Economics MBA

MBA-608 BUSINESS ECONOMICS

ASSIGNMENT

Answer both questions. Each question is worth 50 marks. Total assignment marks: 100

Question 1

Describe the business environment in the city or town that you live in. You should

explain what the current economic environment is and how this environment

encourages or inhibits business activity. Don’t simply say the environment is good or

bad. You must justify your view and give examples to support your answer.

In answering this question, you should also examine the level and nature of competition

in at least five different types of product markets. You should explain the type of market

structure that exists in each of these product markets. You should clearly explain

whether firms mainly engage in price or non-price competition and whether there is

much or little competition and why? Based on your answers above, discuss the effects

that the above business environment has on consumers and society in general.

Question 2

(a) For your country, present data for economic growth, inflation, unemployment and the

current account balance for the years 2007-2013. Use graphs to illustrate your answers.

(10 marks)

(b) Using the data that you have presented in part (a), discuss whether you think your

country’s economy has performed well during this period. (20 marks)

(c) Having the data in mind and using economic theories, analyze the various policies

(e.g. fiscal, monetary, supply-side) that you think your government and/or central bank

should use to improve the macroeconomic performance of your country’s economy. In

answering this part, explicitly state (name) the type of economic policy and then

theoretically explain how each policy can help improve the economy. You must outline

the advantages and disadvantages of the policy or policies that you recommend.

(20 marks)

You are required to type up and submit a Word document file which will include

your answers to the above questions.

In preparing your answers to the assignment, you are required to follow the specific

guidelines below:

You are to work on this assignment individually without the help of others.

Your answer should be grounded in relevant economic theories.

The word limit for this assignment is between a minimum of 2000 and a

maximum of 4000 words.

Use Times New Roman or Arial 12 pt with 1.5 spacing between lines.

Pages must be numbered.

Headings and sub-headings should be clear and visible.

The text should flow smoothly, with each section leading naturally and logically to

the next one.

You are required to submit your assignment by March 20, 2014.

Late submissions will not be accepted.

Reference all sources appropriately using the Harvard Referencing system.

Note that although you may include direct quotes from various sources of

information, your answer should not merely be other people’s work. That

is, even if you identify the sources of information that you use, you should

not copy too much information directly from other sources. Try to

paraphrase as much as possible and include your own thoughts in your

answers. Even if you paraphrase you still need to identify the source of

information. When you copy directly be sure to identify the pages. Finally,

when you include your own thoughts be sure to justify them with

supporting references.

To pass the course you must obtain at least a grade of 50%.