Trimester T3 2021 Unit Code HC1072 Unit Title Economics and International Trade Assessment Type Individual Assignment Assessment Title Economic Analysis of an Australian Event Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping) To complete this assessment, students are required to: 1. Develop a broad understanding of the principles of macro and microeconomics in an economy. 2. Analyse economic environment nationally and internationally and its influence on business and national economic performance. 3. Critically analyse government’s fiscal and monetary policy and their influences on the economy and business in general. 4. Comprehend how economies benefit from international trade. 5. Synthesize theoretical and practical knowledge of economics for application in work-life situations. Weight 40 % of the total assessments Total Marks 40 Word limit No more than specified in each section in the detailed task list Due Dates Microeconomic Analysis – 23:59 Friday, 21 Jan 2021, Week 8 Recorded Video Presentation – 23:59 Friday, 04 Feb 2021, Week 10 Submission Guidelines • All work must be submitted on Blackboard by the due date along with a completed Assignment Cover Page. • The assignment must be in MS Word format, no spacing, 12-pt Arial font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings and page numbers. • Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using Harvard referencing style. • Submitted work should be your original work showing your creativity. Please ensure the self-check for plagiarism to be done before final submission in accordance with SafeAssign Student Guide in Black Board. As a guide, a similarity score of over 25% is considered as excessive except in the cases where the similarity is caused by the use of template provided by the lecturer, references or sources of data. Please note that it can take 48 hours for the self-check report to be available for your viewing. • You are required to submit the assignment at HC1072//Assessments/Individual Assignment Information and Submission link on Black Board. There are 2 separate links for your 2 tasks. Always keep an electronic copy until you have received the final grade for the Unit. Please make sure that you submit the correct file. Any appeal relating to submitting wrong files after the deadline will not be considered. HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Page 2 of 11 Academic Integrity Holmes Institute is committed to ensuring and upholding Academic Integrity, as Academic Integrity is integral to maintaining academic quality and the reputation of Holmes’ graduates. Accordingly, all assessment tasks need to comply with academic integrity guidelines. Table 1 identifies the six categories of Academic Integrity breaches. If you have any questions about Academic Integrity issues related to your assessment tasks, please consult your lecturer or tutor for relevant referencing guidelines and support resources. Many of these resources can also be found through the Study Sills link on Blackboard. Academic Integrity breaches are a serious offence punishable by penalties that may range from deduction of marks, failure of the assessment task or unit involved, suspension of course enrolment, or cancellation of course enrolment. Table 1: Six categories of Academic Integrity breaches Plagiarism Reproducing the work of someone else without attribution. When a student submits their own work on multiple occasions this is known as self-plagiarism. Collusion Working with one or more other individuals to complete an assignment, in a way that is not authorised. Copying Reproducing and submitting the work of another student, with or without their knowledge. If a student fails to take reasonable precautions to prevent their own original work from being copied, this may also be considered an offence. Impersonation Falsely presenting oneself, or engaging someone else to present as oneself, in an in-person examination. Contract cheating Contracting a third party to complete an assessment task, generally in exchange for money or other manner of payment. Data fabrication and falsification Manipulating or inventing data with the intent of supporting false conclusions, including manipulating images. Source: INQAAHE, 2020 Assessment Design – Adapted Harvard Referencing Holmes will be implementing as a pilot program a revised Harvard approach to referencing. The following guidelines apply: 1. Reference sources in assignments are limited to sources which provide full text access to the source’s content for lecturers and markers. 2. The Reference list should be located on a separate page at the end of the essay and titled: References. HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Page 3 of 11 3. It should include the details of all the in-text citations, arranged alphabetically A-Z by author surname. In addition, it MUST include a hyperlink to the full text of the cited reference source. For example; Hawking, P., McCarthy, B. and Stein, A. 2004. Second Wave ERP Education, Journal of Information Systems Education, Fall, http://jise.org/Volume15/n3/JISEv15n3p327.pdf 4. All assignments will require additional in-text reference details which will consist of the surname of the author/authors or name of the authoring body, year of publication, page number of content, paragraph where the content can be found. For example; “The company decided to implement a enterprise wide data warehouse business intelligence strategies (Hawking et al, 2004, p3(4)).” Non Adherence to Referencing Guidelines Where students do not follow the above guidelines: 1. Students who submit assignments which do not comply with the guidelines will receive a 10% penalty. 