ECO203: The Outbreak of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic Which Became Publicly Recognized: International Economics Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Assignment 2:

The outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic which became publicly recognized in end-January 2020 has affected many economies worldwide. The pandemic has impacted the global hospitality and tourism industry directly and has been disrupting global supply chains since then, adversely impacting even more economies worldwide.

As a Researcher working for a leading Research Institute, you have been tasked to conduct research and prepare a report on the COVID-19 pandemic in ONE (1) country of your choice.

The report should cover the following key areas:

• Overview of the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis.
• Impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the society of that chosen country.
• Economic and social policies implemented by the Government of this country in response to the crisis.
• Evaluation of the underlying rationales and effectiveness of these policies implemented.

1. This assignment aims to provide an association between what you learned in class and real-life economic events happening around you. Where applicable, illustrate your discussion with diagrams and economic models to enhance your discussion.
2. More marks will be awarded for reports, which provide a more comprehensive, balanced, and in-depth analysis with adequate referencing to the economic concepts and models.
3. While conducting the research, you are free to discuss all relevant information from numerous sources that relate to the COVID-19 and the economy of the chosen country. Do not rely on one source and do compare and contrast perspectives.  For the use of internet sources, you should note that there is no quality control over the information on the web. As far as possible, you should choose a website established by authoritative institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the respective countries’ government official websites. And avoid Wikipedia definitions!

This assignment is aimed at a number of competency elements, specifically:

• Researching in terms of searching for and evaluating newspapers, magazine articles, reports, and academic journals that are suitable for this assignment.
• Analysis of the information presented in the article and how the macroeconomic event could be explained using economic models.
• Assessing the suitability of the economic models to analyze the macroeconomic event and what are the limitations of the models.
• Presentation in putting forward the information and analysis you have in a form, which is clear, accurate, and easy to understand.

Tips

• In the introduction, provide an overview of the outbreak of the COVID 19 coronavirus crisis in the country chosen. Let the reader know the flow of your discussion.
• In the body of the essay, you should identify and discuss:
  • Impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the society of that chosen country- Do provide more quantitative and qualitative support.
  • Economic and social policies implemented by the government of this country in response to the crisis. Explain the underlying rationales of these policies and what they are meant to achieve
  • Evaluation of the effectiveness of these policies implemented and possible limitations of these policies

• A conclusion, highlighting your key points and arguments in the essay.
• Draw economic models (AS-AD, Aggregate Expenditure Model, Money Market diagram) to illustrate the discussion of the economic problem and the impacts of government policies.