Eastwood's ECO486 Page

Each student is required to produce a  research paper (at least 2,500 words in length) on an international trade* topic selected from the list below. Please double space your texts and leave one-inch margins. You should follow the APA format for references. If you are not already familiar with this format, you might refer to this site: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/. Your treatment of your selected topic should extend beyond what we have discussed in class or read in the text. Your bibliography should include at least six published, credible sources other than the text, and demonstrate that you have considered arguments on both sides of any relevant issues. 

An electronic copy of your final paper will be due no later than  midnight, Friday 20-Nov. Submit it using Vista & Turn-it-in.(You may also email me a copy, if you wish.), but early submissions are welcome. Your grade on the paper will represent 15 percent of your final grade.

Suggested topics:

1. A review and critique of the trade policy of the European Union (or another country -- but not Cuba or Mexico)*;
2. A review and critique of the WTO's dispute settlement procedure as illustrated by a particular dispute. Some recent disputes concern subsidies (e.g., cotton, airplane manufacturers).  A few of these disputes concern conservation issues (tuna fishing & dolphins killed; shrimp fishing and sea turtles; imported gasoline and air quality measures). However, you may not choose a dispute used as a case study in the WTO's training materials (e.g., in the second dispute, DS2, Venezuela and Brazil complained to the Dispute Settlement Body that the United States was  discriminating against gasoline imports from their refineries).
3. A review and critique of the current Doha Development Round of negotiations at the WTO or a subset of the issues under negotiation.*

Most of these topics are controversial, and you may hold strong opinions; I would be disappointed if you were indifferent to questions that have moral dimensions. Nevertheless, your assignment is to produce an objective research paper that considers all sides of your topic, not an advocacy piece.

Please send me a brief email concerning your choice of topic sometime before class on Thursday, 25-Sep-- specify which country, dispute, or Doha issues you wish to address. If you would like to discuss possible topics, please send your email earlier, stop by my office, or see me after class.

*Note that topics related to trade in good or services are most appropriate.  However, others require more knowledge of international finance and macroeconomics than I could reasonably expect you to possess. Therefore, avoid international finance topics -- such as currency crises, "dollarization", optimum currency areas, or the European Monetary Union -- even though they are very interesting. 

Once you begin the writing process, it will help to focus on the voice, audience and purpose of your paper:

Voice: Write your paper from the viewpoint of an objective analyst.
Audience: Your fellow students in ECO 486.
Purpose: Analyze a trade-related issue in greater depth than what we have done in class or in the assigned readings.

Example: A student who has chosen topic #2 above should go to www.wto.org, and read about the dispute settlement process. There is a non-technical summary of the process, together with a case study, at http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm  see chapter three. This student would pick a dispute that is both interesting and which has reached some resolution (or, at least, where there has been some progress). Look under Trade Topics to find a list of disputes by topic or by country. S/he could write his/her own case study illustrating the process, and conclude with a qualitative assessment of the relevant benefits and costs.

How your term paper will be graded.

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