PAPER 1 -- Choose one of the following topics:

For either topic, you are expected to use class readings and material to synthesize a theoretical argument, and I do not want you to just repeat my lectures back to me as if this were an exam.  You will then need to demonstrate the relevance of your theoretical argument using one of the five developed capitalist countries covered in Part III of the Schedule of Readings and Lectures.  I will consider an alternative choice of country, but you will first have to submit a well-written proposal to me that demonstrates an important reason for doing so.

Topic 1:

In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Friedman argues that globalization is the new world economic system, now that the cold war system has collapsed.  Explain and consider Friedman's description of the forces of globalization and their effects.  Then consider other theories discussed in class and in the readings that relate to the effects of international trade and investment, and compare these to Friedman's description.  Finally, choose a developed capitalist economy, demonstrate how it has been affected by globalization, and explain whether this country's experience is consistent with Friedman's argument and/or other theories.

  Topic 2:

What are the theoretically appropriate roles of government in a capitalist market economy?  Consider and explain the pros and cons of government intervention versus laissez faire.  Next, use Olson's Power and Prosperity and other theories discussed in class to consider how democratic institutions might affect the objectives of the government, and thus affect government policy and the success of intervention.  Finally, choose a developed capitalist economy, and use it as an example to illustrate your theoretical discussion.

Due Date:  Thursday, October 21, 2004.  Late papers will lose one full grade per week (prorated).

Format:

The paper should be approximately seven pages long, not including the cover page and any references or tables.  This is just a target, and your paper can be a little bigger or smaller as needs be.  This paper must be typewritten and double-spaced, with one-inch margins all around the text, and I prefer normal fonts of 10-12 points.  It is silly to play with the margins or the fonts just to make it fit the page target.

Your paper should have a cover page that has your name, my class, the date, the title, and a one-paragraph abstract that summarizes your paper.  Make clear which topic you are addressing (you don't need to repeat the topic assignment, for the "professor's insert" in the example was for your use only).  You should have an introduction that begins on page 1, and a conclusion at the end.  Use section headings to clarify your paper's organization.  Put page numbers at the bottom, but do not number the cover page and abstract, your references page, or any endnotes (not footnotes) if you have them.  Any figures or tables should each be put on their own page at the back of the paper, and they should be referred to in the text as Figure 1 or Table 4, for example.  Again, the cover page, references, and tables are not numbered, and not included in the page count.

 I have pet peeves you should know about. Some are careless errors, and some are issues of preference. Though web documents seem to prefer one space, I like two spaces after a sentence. "It's" means "it is," while "its" is possessive.  Paragraphs need to hold together, not be too long or too short (i.e, more than a sentence, less than a page), and the first sentence should give the reader some clue of what the paragraph is about. Vary your sentences a little for more interesting reading. Your paper should not ramble, and should make logical sense. Learn to use colons and semicolons properly. For example, a semicolon separates two stand-alone sentences making a similar point.  In the U.S., commas and periods go within the ending quote mark (though not if there is a citation at the end of the sentence). Don't quote unless the quote is just too good to pass up; instead, learn to paraphrase. All sentences must have, at minimum, a subject and a verb.  I don't like too many exclamation points! I have more peeves that I will remember when I read your papers.  Use the College Handbook or similar source for a style guide.  Use the Writing Center for help, that's why they're there.

Finally, this is NOT an opinion paper, and it is not a creative writing project!  As much as possible, you are expected to base your paper on material you have studied for this class, and not base it on opinions that you had coming into this class.  I like papers that try to be objective, and I suggest you avoid being flip, funny or sarcastic.

Back Up!  Every semester somebody forgets to back up their document, and they lose it the night before it is due when a virus hits them or their computer crashes.  I don't know how, but your computer seems to know when you are stressed.  Make a second copy on another diskette, for security.

Citations and References:

Though this is not intended to be a research paper as much as it is a thought paper, you will still need to cite any and all sources you use in your paper, and list your references alphabetically after your conclusion.  Don't use footnotes.  Use single-spaced endnotes only to explain points in more detail, if you feel it is necessary and do not want to clutter the text.  Do not use endnotes (or footnotes) for citations of your references.

When you do outside research, rely primarily on books, articles in professional and business journals, and articles in academic publications.  Minimize your reliance on unpublished internet sources; though these sources can be more current, they do not go through any review or editing process to determine whether their arguments are valid or substantiated by evidence.  Online magazines or journals, or official institutional websites, are OK though not preferred; you must avoid using blogs or websites written by random kooks or their kooky organizations.

