features of English language;
– low standard of graph and referencing.
For a grade of 0 – 29 %
– no reference to suggested sources, generally inappropriate use of materials
– no attempt at definitions;
– no awareness of key issues, such that the paper fails to address or answer the question;
– arguments unformulated, many errors, unsupported assertions,
– contrary arguments ignored;
– inconclusive outcome to the paper;
– no independent thought, any originality likely to be illogical;
– inability to weigh arguments, personal viewpoints absent or inadequate;
– fail standard use of English language;
– low standard in graph and referencing.
