Economic issues

This assignment requires you to integrate the theoretical knowledge you gain from lectures and tutorials with real life economic issues presented in the mainstream media

Section 1 ? In your tutorial you will review and discuss a case study which deals with a real life media report. You will need to critically analyse this case and draw out references to relevant economic theory as well as the practical application of this theory in a business environment. To assist you in this process your tutor will guide the class through a group discussion of the case.
You are then required to individually prepare a written response in the form of short answers to the questions regarding the case study.

Section 2 ? In this section you will be required to locate and review a current newspaper or online news article of your choice to draw out and discuss an aspect of relevant economic theory. You should approach this case in the same way as the case study discussed in Section 2 applying the same critical analysis to your chosen media report and provide a written response in the form of short answers using the same questions from Section 1.

This assessment is to be presented in short answer format.
Both sections (1 & 2) are to be submitted to your tutor in your Week 7 tutorial along with the cover sheet available on UTSOnline and a copy of your chosen media article.
Section 1

You will discuss this case in your tutorial. You should be familiar with this case BEFORE your tutorial. As you read through this article think about the theories we have discussed in lectures and the tutorial exercises. Take notes during the discussion to help you answer the questions about this case.

You are required to provide short answer responses to the following questions in your written analysis of this media article. The bullet points are issues to consider in preparing your short answer response.

What is the main issue presented in the media report?

? Discuss what has actually happened
? Highlight the reason for the issue being raised
? Outline what possible impacts this change could have.
Who are the key stakeholders that are impacted by the issue outlined in the report?
? Include a discussion of all groups that may be impacted by the
issue raised in this report
? Highlight what you believe the main impacts will be and outline who you believe will be impacted most.
What economic theories can be drawn from this media report?
? List and discuss what economic theories you can find in this article.
? Provide a brief outline of the theory you are highlighting.
? Would a graph or diagram assist in explaining this theory?
? Provide evidence from the article to support these theories. Remember there may be more than one theory to discuss.
Are there any other issues in the article that you believe to be relevant?
Section 2
In this section you will be required to locate and review a current newspaper article of your own choice which is different to the issues covered in Section 1 to draw out and discuss an aspect of relevant economic theory.
You should approach your chosen media article in the same way as the case study in Section 1. Apply the same critical analysis to your own media article and provide a written response in short answer format using the same questions:

What is the main issue presented in the media report?
? Discuss what has actually happened
? Highlight the reason for the issue being raised
? Outline what possible impacts this change could have.
Who are the key stakeholders that are impacted by the issue outlined in the report?
? Include a discussion of all groups that may be impacted by the issue raised in this report
? Highlight what you believe the main impacts will be and outline who you believe will be impacted most.
What economic theories can be drawn from this media report?
? List and discuss what economic theories you can find in this article.
? Provide a brief outline of the theory you are highlighting
? Would a graph or diagram assist in explaining this theory?
? Provide evidence from the article to support these theories. Remember there may be more than one theory to discuss.
Are there any other issues in the article that you believe to be relevant?

What should this media article look like?
Your chosen article could come from a printed newspaper source such as the Australia Financial Review or Sydney Morning Herald. Alternatively, you may wish to find an article from an online source such as www.msn.com.au, www.abc.net.au or one of the many other online news sources.

Your chosen article must meet the following criteria
? It needs to be from an Australian source
? It needs to be dated within the last 3 months (it must be recent!)
? It needs to contain economic theory for you to discuss in your short answer responses

If you are unsure about the suitability of your chosen article ask your tutor to check how suitable it will be. You can ask your tutor in tutorials or you can email them with links to specific articles. In your email you should provide a brief outline of what theories you think you could discuss from your chosen article.