Department of Economics ECN6620 Assignment
經濟學系ECN6620essay

The assignment accounts for 50 % of the total mark for this module and students must achieve a minimum of 40 % in order to pass the module overall. The assignment must be submitted to the Enquiry Office by 3 p.m. on Tuesday 3rd May 2011. Extensions will only be granted in the most exceptional circumstances and must be agreed with me in advance. 

為了通過整體模塊，此模塊總的標記和學生占50％的分配必須達到一個最低的40％。essay必須在2011年5月3日周二三點前提交查詢處。擴展將只被授予在最特殊的情況下，必須事先征得我同意。

The assignment should not normally be longer than 3000 words (excluding bibliography, tables and any data appendices for type (a) assignments), but not less than 2000 words and must be word processed and written in clear English (please get someone else to check your draft before submitting if necessary). You should email an outline of no more than one page to me by Friday 18th March setting out your proposed topic and how you intent to tackle it. I will provide individual feedback on this by email but you are welcome to discuss it further with me during Consultation times.
essay通常不應該超過3000字（不包括參考書目，表格和任何數據類型附錄（一）essay）長，但不低于2000字，必須處理和清晰的英語寫的字（請讓別人檢查草案之前提交，如果必要的話）。你應該發送電子郵件給我3月18日（星期五）設置你的建議的主題和你的意圖來解決它的輪廓不超過1頁。我會在此電子郵件提供個性化的反饋，但歡迎您進一步討論，我在咨詢時間。

Unauthorised  late  submissions  will incur  a  penalty  of  5  %  of  the  mark  per  day  for  five working  days;  any  submissions  after  that  time  will  receive  a  mark  of  zero.  A  Turnitin submission should be made within five working days of the paper copy deadline.  Failure to submit an assignment to Turnitin by this date will lead to a zero mark for the assignment.
 
Plagiarism: as with all assessed work, and as outlined in the course handbook, plagiarism is strictly prohibited.  Any quotations must be fully acknowledged and not form a substantial proportion of the assignment. Any data sources must be clearly indicated.
 
Assignments must be referenced in accordance with the Harvard style; any work referred to in the text must be referenced in the bibliography and marks will be deducted from assignments where referencing is incomplete. Details of the Harvard referencing system can be found via the library web pages:

The choice of topic is up to you provided that it falls within the subject matter covered in this module should be of one of the following types:

 
a) Testing econometrically a theory of exchange rate determination for specified currencies since general floating. You may repeat any theoretically justified function - many are suggested in the available literature.  Your first consideration is availability of data and so, as far as possible, you should restrict yourself to functions for which data is readily available, e.g. from IMF, International Financial Statistics.  This is available in the library both in hard copy and on-line via Library e-resources through ESDS International. This should be an exercise in international finance as much as an example of applied econometrics:  first, you should not simply report your findings, but comment on their implications for the theory; second, you should be sensitive to the macroeconomic developments that lie behind the data you are testing.  Graphical presentation and inspection of the data is encouraged. 

Further, you should display some familiarity with macroeconomic developments with your country’s currency (and hence its movement against Dollar or whichever currency you choose).  A basic source of information is the OECD Economic Surveys of member countries, published every 2-3 years and available in the library.
Department of Economics    ECN6620
 
b) Outline a major theory of exchange rate determination and critically survey the results of past econometric tests of it. This might seem an easier option.  However, low marks will be awarded for simply reproducing the basic theory and summarising the econometric tests of it cited in the literature.  Nor will much be gained by extensive description of such tests. 

Instead you need to go beyond simply reporting the results of the tests to showing where the limitations of the theory lie: which of its underlying assumptions fail to hold, hold weakly or only hold in the long run and, based on your understanding of the theory, what implications does this have for the power of the theory in explaining real world developments?
 
c) Examine a key recent development or policy issue in this area. This would involve setting out the relevant theory and examining how far it helps explain recent developments and can illuminate policy debates. It must include core theory and should not be primarily descriptive and/or speculative about possible future developments.
 

Hints:

Introduction - this should set out what is the question and how will it be addressed. It is often useful to set yourself a specific question to be answered rather than just a general topic; this will hope focus your work.  The introduction should justify why the question is important, set out the approach you will take and explain why it is appropriate.

Any tables/figures must be properly labelled and sourced.
任何表/數字必須正確標注來源。

The argument made should be logical and come to a coherent conclusion. Any discussion of models should assess their strengths and limitations. A clear understanding of the model will set out what one would expect to find in testing, what its implications are.#p#分頁標題#e#
提出的論點應該是邏輯和連貫結論。任何討論車型應該評估自己的長處和局限性。清楚地了解該模型將載什么人會想到，在測試中找到，它的含義是什么。

If you are using econometrics and/or models this must be accurate and applicable to your example. This entails both showing how the econometrics provides a test of the model and any econometric issues (e.g. time series properties of the data).

Discussion of data and analysis: summary statistics; description of techniques used; analysis of results: does it support or contradict the argument?

Organization: Intro/theory implications evidence conclusions
組織：介紹/理論的影響證據的結論

Basic Reading: Textbooks and indicative reading, plus: Maurice Obstfeld and Alan Taylor,
Global Capital Markets (2004); relevant chapters of Gene Grossman and Kenneth Rogoff,
Handbook of International Economics: Volume III (1995). Please use library web resources and EconLit searches. Survey articles may be available in journals such as Journal of Economic Literature and Journal of Economic Surveys.
基本閱讀：課本和指示讀數，再加上：莫里斯Obstfeld和阿倫泰勒，全球資本市場（2004年）;吉恩•格羅斯曼和肯尼斯•羅格夫的相關章節，國際經濟學手冊“第三卷（1995年）。請使用圖書館的網絡資源和EconLit資料庫搜索。調查文章可能是在期刊上，如經濟文學期刊和中國經濟調查。