ECON1020
Country Report Instruction (total number of pages: 10)
Assessment Task Country Report
Group or Individual Individual
Weighting 35% (100 marks reweighted to 35%)
Word Limit 1200 ± 100 words
DUE DATE 1.00 pm Wednesday, April 10
Marking Guide (Rubric) Blackboard > Assessment > Country Report > Rubric
Submission Turnitin via course BB site (further guidance provided below).
The submission title (which is different from the file name) must be
of the following format:
Allocated Country First Name Surname
(e.g., Norway Terence Yeo)
Academic Integrity UQ has strict rules against cheating, including “colluding with other
students on individual assessment items”. You must read and be
familiar with these rules (PPL 3.60.04 Student Integrity and
Misconduct).
Acknowledgement
We would like to acknowledge the contribution
of Jackie Chin, Strategist, Dynamic Asset
Allocation at Future Fund, BEcon (Hons) 2005,
in the development of this report assignment.
CONTEXT
A multinational company is considering investing in the country that you have been allocated. If the
macroeconomic environment of the country is deemed favourable compared to alternative
destinations, then the company will proceed to look for specific investment projects. However, you
are not provided with any information regarding potential investment projects for commercial
confidentiality reasons.
YOUR TASKS
As independent an economic consultant, you are hired by this company to:
a) provide an economic profile for the country; and
b) benchmark its performance against some other potential destination countries.
In doing so, you will deliver a structured Country Report, which includes the following illustrative
features:
������ Up to three (3) figures (diagrams, graphs or tables) in total. Here, you can use a mixture of
diagrams, graphs and tables provided the total number is no more than 3.
������ You can include more than one variable in a graph or table.
������ You must produce your figures, rather than cut and paste from some sources. You must
keep a copy of the file that you use to create your figures as you could be asked to provide it
as proof that those figures are your work.
������ You can use direct quotes provided the total number of quoted words sums to 20 words or
less in the whole of the report. This rule is intended to prevent students from over-relying on
direct quotes without critically analysing the content of the source.
WARNING: This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the
aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT. Students are advised that the use of AI
technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student
misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
However, you are allowed to use proofreading software, such as Grammarly
(www.grammarly.com), to help you proofread your report.
COUNTRY ALLOCATION
The country you must use for this report is based on the last digit of your student number: For
example, if your student number is 44194356, then you need to work on country number 6 –
Slovakia.
Last digit Country
0 or 1 Austria
2 or 3 Bulgaria
4 or 5 Estonia
6 or 7 Finland
8 or 9 Poland
PLEASE NOTE: The number in your student email address (e.g., S4419435) is not your student
number: it misses the last digit (i.e. 6 in this example). A penalty will be applied if you fail to
follow the country allocation rules.
Penalty Rates
LATE SUBMISSION:
● When an extension has not been previously approved, a penalty of 10 marks (out of 100)
will be deducted for every 24-hour block up to 7 calendar days, at which point any
submission will not receive any marks. That is:
o 10 marks penalty if submitted within 24 hours after the deadline
o 20 marks penalty if submitted between 24 to 48 hours after the deadline
o …
o 60 marks penalty if submitted between 120 to 144 hours after the deadline
o 70 marks penalty if submitted between 144 to 168 hours after the deadline
o After 168 hours, a zero mark will be given.
HIGH TURNITIN SIMILARITY INDEX VALUE:
● 8-10: as much as 5 marks (out of 100) may be deducted
● 11-15: as much as 10 marks (out of 100) may be deducted
● 16-20: as much as 15 marks (out of 100) may be deducted
● > 20: as much as 30 or more marks (out of 100) may be deducted.
Besides mark deduction, cases of alleged plagiarism will be reported to the School’s Integrity
Officer for investigation following the University’s policy.
Similarity index values change slightly over time as Turnitin continuously add new materials to its
database. The best strategy is to keep your similarity index value sufficiently low, e.g., below 5,
so that even though it goes up a little bit after submission it will not exceed 7.
You are given a buffer of 7 for the Similarity Index Value to cover some unavoidable
similarities. In addition, anything on the template and references is excluded from the index, and
Turnitin will ignore a small amount of unavoidable similarity.
COPYING FIGURES:
● For each copied figure (diagrams, graphs, or tables): 15 marks (out of 100) will be
deducted.
● The penalty remains the same even if references are provided for the copied figures.
● You must keep a copy of the file that you use to create your figures as you could be
asked to provide it as proof that those figures are your own work.
WRONG COUNTRY: 15 marks (out of 100) will be deducted.
OMITTING THE COVER SHEET:
● Omitting the whole cover sheet: 10 marks (out of 100) will be deducted.
● Omitting some parts of the cover sheet: 5 marks (out of 100) will be deducted.
EXCEEDING THE WORDCOUNT LIMIT (1200 ± 100):
● 5 marks for every 50 words exceeding 1300.
● E.g., 5 marks for 1308; 10 marks for 1375 etc.
● No penalty for less than 1100 words. But students may lose marks for insufficient
content.
