DMSQF ECO2101 Microeconomics

CA1 Individual Project - Instructions for Students

July 2024 Semester (Jul - Sep 2024)

CA1 Individual Project Assessment

This CA1 constitutes 30% of the overall ECO2101 Microeconomics course assessment.

Rationale of Individual Project

This individual project allows you to pursue authentic learning and to apply theories taught in class to real world situations. This encourages independence and self-confidence as well as developing one’s thinking and analytical skills when working through real world situations.

Choosing Product Market for Analysis

This project involves choosing product(s) for your project analysis, using microeconomics concepts discussed in Lectures 1 to 5.

The product or service market can be either general or specific, local, or international.

Some examples of product or service market:

•    Smartphones (general)

•    Apple iphone (specific brand in the smartphone market)

•    Starbuck Coffee in China (local, specific to a country)

•    Coffee (international)

Choosing Articles as References for Analysis

Search through newspapers sources (other sources are strictly not permitted), either in print or online for THREE (3) articles based on the product market you have chosen. Articles should contain real world situations. Articles that contain analysis or researched by others should not be used. The articles must be related to the concepts discussed in Lectures 1 to 5.

Articles must be from 1st May 2024 onwards.

The articles selected should be in English and based on the following topics: Article 1 - Lecture Topic 1: PPF and Opportunity Cost

Article 2 - Lecture Topic 3: Market Equilibrium and Efficiency (Learning and understanding Lecture Topic 2: Demand and Supply is a pre-requisite to learning Topic 3)

Article 3 - Lecture Topic 4: Elasticities

OR

- Lecture Topic 5: Utility and Demand

Select  THREE   (3) articles on  the SAME PRODUCT (for  example,  all  3  articles  on  coffee) or DIFFERENT PRODUCTS (for example, 1st  article on coffee, 2nd  article on apparel and 3rd  article on smartphone).

Analysing your Product Market

For each article, identify the event(s) or phenomena.  Summarise these events in your own words.

Analyse these events using the appropriate microeconomic concepts. Economic diagram(s), where applicable must be drawn to support your analysis. Reproducing or paraphrasing the article does NOT constitute an analysis.

The following are some suggestions for the analysis:

Using PPF concept to analyse a reduction in the production of crops due to natural disasters like earthquakes or flood (lecture 1 topic; the product can be wheat or coffee or cocoa)

Using market equilibrium analysis to analyse the rise of price of oil due to a shortage in supply or  excess  in  demand  (lecture  3  topic;  the  product  here  is  oil)  or  using  market  equilibrium analysis to analyse the changes in the price of semiconductor chips due to the high demand and reduced supply of semiconductor chips (the product here is semiconductor) .

Using price elasticity of demand to analyse the elasticity of oil as price of oil rises due essential needs  and  no  close  substitutability  or  shortage  in  supply  and  the  impact  on  the  consumer expenditure on oil consumption (lecture 4 topic; the product here is oil)

Using  utility  and  demand  to  analyse  on   household  consumption  choices   (lecture  5  topic: income, budget constraints and utility)

Writing your Report

Use Calibri Font Size 12pt.  Number your pages. Use single line spacing. Do a full justification (that is both left and right justified) of your report.

The report should be between 1,000 to 1,500 words. Each Analysis should have at least 180 words.

Use the template in Appendix 1 for your report format.

•    Limit each analysis to one page.

•    Begin each analysis on a new page. For example, analysis 2.1 on a new page, analysis 2.2 on a new page, and soon.

•    Ensure  consistency  throughout  the  report.  For  example,  consistent formatting  (such  as same font type and font size, same line spacing) throughout the whole report; diagrams are all drawn using the same software such as Powerpoint and not some diagrams are drawn using  PowerPoint  and  some  using  Word  or  Excel  software.     Diagrams  should  not  hand drawn.

Report Grading

This is a short report. The key to a good report is to be clear and concise. Report will be graded on the  various   report   components,   namely   Introduction,   Article   Summary,   Analysis,   Diagrams, Conclusion, References as well as Report Consistency.

•    Marking Scheme

•    Penalty will be imposed for

o 20% for late submission of report (within one (1) day after the submission dateline)

o Up to 20% for use of non-newspaper sources

o Up to 20% for not adhering to dates of articles

o Plagiarism, which includes copying from student’s own report submitted previously to

SIMGE or other educational institutions, other student reports, any other sources and

copying of economics diagrams from google or other sources. Any use of chatbot or any system powered by artificial intelligence, software or otherwise is considered as plagiarism.

Submission of Report

Submit the Word format of your report online via Canvas by 24th July 2024 11:59am.   Reports submitted through other ways (e.g., through email or hardcopy to the lecturer or the school) will not be accepted.

ECO2101 Microeconomics

CA1 Individual Project

24th July 2024

1.        Introduction

2.        Analysis:

(The Analysis sub-titles below are for illustration purposes)

(The illustration below is where all the 3 articles are from the SAME product. You could also have the 3 articles from DIFFERENT products.)

2.1        Analysis 1 – Apple’s iphone 8 and iphone 8 Plus Models

(Topic 1: PPF and Opportunity Cost)

2.2       Analysis 2 – iphone Market Share Increased

- Shift in Demand for Bigger Size iphone 8 plus (Topic 3: Market Equilibrium)

2.3       Analysis 3 – Premium Pricing for iphone

(Topic 4: Inelastic Demand and Total Revenue)

OR

Analysis 3 – Income and consumption of two goods (Topic 5: Utility and Demand)

4.        References

1 Introduction

(One  paragraph  to  explain  or  discuss  why  you  have  selected  the  product(s)  for your report.)

(One paragraph to summarise the analysis of all the three articles.)

2 Analysis

2.1 Analysis 1 – Apple’s iphone 8 and iphone 8 Plus Models (Topic 1: PPF and Opportunity Cost)

Source : Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote the web address

Summary

(One paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(One to two paragraphs on analysing the key event(s) using microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

2.2 Analysis 2 – iphone Market Share Increased - Shift in Demand for Bigger Size iphone 8 (Topic 3: Market Equilibrium)

Source :  Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote the web address

Summary

(One paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(Two  to  three   paragraphs   on   analysing   the   key   event(s)   using   microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

2.3 Analysis 3 – Premium Pricing for iphone

(Topic 4: Inelastic Demand and Total Revenue)

OR

Analysis 3 – Income and consumption of two goods (Topic 5: Utility and Demand)

Source : Quote the source of the article or if the article is obtained from the web, quote the web address

Summary

(One paragraph summarising the key event(s) in the article)

Analysis

(Two  to  three   paragraphs   on   analysing   the   key   event(s)   using   microeconomic concepts)

(Economic diagram(s) to support the analysis)

3 Conclusion

One paragraph on the overall summary of all the analysis.

(The objective is to present an overall view or coherent view of all the analysis. It is NOT to be written in a ‘listing’ style where all the key analysis is listed one by one from each topic).