If you are unfamiliar with library sources, start at http://www.library.unr.edu/.  The Articles and Websites link will take you to search engines you can use with a UNR account (Econlit is the best one for economics), and the library has online subscriptions to many, many journals.

Citations briefly list your sources in the relevant parts of your text, and references list the full information on how to find those sources.  References are included at the end of the paper, in a separate section called References.

Cite your sources by name, not title, journal, or url.  In your citations, put the surname(s), the year after a comma, and the page number(s) if appropriate after a colon, all in parentheses.  For example, the seven references listed below would be cited in the text as (Olson, 2000); (Cargill & Parker, 2003); (Parker, 1995); (Banks, Parker, & Wendel, 2001); (Economist, 1997); (World Bank, 1993); and (IMF, 2001).  Don't forget to give page numbers for a quote or something from a book, e.g., (Olson, 2000: 68-69).  In citations and references, you may use the ampersand "&" for multiple authors.  Only use first names if the person is the subject, not the source.

For sources with more than two authors, cite all authors the first time and then later use "et al." (et alia, Latin for "and others"), though if there are more than three you can use "et al." the first time.  For example, source (4) below would be cited as (Bhattacharyya, et al., 1994).  If you are citing two sources with the same author(s) and year, cite and reference them with the year plus a, b, c, ..., e.g., (Parker, 1995a) and (Parker, 1995b). If the paper is not yet published, you might use the word "forthcoming" instead.  Again, you should use full names for historical figures, but only last names for your research sources.

A citation generally goes at the end of the sentence or phrase, before the ending punctuation, as in:

Schumpeter emphasized the role of entrepreneurship in driving economic development (Gregory & Stuart, 1995: 66).

If you quote and then cite, the end-quote marks go before the citation, which goes before the ending punctuation.  If you already mention the author in the text there is no need to repeat it again, as in:

Hayek (1945) argued that prices served to convey information.

If you are citing the source of a quote, and your citation is at the end of the sentence, then the ending quotation marks go before the citation, if in:

"In fact, in any society with autocratic governments, an autocrat with the same incentives as a roving bandit is bound to appear sooner or later" (Olson, 2000: 27).

Though I would probably paraphrase this, or rephrase this as:

Olson (2000: 27) argues that, "in any society with autocratic governments, an autocrat with the same incentives as a roving bandit is bound to appear sooner or later."

All citations must be listed alphabetically  in a bibliographic section entitled "References."  All sources in your references must be cited somewhere in the text.

It is not necessary to cite the same source excessively, especially if it is clear that it is a continuation of the same argument.  Again, use endnotes to explain points in more detail if necessary, but not to cite sources, and include these in a section at the end entitled "Notes".  I encourage you to cite relevant material from the assigned texts.  Finally, you should use quotes sparingly, instead paraphrasing where possible then citing the source of the idea.  Extended quotes should be single spaced and indented, without quote marks.

References go on a separate page entitled References, and you should list your sources by surname alphabetically and unnumbered.  Here are seven sample references, for (1) a book, (2) an article in an edited book, (3) an article in a journal, (4) multiple authors, (5) a newpaper article where no author name is listed, (6) institutional author, and (7) an internet source where the print version is not available.  Books and journals are underlined (you may use italics instead of underlines if you wish), while articles are in quotes.

Olson, Mancur (2000), Power and Prosperity (Basic Books).

Cargill, Thomas F., & Elliott Parker (2003), "Japanese economic structures and finance:  Characteristics and causes of the current slowdown," in Structural Foundations of International Finance, edited by P.C. Padoan, P.  Brenton, & G. Boyd: chapter 9 (Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.).

Parker, Elliott (1995), "Shadow factor price convergence and the response of Chinese state-owned construction enterprises to reform," Journal of Comparative Economics 21(1): 54-81.

Banks, Dwayne, Elliott Parker, & Jeanne Wendel (2001), "Strategic interaction among hospitals and nursing facilities:  The efficiency effects of payment systems and vertical integration," Health Economics 10(2): 119-134.

Economist (1997), "Banking in emerging markets" (April 12): 34-37.

World Bank (1993), The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy (New York, NY: Oxford University Press).