WRONG SUBMISSION TITLE STRUCTURE: 10 marks (out of 100) will be deducted.
● The submission title is not the same as the file name.
● You will be asked to provide a submission title when you upload your file.
● What we require is a correct submission title structure because the marker identifies your
submission based on the submission title, not the file name.
REPORT STRUCTURE
1. Macroeconomic Performance (~550 words)
a. Assess the macroeconomic performance of your country based on macroeconomic
indicators covered in Topics 1-4 of this course, e.g., GDP per capita, inflation,
unemployment etc., for 5-10 years up to 2018.
b. Explain how these indicators are related to each other in the context of your country using
theories and concepts covered in the course.
c. Explain what factors, including economic policies, are driving these indicators.
2. Benchmarking (~450 words)
a. Select a country as a benchmark to evaluate your country’s macroeconomic performance.
Explain the reasons for your selection and potential limitations.
b. How does your country’s macroeconomy perform compared to the benchmark country?
Explain the reasons for any differences.
c. Which country will be a more preferred investment destination and why?
3. Reflection (~200 words)
a. Which aspect(s) of the Country Report did you find most difficult and why?
b. How did you overcome those difficulties?
c. What advice and suggestion(s) can you give to your future fellow students about completing
the Country Report?
4. References
References and citations must be in the APA 7th style.
PLEASE NOTE: You must use the report template on Blackboard > Assessment >
Country Report > Report Template.
The formatting requirements are:
• Font type: Arial
• Font size: 11
• Line space: 1.15
• 1200 ± 100 words
You must include the cover sheet (in the template) in your submission.
The wordcount does not include:
• the coversheet
• the references
• section headings
• figures
• figure headings
• short notes underneath figures, e.g., Source: WDI (2021).
The wordcount includes in-text citations.
Tips for Section 1 Macroeconomics Performance:
ü The 550 word 'limit' for this section is a guide only. You can write more or less than 550,
as long as your total wordcount is within 1200 ± 100. (The same principle applies to
other sections.)
ü 5-10 years up to 2018 means that your report should cover at least 2013-2018 but can
be as extensive as 2008-2018.
ü Consider a range of macroeconomic indicators rather than just one or two indicators.
ü Typically, graphs have stronger visual impacts than tables.
ü If you provide a figure (diagram, graph, table), make sure that you explain/discuss it.
Readers (i.e., markers) have no obligation to interpret it for you.
ü For part (b), Think about what you have learnt in the course about how the change in
one indicator is linked to the changes in some other indicators. Your report is expected
to provide such a discussion.
ü There is no need to explain the concepts and definitions of commonly used
macroeconomic indicators (e.g., ‘GDP stands for gross domestic product and is a
measurement of the total goods and services produced in a country in a year’).
ü You can discuss macroeconomic indicators that are not covered in Topics 1-4.
ü We recommend that you divide your answers for each section into parts (a), (b) and (c)
so the markers can easily see if you have answered all the questions.
ü You can also answer all the questions in one single section. If you do so, make sure that
you have clearly answered all the questions.
ü There is no need to repeat the questions in your answer.
ü You can use a single direct quote or multiple direct quotes in your report, but the total
number of words of all quotes combined must be 20 words or less. Any direct quote
must be properly referenced.
ü Read the mistakes students tend to make: Blackboard > Assessment > Country Report >
Past Common Feedback.
Tips for Section 2 Benchmarking:
ü Why do we need to do benchmarking? This assignment is to advise your client about
the suitability of your country as an investment destination. Your advice should
depend on how favourable your country’s macroeconomic conditions are relative to
potential alternative investment destinations. That is why benchmarking is important.
This reason should also give you some ideas about how to choose a benchmark.
ü Countries that can serve as alternative investment destinations should have a similar
economic system, key industries and institutions as your country.
ü The largest economy or the nearest economy is not necessarily a suitable
benchmark; it is about relevance.
ü We recommend you divide your answer into parts (a), (b) and (c), but you are allowed
to provide your answer as a single section.
Tips for Section 3 Reflection:
ü This section asks you to reflect on how you worked through this assessment and,
more importantly, what you have learnt from this process.
ü There are no right or wrong 'reflections'. However, reflection can be deep (good!) or
shallow (not so good!).
ü For part (b), your answer could include your discussion with your tutor or the course
coordinator if applicable.
ü For part (c), your advice can be specific (e.g., how to show the relationship between
variables X and Y graphically) or general (e.g., how to effectively use the Similarity
Report for revision).
ü This is a new section and therefore not covered in Past Common Feedback.
Tips for Section 4 References:
ü Having more in-text citations and references will reduce the number of words for the
main body while having too few in-text citations and references will reduce the credibility
of the report. Therefore, you need to balance the two.
ü Use a variety of sources (rather than just one or two) and use credible sources, e.g.,
WDI indicators by the World Bank, official government websites and academic journals.
ü Consult UQ’s referencing style guide for the APA 7th styles.
ü You must reference sources that you use for your text, graphs or tables.
ü You must reference a source even when you have paraphrased the original content.
