Economics EE

[Hughie]

Alright, the thing is, I've decided my topic to be something about neoliberalism and the Asian crisis 1997-1998. (more specifically, its effect on Korea)

So I've done a lot of research on that, for about a month or so;

then I sat down to actually write the essay, and I just thought "Hey, might as well as have a look at the criteria." and skimmed through it -

[b]ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE ANY TOPIC MORE THAN 3 YEARS OLD!!![/b]

As I've written up there, the Asian crisis was about ten years ago so that goes right outta the window Might be a good thing still, because I thought mine might be getting a bit too descriptive.


Anywayz, having done some research on the recent global economics crisis involuntarily (a lot of economists were comparing the Asian crisis to the recent crisis), I then decided to write my EE on something about the 2008 crisis. Being a Korean, I've again decided to write it on "something" to do with South Korea and the recent crisis. What I wrote down as my topic and my research question is:

[b]Topic: [/b]The 2008 Global financial crisis in relation to 1997-1998 Asian Crisis in South Korea
[b]Research Question: [/b]What could the government do in this crisis (2008) based on the experiences of 1997-1998?

But then, I thought that this might be a bit, nay, a lot too broad and decided against it. So now I'm thinking about talking about monetary policy or fiscal policy or whatever, but then I can't really decide and I'm, well, stuck in short

(To top it off, my superviser's not replying to my kinda desperate e-mails for about a month now. Worse, this is my summer holiday, the only chance I actually have to write my EE as I gotta hand it in by Week 7 of Term 1)


So could anybody please give me a hand on this?

Edited January 7, 2009 by Hughie

[harabla]

first off. your supervisors an ass.
Well i am not really sure on how you have to do in economics on EE, because i did mine on Business where you had to do primary research and thus interview people, questionnaire etc.
so if you have to do that, well your really in the sh@t so to say. But ok, seems like youve only been doing research so prolly dont need primary data.
right. my 2cents. First, you need to stop all restrictive thoughts like that idea that you want to do about korea, your running out of time to be so picky.
on the topic, i cannot help right now, but tomorrow when i get back to school ill do some searching on my breaks for you.

Finally, i think that you should do on exactly somethng to do with monetary and/or fiscal policy, as i am too an economics student and know their pretty simple all in all, and alot in relation to them is happening all the time. Should be simple enought to find.

Sorry i cannot be of more help now

[deissi]

harabla is right, the Economics EE is similar to B&M in that you need a lot of your own primary material Also, to score a high grade, you need [b]quantitative data[/b] in addition to qualitative data. Your topic is so highly macro that it will be impossible for you to get your own primary (numerical) data, thus flushing down anything higher than a C.

I strongly recommend that if you want to do your EE in Economics, choose a micro topic, or at least one where you can apply some micro quantitative data of your own.

To give you an idea of a plausible microeconomics EE topic, here are some that have been done at our school:

The effect of weather on the price elasticity of demand for hot soup in a restaurant. (Elasticity)
Are the little shops in Helsinki Market Square price-takers or price-givers. (Market structure)
Investigating the cross-elasticity of demand of products x and y. (Elasticity)

[Hughie]

My primary research will be done as a survey - I'm gonna make a questionnaire, hand it out to a) My dad's workplace people (he works in financial area) b) local small business men/women (meaning supermarkets, pharmacy, bakery, etc) and c) online. So I think that'd be enough of quantitative (primary) data if I make my survey into being something like: "Do you think current government's fiscal/monetary policy is doing anything to reflate the economy? A) Pretty much. B) Maybe. C) Don't think so, but at least they're trying. D) Haha, no. E) What they're doing is a complete waste of money. F) Don't know, don't care, don't wanna care about it for a long time" and then put how many people have marked A, B, C or D into a table.

I was thinking that I'd have more of quantitative data, from all the statistics and all, rather than the qualitative ones......O_o Unless I got the definition all wrong, as I probably did, what I'm short of is qualitative ones methinks. For that I was thinking e-mailing Professor Chang at Cambridge or something.

I'm basically clinging to this idea only because I'm out of time and I've already done a lot of research on this - don't wanna make that a waste of time And I'm interested in this area as well. So even though doing something on microeconomics does sound attractive, I guess I'm just gonna have to stick to this Thanks, though

The Korean government recently announced a "Green New Deal" policy to help reflate the economy; I guess this is an example of fiscal policy. There're already a lot of critics voicing their opinion on this - maybe I should do my EE on this, about how effective it would be. Do you think it's a good idea?

Oh, and another question - I think nearly all of my resources would be in Korean. Do you think that'd matter greatly, or am I supposed to go and translate every single one of them into English? Man that'll be a pain if I gotta

[Abu]

You'll need to translate the key documents because you're doing the essay in English and the examiner might need to verify your analysis.