IMF (International Monetary Fund, 2001), International Capital Markets: Developments, Prospects, and Key Policy Issues <http://www.imf.org/ external/ pubs/ ft/ icm/ 2001/ 01/ eng/ index.htm>.

Note that in citing urls, it is a good idea to put spaces in the address so that it breaks to a new line more easily.

Your class lecture notes can simply be cited as (Parker, 2004) and referenced generically as:

Parker, Elliott (2004), ECON 305 lecture notes.

If you are relying on my written notes, however, you would need to reference it as:

Parker, Elliott (2000), "Lecture Notes: Fundamentals of the Neoclassical Framework," <http://unr.edu/ homepage/ elliottp/ ec301/ ec301s2000lec4.html>.  {Here you can deduce the date from the address, but if you can't find it anywhere use the date you accessed the data.}

Plagiarism:

Use your own words and ideas, or cite your source clearly to avoid plagiarism.  I am reasonable about this, as long as you are making a good effort at citing your sources, and a mere phrase here and there will not necessarily set off alarm bells.  Remember, you don't have to go overboard and cite the same source over and over within the same paragraph, as long as it is apparent that you are giving appropriate credit where credit is due.  But lifting somebody else's work, stealing their words and work without proper attribution, is plagiarism.  Getting material off the internet, copying sentences out of a book without quotation marks, or even buying a paper from a "research service" is dangerous and stupid.  It is better that you drop out of school now to save us all the trouble.

To help me check this, you will need to turn in your manuscript as both a paper hardcopy and as a file on a CD or 3.5" diskette (Word, Wordperfect, or even simple text), which I will return.  In some circumstances I may accept your file as an attachment to an e-mail.  I will use this file to run your paper through some plagiarism-checking software, and I will return the diskette to you afterwards.  Be sure to put your name on your disk.

Every semester or two I catch somebody cheating.  Punishments for academic dishonesty are severe, beginning with an F on the assignment.  Last year I gave someone an F in the entire course for plagiarism, and the matter was reported to Student Judicial Affairs.  You will find that I am more than willing to have a hearing, fail you in the class, and even to ask for your expulsion from the university if the violation is severe enough.

Grading:

Your paper will be graded for grammar, spelling, clarity, logic, and flow as well as accuracy and originality of content.  Have somebody read it over for typographical errors and things that just don't make sense.  Don't turn in a rough draft, turn in a polished document.  I prefer that you write this paper in a professional tone, and avoid being flippant.  Originality matters, but it is an issue of content and how you put together material you have learned, not an issue of creative style.  A good paper will be interesting and original, and will make a logical argument that addresses the assigned topic.  A good paper will be well-organized and well-written, will follow the format requested above, and will also demonstrate that the writer has a good grasp on the material.  A good paper will be analytical, will back up potentially controversial or unusual statements with evidence, and will make a solid case.  Never say a cop-out statement like "I think that...," since your opinions are either irrelevant or implied by the fact that you wrote the paper.

Here is a sample grading sheet from Spring 2002:

EC 301- Spring 2002  Paper 1 Grading Sheet Student _________________ Grade   ______ Topic:  What are the theoretically appropriate roles of government in a market (capitalist) economy? Consider and explain the pros and cons of government intervention versus laissez faire. Next, contrast this discussion with the theoretical role of government in a socialist economy based on Marxist-Leninist principles. Be sure to consider the views expressed in Mancur Olson's Power and Prosperity on this topic. Finally, choose one of the countries in Part III of the Schedule of Readings and Lectures, and use it as an example to illustrate your theoretical discussion.  Topic:    Focus on general theory of government's role 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Role of Government intervention: laissez faire 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Role of Government intervention: market failure 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Role of Government intervention: socialism 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Appropriate use of Olson's theory 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Appropriate country 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Appropriate examples from chosen country 4.....3.....2.....1.....0 Content:    Originality 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Clarity and Logic 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Organization 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Accuracy 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Grammar 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Spelling 4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Appropriate use of other assigned readings  4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Additional appropriate sources  4.....3.....2.....1.....0 Format:    Length (target = 5-7)  ___    cover page with abstract  y  /  n    figures or tables  ___    page numbers  y  /  n    Section titles  y  /  n    Appropriate font and margins  y  /  n    Appropriate citation style  4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Appropriate reference style  4.....3.....2.....1.....0    Internet source style  4.....3.....2.....1.....0.....N/A