ü You can refer to non-English material sources only if no equivalent English sources are
available, but you should keep such sources to a minimum.
ü If you refer to non-English material sources, you need to provide the English-translated
references with a note at the end, e.g., “(original in German)”. The marker will consider
the availability of English material sources for your country to ensure fairness in marking.
ü You could use the EndNote program (downloadable from the UQ library) to manage your
references instead of doing it manually.
ü For references to data sources, you should follow the Dataset format in the UQ APA 7th
style guide, e.g.,
World Bank (2020a). World Development Indicators. GDP (current US$) [Data file].
World Bank (2020b). World Development Indicators. GDP growth (annual %) [Data
file].
DATA REQUIREMENTS
Your primary data sources should be:
a. National agencies, e.g., Statistical Bureau, Treasury, Central Bank; or
b. Multinational agencies, e.g., the World Bank, the United Nations, the International Monetary
Fund, the European Central Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, Eurostat.
Data from secondary sources can still be used as a supplement only if those data are not available
from any primary sources. Using non-primary data can lead to a loss of marks when primary
source data is available for your country.
The World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI) database contains most of the national data
collected by national and multinational agencies and can be used as a primary data source. Here
are some YouTube tutorials on how to extra data from the WDI:
Tips for Data:
ü WDI data are on annual basis. If you want to use monthly or quarterly data, you need to
access statistics directly from your country’s statistical bureau.
ü Do not falsely claim that certain data are not readily available from a primary source
without doing your due diligence. For most data at the national level (e.g., GDP,
unemployment rate), only national or multinational agencies have the capacity to collect
those data. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that they are available from a secondary
source but not from a primary source.
ü If you use data from a source (e.g., a report) that indicates that it drew the data from a
government statistical bureau, the data is considered to have come from a secondary
source, not a primary source. However, if you go to the government statistical bureau and
extract the same data (and verify what you read is indeed accurate), then it is considered
to have come from a primary source.
ü Trading Economics (https://tradingeconomics.com) is a secondary source, not a primary
source. You should not use it for your report.
SUBMITTING YOUR COUNTRY REPORT
o Check if you tick all the items on the submission checklist provided on Blackboard >
Assessment > Country Report > Submission Checklist. (Note: Do not submit the
checklist.)
o Your report must be submitted through Turnitin on Blackboard to check for plagiarism.
While most instances of plagiarism are unintentional, any form of plagiarism (intentional
or unintentional) will be revealed in the originality report.
o From the originality report, the marker will check whether any part of your report is
considered as having potentially plagiarised from other sources, rather than just relying
on the similarity index value. Therefore, you are expected to carefully check the
originality report before your final submission. (Also see the Penalty section above.)
o You can resubmit your report unlimited times before the due date. However, after three
resubmissions, the similarity report is generated after 24 hours.
o Turnitin will not provide you with a confirmation email after successful submission.
However, you can download a digital receipt as proof of submission. UQ Library
provides a guide on how to submit a Turnitin assignment, get a digital receipt, and view
Similarity Report and marks.
o The time of submission is based on the time your report was successfully uploaded on
Turnitin as recorded by Turnitin, not the time you tried to upload it.
o Many students failed to meet the deadline because they had internet connection
problems on their side, but they mistook it as an IT problem of UQ. If UQ has any internet
connection problems, there will be a record of it.
o The only way to guarantee not missing the deadline is to submit your report well before
the deadline.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
QUESTIONS ANSWERS
Why do we need to do this
assignment?
To excel in the workplace, professional economists need
to be able to:
● analyse problems;
● identify potential solutions and their limitations;
● find, extract and organise good quality and
relevant data; and
● present findings precisely and concisely.
This assignment aims to provide you with an opportunity to
develop these skills.
Why can’t I use more than three
figures?
Consultant reports are typically very concise so that (busy)
readers can focus on the most relevant information. As the
number of figures is limited to no more than three, you
need to think carefully about where to use them to
maximise the overall impact of the report.
Why can’t I cut and paste figures
from other sources?
This is part of real-world training on how to extract and
organise data and present findings.
If I want to include a graph, how
should I do this?
Insert your graph as an image, rather than as an Excel
object, in your report.
How should I include a diagram
(e.g., an AD-AS model) in my
report?
A simple way to do so is to draw it in PowerPoint, copy it,
and then paste it as an image in your report.
How should I cite any data
source used for a figure?
Include the data source below each figure. For example:
“Source: World Bank (2020)”.
Why are there so many
penalties?
In the real world, a submitted document that does not
follow the instructions could be rejected entirely.
Why only limited direct quotes
are allowed?
Students often misuse direct quotes as a way to avoid
paraphrasing.
Can I see some samples? No. Once people have seen some samples, they naturally
want to copy them rather than thinking independently.
However, in the tutorial, we will provide a ‘bad example’ to
show you what could go wrong. Also, see the Past
Common Feedback on Blackboard.
How do I know if I do
paraphrasing and referencing
correctly?
In the tutorials, we will provide exercises on how to do
referencing and paraphrasing, respectively.
End of The Instruction
