WRITING ASSINGMENT—ECONOMICS 334, Fall 2013
Assignment: The goal of this essay is to introduce you to a country within Latin America through a guided research effort. This work may stimulate further undergraduate research on your part. The paper is due the last day of class, although earlier submissions of most of the paper are possible if you intend to pursue research competitions (see attached page). A proposal for your paper, with an outline and a written introductory section (1 page minimum) must be submitted by September 30. I will return this with comments, but you should save this page and attach it to your final paper. Your paper should be submitted both as a hard copy and through Titanium (for use of the “Turnitin” software).
By the end of the 1st week of class you are to pick 1 country* of the region for which you intend to analyze the effects of an export commodity** over time. Latin America is a very diverse region but by choosing a product important to that nation’s economy its trends can be compared and/or contrast to findings in the textbook. I suggest you spend time in the first 2 weeks using the book tables (and reserve books and Homework 1, page 1 websites) to identify a country and its important product. Regarding the final paper content, the discussion on the export product in a country should be about 2-3 pages, with the discussion about the country’s current economic health 2-3 pages; the analysis of the links between the exports and the economy then follows. An introductory section in the paper would address the debates about exports (or “natural resources”) and development. Some topics might be:
“The Role of Oil in the Venezuelan (Ecuadorian, Mexican) Economy”
“The Role of Copper in the Chilean Economy”
“The Role of Coffee in the Colombian Economy”
The paper must include some economic history drawing upon data from at least 1 homework; you can also include tables from citations, class PDF files, databases, reserve readings, etc.. That is, you must include information about each country in the period after its independence (anywhere between 1820-1920) as regards to the chosen product and the country’s growth and development before 1945. [You should also analyze the price trends of the chosen commodity from 1870-2000 in the OXLAD database, and you should cite the Library of Congress study regarding the country’s export history.] But the paper must also include a current analysis for the country’s economic health and the product/service. That is, you must include information about the country since 2000 again regarding the chosen product and the country’s GDP level/growth, GDP per capita, poverty rate, human development and other indicators. For current information you can check other databases such as those of the World Bank, ECLAC, UNCTAD, the PDF/books/links in the syllabus, or a current news article or journal article (i.e. World Development, Latin American Research Review, etc..). You must include a printout of your data from the database or the article used when you turn in your paper.
Be sure to cite at least 5 references in the text and list them in a bibliography (to avoid plagiarism). Citations of sources should be included in the paper with the author, copyright date and page number (i.e. Stanley, 2010: 83). Either Chicago or MLA style is adequate. The final paper is due December 12 and should be no more than 8-10 double-spaced pages in length (2000 words of text minimum), excluding its cover and bibliography. A table of contents is not required, but sections should be organized using Roman numerals.. You may get writing assistance at:
CBE tutoring center (http://business.fullerton.edu/StudentServices/Tutoring/)
University Writing Center (http://hss.fullerton.edu/english/wc/)
Note: I will not accept plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty. Please download the guide “Student Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism: how to Write an Effective Research Paper” available at www.fullerton.edu/INTEGRITY and review the following: http://www.fullerton.edu/deanofstudents/judicial/Plagiarism.htm.
Citation information is available at: http://www.library.fullerton.edu/ASP/libtemplate.aspx?version=5&showoption=success&contentpage=../Content/Success/Writing.htm (via the Sample Literature Review).
* selected export products should be among the following: aluminum, bananas, beef, cacao, coffee, copper, cotton, hides, jute, lamb, lead, maize, palm oil, petroleum, rice, rubber, silver, sugar, tea, timber, tin, tobacco, wheat, wool or zinc
**selected countries should be among the following: Brazil, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela; other countries do not have a report on the Library of Congress database
Some general references on natural resources/ exports and economic growth and development include:
Barham, B. et al., “Fair Trade/Organic Coffee, Rural Livelihoods, and the Agrarian Question: Southern Mexican Coffee Farmers in Transition,” World Development 39: 1 (2011), 134-145.
Barham, B. and Coomes, O. “Reinterpreting the Amazon Rubber Boom: Investment, the State and Dutch Disease,” Latin American Research Review 29: 2 (1994), 73-109.
Bruhn, M. and Gallego, F. “Good, Bad and Ugly Colonial Activities: Studying Development Across the Americas,” Review of Economics and Statistics 24:2 (2012), 433-61.
Brunnschweiler, C. “Cursing the Blessings/Natural Resource Abundance, Institutions and Economic Growth,” World Development 36:3 (2008), 399-419.
Coddington, J. “Commodity Export Booms in Developing Countries,” World Bank Research Observer 4: 2 (1989), 143-65.
Isham, J., Pritchett, L, Woolcock, M. and Busby, G. “The Varieties of Resource Experience: How Natural Resource Export Structures Affect the Political Economy of Economic Growth,” World Bank Economic Review 19: 1 (2003), 141-64.
Lederman, D. and Maloney, W. eds. Natural Sources and Development: Are They a Curse? Are They Destiny? (Washington DC, World Bank/Stanford University Press: 2007).
Sachs, J. and Warner, D. Natural Resources Abundance and Economic Growth, (Cambridge, MA: Center for International Development and Harvard Institute for International Development: 1997).
Stijns, J. “Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth Revisited,” Resources Policy 90 (357), 107-30.
Williams, Robert G. “Part Two: Cattle,” Export Agriculture and the Crisis in Central America, (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press: 1986).
Wright, G. “Why Economies Slow: The Myth of the Resource Curse,” Challenge 47 (2), 6-38.
Undergraduate research is considered a “high-impact practice” which enhances the likelihood of a student’s successful completion of college and a chosen career/ graduate education path. Ideas begun in a class paper can blossom into a larger project with the assistance of a faculty mentor. There are several undergraduate research conferences/ competitions which I encourage you to attend and/or pursue this academic year or the following. These include:
--The Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR) will be held at Whittier College on November 23. Registration begins September 1. (Thus this effort could be more appropriate for work you did on a paper in a previous class.) The conference involves a presentation or poster session or student research in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Information is now available at:
http://sccur.whittier.edu/
--The CSU SSRIC Student Research Conference. The Social Science Research Council is a state-wide organization managing several databases, including the Field Poll. Students with research in all areas of the social sciences are encouraged to present their work through an oral presentation around a paper (of 20 pages or less). The conference will be held at CSUF this Spring 2014. General information will be updated at:
http://ssric.org/participate/src
--The CSU Student Research Competition (CSUSRC) occurs every spring at a CSU campus (Cal Poly Pomona in 2014). There is an internal competition held here at CSUF, from which the best projects from the social sciences, natural sciences, arts, etc.. are nominated (and funded) to attend the state event. The student makes a 5-minute oral presentation of the results from a 10-page research paper involving collaboration with a faculty mentor. The campus website is not available yet; the link below includes a flyer regarding last year’s competition:
http://news.fullerton.edu/BulletinBoardDetails.aspx?PostID=9890
--There are other national competitions in which students can present their papers and/or make an oral presentation of the results of their research. The link for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2014 conference is:
http://www.cur/org/ncur_2014/