2. Late penalties will apply, as per the Student Handbook each day, after the student/s have been notified of the resubmission requirements. 3. Students who comply with guidelines and the citations are “fake” will be reported for academic misconduct. HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Page 4 of 11 Assignment Specifications Assignment Tasks The assignment task is a written analysis of any published news story (newspaper, magazine or website) within Australia from 01 October 2021 and onwards. Your task is not to research nor provide data. You are instead asked to analyse and interpret an ordinary event using your knowledge of economic principles. You will be required to apply the economic concepts you have learned in class to interpret events reported in your news story. Step 1: Choose your news story. The first come, first served rule will apply. No two persons can use the same story for the assignment. Register your news story by sending an email to the coordinator. Sending incomplete information will mean automatic rejection of your topic. Your email should state: a. HC1072 Individual Assignment by Name, Student ID b. Full Article Name/Full Title c. Date Published and Author/Writer A response will be sent. It will indicate, APPROVED or NOT APPROVED. Do not start your work unless you have the email response. A deduction of 30% will be applied if you submit your work without pre-approval. Ensure that a full printed copy of your article is saved as part of the Appendix of your paper. Deduction of 5% will be applied if the printed copy is not provided for the marker to read. Task 1: Microeconomic Analysis (25 marks) – for submission on Week 8 In this part of your assessment, you will analyse the event reported in your chosen article based on microeconomic concepts learned in class. Ensure a full print out/clear picture of the news story is in the appendix as the marker will need to read to check the validity of your analysis. Task 2: Individual Video Presentation (15 marks) – for submission on Week 10 You will orally present your discoveries, findings and lessons learned from your microeconomic analysis via video recording. Your presentation should be for a minimum of 5 minutes and maximum 10 minutes. You will be required to show your face, state your full name and student ID clearly at the start of the presentation. Voice over is allowed with powerpoint slides afterwards. But remember, we will match your voice and photo for identity checks. Refer to the below table for the specific task details and some guide questions for your analysis. Recommended Assignment Structure Requirement/s and Guide Questions Event/Product/Company Description (3 marks, up to 250 words) a) Elaborate on the event being reported in your chosen article. Why did you choose to analyse this event? b) What are the products and services being sold? What is the significance to the Australian Economy of the product/service? c) Who are the parties involved? Identify who is the supplier and who is the consumer in the event. HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Page 5 of 11 Microeconomic Analysis (Part 1) Demand and Supply (7 marks, up to 1000 words) In this part of your paper, you are required to discuss the Demand and Supply interactions. a) What are the Determinants of Market Demand for your chosen event? How do these determinants affect Total Demand? b) What are the Determinants of Market Supply for your chosen event? How do these determinants affect Total Supply? c) Who has power in the market? Analyse any shortage or surplus situation, if applicable. d) Characterize the elasticity of the product being analysed. Who bears the cost of any price increase? Industry Description and Market Structure Analysis (5 marks, up to 500 words) a) Characterize the size of the industry and the level of competition. b) Identify the Market Structure in the industry. Discuss how market structure influences the prices in the industry. c) Identify the regulator/s of the industry. Comment on the extent of the regulator’s power to ensure compliance within the industry. d) Are there any industry groups that help regulate behaviour aside from regulators? Externalities (5 marks, up to 500 words) a) Aside from the initial buyer and seller that you have identified, are there any 3rd parties affected by the economic event? b) Describe the impact to the 3rd party. Is it negative or positive? c) What other actions or behaviour is triggered by the impact to the 3rd party? What solutions are applied for the externalities you have identified? Findings, Conclusion and Recommendations (3 marks, up to 