Department of Economics
ECON10003 Introductory Macroeconomics
Semester 2, 2015
Assignment 1
In this assignment, you will be asked to consider two questions. The assignment is
worth 10% of your overall mark for this subject.
These questions are designed to assess your knowledge and understanding of both
national accounts and the economic indicators which professional economists
working for banks, stockbroking firms, the public service and the media refer to and
use on a daily basis. It is a research assignment with a very practical relevance.
The assignment is due by 4pm, Wednesday August 19.
Late Submission
Late submissions must be requested from the FBE Student Centre, NOT the lecturer
or tutor. Late assignments, where approval for late submission has not been
given, will be penalised at the rate of 10% of the total mark per day, for up to 5
days, at which time a mark of zero will be given. For details see:
http://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/csc/assistance/assignment_extension
Referencing
All sources used for a written piece of assessment must be referenced. This is to
acknowledge that your material is not based entirely on your own ideas, but is
based, in part, on the ideas, information, and evidence of others. This is desirable as
you are attending University in order to learn from others.
You will be required to use the APA system or Harvard System of referencing.
Assistance in using these (and other) styles of referencing can be found using the
link:
http://library.unimelb.edu.au/cite
It is important that all material you present for assessment is referenced correctly.
Failure to reference or to reference properly will result in a significant penalty
in terms of the mark awarded to your assignment.
We will also look for evidence that material included in the bibliography has been
used in the assignment. Including references that have not been used may also
result in your assignment being penalised.
The Assignment
USE NO MORE THAN 1000 WORDS (EXCLUDING FOOTNOTES, TABLES AND
BIBLIOGRAPHY).
ANSWER BOTH QUESTIONS.
Question 1 (1 + 1 + 1 = 3 marks)
a. (1 mark) Using the published national accounts for Australia and the United
States for the period March quarter 2015, compare and contrast the behaviour
of economic growth in these two countries. You should consider the year to
the March quarter 2015 (that is, March quarter 2014 to March quarter 2015),
and the three month period to the March quarter 2015 (that is, December
quarter 2014 to March quarter 2015).
So, comparing these two economies, what was the rate of growth of real GDP
in each of these two periods? Use seasonally adjusted data.
Links:
United States:
To obtain the revised data for the March (first) quarter for the United States,
use the first (advance) release for the June (second) quarter 2015.
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2015/pdf/gdp2q15_adv.pdf
Australia:
http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/meisubs.nsf/0/F03A46CF7EE15E38
CA257E5800149ABF/$File/52060_mar%202015.pdf
AND
Question 2 (7 marks)
Now read the slides titled Economic Indicators. First, you should understand
the nature and use of economic indicators.
Then, choose three different leading indicators for the Australian economy
and use them to determine what they suggest about the performance of the
Australian economy for the next twelve months.
Now locate the same indicators (or very similar indicators), for the United
States.
(All relevant indicators are available from the internet).
Compare and contrast the behaviour of the indicators for the United States
with those for the Australian economy.
In particular do they suggest that the two economies are likely to
experience a similar or a different economic performance for the next
twelve months in terms of the growth of real GDP?
Have I reported all relevant data in a series of clear and easily interpreted
tables that I have constructed myself? I should not have just copied and
pasted large slabs of data from the sources used.
Would it be helpful to the reader to provide some of the data as charts?
Have I located and referred to the most recent release of the leading
indicators?
Have I explained why each indicator I have selected is likely to be a leading
indicator? Have I discovered and referred to any authority for my choice of
these indicators?
Have I demonstrated an understanding of the need to evaluate these most
recent observations in the light of their recent past behaviour, such as twelve
months ago or earlier this year?
Does my evaluation of the leading indicators for each country provide for a
clear conclusion about the two economies over the next twelve months? If
not, why not?