ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT This assignment is a report on a country’s development process and current development status

ECON 333: Economic Development, Spring 2021

College of and Economics

Assignment 2

Due date: May 13th by 11.59pm, upload to Canvas either in Word or PDF format
First draft (optional): by April 29th, email Word or PDF document to [email protected]

This assignment is a report on a country’s development process and current development status.
On Canvas, you will find an Excel sheet with your assigned country. You must use your assigned
country.

Your report should be no less than 700 words and no more than 750 words, with 1.5 line spacing.
Feel free to include any charts or tables that you feel help convey your data or support your argu-
ments (they do not count against your 750 word limit). All quotes, numbers, charts, etc. should cite
their source. Do not cite your sources on the main text; use footnotes or endnotes, and a reference
page at the end. Charts, footnotes, endnotes and references do not count against the 750 word limit.

I made available two databases to help you in your report. You can find them on Canvas: the
Database: Real GDP per capita 1960-2014 contains information on countries’ real GDP per capita,
and the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI), that in addition to economic indica-
tors also include outcomes on education, health, the environment, etc. In addition, you are free to
use, and cite, other data and sources as you see fit.

The report should describe and evaluate the process of economic development for your assigned
country relative to a group of peer countries, from the 1960s or 1970s (depending on data avail-
ability) to the current decade. You should ground your analysis in data indicators and mecha-
nisms/arguments we learned in class. The grading will be based on the following:

1. (10 points) Choosing peer countries: pick at least 2 countries that were comparable to your
assigned country. This should be countries that faced the same sort of opportunities and
had similar access to resources in the 1960s and 1970s. For most countries you will want to
choose neighboring or near enough countries, except when you have very large countries. For
example, if your country is Mexico, you would not compare it to Belize, even though they
are neighbors, but you would compare it to Brazil or Argentina because they are large Latin
American economies. On the other hand, if your country is Belize, you could compare it to
Nicaragua, because they are relatively small Central American economies.

2. (10 points) The first paragraph should be an executive summary of your main argument. How
did your assigned country perform, in terms of economic development, relative to the peer
group and what are the main points supporting this argument;

3. (15 points) A paragraph discussing the evolution of the country’s economic performance for
the last 4 or 5 decades containing a chart with its real GDP per capita over time (compared

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to two other peer countries) and a mention to its average growth rate compared to those two
peer countries;

4. (15 points) A paragraph discussing the evolution of its education outcomes, containing a table
with at least two education indicators at two points in time (60’s or 70s versus 90’s or 00’s)
compared to two peer countries (the same countries as above);

5. (15 points) A paragraph discussing the evolution of its health outcomes, containing a table
with at least two health indicators at two points in time (60’s or 70s versus 90’s or 00’s)
compared to two peer countries (the same countries as above);

6. (15 points) A final paragraph with an analysis of the country’s main successes, failures and
remaining challenges that were not mentioned in previous paragraphs. These could be is-
sues like inflation, unemployment, inequality, corruption, environmental issues, etc. Try to
showcase concepts you learned in class for more points.

7. (20 points) Quality of writing and clarity of arguments.

In grading each of the components I will reward concepts and arguments we learned in class
relative to other concepts you might be getting from reading about the economic history of your
assigned country in sites like Wikipedia.

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