250 words) Based on a summary of your findings, comment on the economic health of the industry (microeconomics). What further recommendations from regulators and industry experts can be applied to sustain the health and development of the industry and the country? Do you agree with these recommendations? State why or why not. Presentation of Paper (including Assignment Cover Page and Reference List) – 2 marks and not included in word count Example for Students: Note that the example provided is in draft form. Bullet points indicate the topics that need to be elaborated on. You will need to write paragraphs. This is a structure for an analysis. Article : 2020 Olympics Delayed to 2021 (ensure to have a copy of full article in the appendix) Publish Date: 15 April 2020 Published In: Indicate the source MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS Event/Product/Company Description a) Elaborate on the event being reported in your chosen article. Why did you choose to analyse this event? • Olympics is a worldwide event that happens only every 4 years. • I choose this event because I am interested to analyse why countries would spend money and resources to hold such an event. b) What are the products and services being sold? What is the significance to the Australian Economy of the product/service? HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Page 6 of 11 • Product/Service – Sports, Entertainment/Media, Travel, Hospitality • Australia sets aside a significant budget for the development of athletes and sports organizations to represent the country. c) Who are the parties involved? Identify who is the supplier and who is the consumer in the event. • Supplier – International Olympic Committee but primarily the host country which is Japan for 2020. • Consumers are varied: 1) Countries sending athletes, 2) Athletes competing, 3) Entertainment and media who will cover the event, 4) Arline operators and travel agencies who will book travellers, 5) Hospitality sector who will prepare accommodations and food for all travellers. Many more can be identified. Microeconomic Analysis Demand and Supply In this part of your paper, you are required to discuss the Demand and Supply interactions. a) What are the Determinants of Market Demand for your chosen event? How do these determinants affect Total Demand? • Price – includes price of event tickets, price for airfare, price for accommodations. Normal law of demand applies here. • Income – attendees to the event may end up not going if they do not have steady income because of corona virus. • Taste and Preferences – If the new date chosen does not fit into the holiday plans, some travellers will not go anymore in 2021. For athletes, if they still have enough time to train, then they will go. But some may withdraw because of the change of date. • Availability of Related Products – There is no substitute for Olympics as a sport event. There may be room to increase prices to maintain the revenue goal if the quantity is not enough. There are many complementary products – travel, accommodation, event souvenirs, etc. • Price and Income Expectations – People generally expect a certain range for ticket prices. With the corona virus, will price expectations be higher or lower? Why? • Number of Buyers – Because many countries worldwide have been hit by corona virus, they may reallocate their funds to other essential activities and not send their athletes to the Olympics even if it is rescheduled to 2021. b) What are the Determinants of Market Supply for your chosen event? How do these determinants affect Total Supply? • Resource Prices – Analyse costs involved to hold Olympics. Check Japan’s budget to hold Olympics. This will factor in the selling price for the event tickets. • Number of Sellers – There is only 1 seller: Japan. No other country can hold Olympics 2020. • Technology – The ability to hold Olympics depends on cooperation of media and event organizers and the cost to build the technology. This means tech for prompt scores, monitoring finish times at the millisecond, etc. • Price and Economy Expectations of Sellers – The price of event tickets and media subscription for livestream of the event will depend on the costs for Japan, its target profit and how many people are expected to come. • Time – Given the corona virus predictions, there is very little time to adjust. Also, since all venues (stadiums and sports complex) plus accommodations have to be pre-booked, it will mean informing the public ahead of what happens to any reservations paid for in advance. c) Who has power in the market? Analyse any shortage or surplus situation, if applicable. HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Page 7 of 11 Only 1 supplier – Japan so monopoly. In a normal situation, Japan can dictate the price and go on with the scheduled event. But because corona virus affects the whole world, Japan now has to consider safety of all travellers and athletes. So it has to postpone the event and forego its projected profit for 2020. It hopes to recover this profit in 2021. d) Characterize the elasticity of the product being analysed. Who bears the cost of