The “default option” is based on the first (growth) part of the course. If you decide to take this path, then your task will be to compare the economic growth experiences of two countries of your choice. The first country should be one with which you have strong attachments (e.g., a country you have lived in, or your parents’ country of origin). You should choose the second country to provide a good contrast with this one. You should describe and analyze economic growth in the two countries in the last 60 years, using the tools and the theories you learned in this class.
The paper is due in three installments. A one-page proposal will constitute 10% of the paper grade. A first draft of the paper will constitute 50% of the paper grade. The final draft of the paper is due on the last lecture and will constitute 40% of the paper grade. Paper assignments that are up to 12 hours late will be penalized with a loss of 50% of the grade. Late submission beyond this 12-hour window will result in a complete loss. We reserve the right to overweight the final draft if it shows substantial improvement relative to the proposal and/or the first draft. Below are guidelines for each of the three installments of the “default option” paper.
Proposal: Growth Accounting
The one-page proposal will be an outline of a basic growth accounting exercise. The growth accounting technique, which will be covered in the course, breaks down economic growth into various proximate causes, e.g., contribution from labor accumulation, capital accumulation, and technological progress. Your first task is to present growth accounting results for your chosen countries. This exercise will provide a comparative description of the growth experiences of the two countries and will provide much of the motivation for the paper. The data that you need for the exercise can be found at the Penn World Tables website.
First Draft
The introduction should provide a brief summary of your analysis. You should have a clear thesis statement early in the introduction. The first section after the introduction should present your growth accounting results. The main body of the paper develops your thesis, focusing on key events in the two countries and your analysis of them. You should avoid providing a chronological description or random bits of information. Rather, your thesis should focus on a small number of fundamental causes, e.g., differences in the institutional environment, political turning points, or policy changes. You should provide a careful economic reasoning for how the fundamental causes you identified might have translated into the proximate causes you uncovered earlier, ultimately explaining some of the growth differences between the two countries.
Final Draft
You will receive feedback from the teaching assistant on your first draft. The final draft should incorporate this feedback and should develop your arguments in the first draft at greater depth. You should try to use additional data, graphs, or economic reasoning to support your thesis. Strong papers often find ways to bring in microeconomic data that is consistent with the thesis.
