This assignment will help students master research and other analytical skills and will help students recognize reasons why economic growth varies by country. By using macroeconomic indicators, students will complete analysis and determine comparative and absolute advantage in different product categories for each country’s economy.

Assignment Steps

Resources: Tutorial help on Excel® and Word functions can be found on the Microsoft® Office website. There are also additional tutorials via the web offering support for Office products.

Develop a minimum 1,050-word analysis of the international economy in which you do the following:

As a team, choose three countries from the list below. Research each country, using resources such as the CIA World Fact Book, World Bank data, World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Federal Reserve Bank. Research each of your three chosen country’s economic, political, and cultural development:
USA
Australia
Canada
China
Saudi Arabia
Democratic Republic of Congo
France
Germany
Great Britain
Italy
Japan
Analyze measures of economic growth and of comparative and absolute advantage in international trade.
Use tables and/or graphs to compare the following economic statistics/indicators of your three chosen countries for the most recent year available and for 2009 (the trough of the last economic cycle):
Country Real GDP
Country CPI
Country Real Exports
Country Real Imports
Country Unemployment Rate
Country Industrial Production
Discuss reasons why the economic growth of the three countries varies. How does international trade influence the strength of the economy worldwide?
Discuss the following for each country:
At least two products that have provided the country an absolute advantage in trade (if any).
At least two products that have provided the country a comparative advantage in trade.
Factors that might have prevented any of your three chosen countries from achieving absolute and/or comparative advantages.