any price increase? Because Olympics is a monopoly, any price increase will have to be borne by the consumers – those who want to attend the event. In this scenario, demand is inelastic. But the supplier (Japan) must be conscious of a possible decrease in demand due to the corona virus. People may not want to travel. So the original inelastic demand can shift to being elastic. Japan bears risk if it does not postpone the games to 2021. Industry Description and Market Structure Analysis a) Characterize the size of the industry and the level of competition. Monopoly so no competition for Japan as supplier. b) Identify the Market Structure in the industry. Discuss how market structure influences the prices in the industry. Expand on characteristics of Monopoly c) Identify the regulator/s of the industry. Comment on the extent of the regulator’s power to ensure compliance within the industry. Regulator is IOC (International Olympic Committee). They have power to override Japan’s decisions to hold the games, if required. d) Are there any industry groups that help regulate behaviour aside from regulators? Other interest groups are various sports associations of the participating countries, media covering the event, association for referees and umpires, etc. Externalities a) Aside from the initial buyer and seller that you have identified, are there any 3rd parties affected by the economic event? External parties affected – Athletes, Entertainment/Media companies, Travel - airlines, Hospitality – hotels and many more b) Describe the impact to the 3rd party. Is it negative or positive? Discuss the possible negative or positive effect for each of the above. c) What other actions or behaviour is triggered by the impact to the 3rd party? What solutions are applied for the externalities you have identified? Governments of some participating countries declared their non-participation if 2020 schedule pushes through. No subsidy by governments for athletes. Check for other support given to each of the 3rd parties identified. HOLMES INSTITUTE FACULTY OF HIGHER EDUCATION HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Marking Rubric – Part 1 Microeconomic Analysis (25 marks) Excellent (85% - full marks given) Very Good (80%) Good (65%) Satisfactory (50%) Unsatisfactory (0%) Event Description (3%) Excellent = 3 Very Good = 2.25 Good = 1.75 Satisfactory = 1.5 Unsatisfactory = 0 – 1 Adequate introduction of the event being reported in the news article and explanation for choice of article. Provides strong answers to the 3 guide questions and explains why the event is relevant today. Adequate introduction of the event being reported in the news article and explanation for choice of article. Provides adequate answers to all 3 guide questions. Adequate introduction of the event being reported in the news article and explanation for choice of article. Provides adequate answers to at least 2 of the 3 guide questions. Adequate introduction of the event being reported in the news article and explanation for choice of article. Provides reasonable answer to at least 1 of the 3 guide questions. No introduction or description of the news article. No strong explanation of why the article was chosen. Demand and Supply Analysis (7%) Excellent = 6.75-7 Very Good = 5.5-6.75 Good = 4.25-5.5 Satisfactory = 3.5-4.25 Unsatisfactory = 0-3.5 Correct identification of the determinants of demand and supply, relates market interactions (shortage, surplus, equilibrium) with elasticity of demand/supply, and with discussion on impact to the players in the market. Discussion of who has power in the economy in terms of price reaching equilibrium from a Correct identification of the determinants of demand and supply and relates market interactions (shortage, surplus, equilibrium) with elasticity of demand/supply. Discussion of who has power in the economy in terms of price reaching Correct identification of the determinants of demand and supply and market interactions (shortage, surplus, equilibrium). Discussion of who has power in the economy in terms of price reaching Correct identification of the determinants of demand and supply. Incomplete or unfocused analysis of demand and supply interactions. HC1072 Economics and International Trade T3 2021 Page 9 of 11 demand/supply perspective. equilibrium from a demand/supply perspective. equilibrium from a demand/supply perspective. Market Structure Analysis (5%) Excellent = 4.75-5 Very Good = 4-4.75 Good = 3-4 Satisfactory = 2.5-3 Unsatisfactory = 0-2.5 Correct analysis and specification of market structure with a discussion of parameters (# of sellers, product, demand, price setting, etc). Discussion of whether the supplier has power to set the price of the product/service and how is this power exercised. Correct analysis and specification of market structure with a discussion of parameters (# of sellers, product, demand, price setting, etc). Discussion of whether the supplier has power to set the price of the product/service. Correct analysis and specification of market structure with a discussion of parameters (# of sellers, product, demand, price setting, etc). Correct analysis an