Ec4014 International Economics

EC4014 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS PART ONE– ESSAY [LIMIT OF 2000 WORDS 50 MARKS] Using what you have learned in lectures, tutorials and the suggested readings within the module, discuss the statement below The forces of globalisation and free trade are undeniably beneficial. PART TWO – EMPIRICAL [50 MARKS] A. Using the WTO Trade Statistics tables on SULIS, answer the following i. What proportion of world merchandise exports were accounted for by European countries, the United States, Asia, South/Central America and Africa and respectively for the years 1948, 1973, 1993 and 2014? What about world merchandise imports? What does this data tells us about the evolution of international trade over this time period? ii. Create a bar chart of the USA’s and the EU’s 5 main partners respectively in the trading of merchandise for 2014 for both exports and imports respectively. Briefly discuss what you observe. iii. Provide a brief discussion (300 words approx.) on the imports of the European Union, Asia and the USA from the least developed countries of the world (Table I.22 of the report). B. Using the file Irish Trade.xls on SULIS, answer the following: i. Calculate and plot the ratio of imports plus exports to GDP in Ireland between 2007 and 2017. Discuss your findings. Next, plot and discuss the changes in exports and GDP for each year across this period. ii. Provide a table of Ireland’s main trading partners by calculating the percentage share of Ireland’s exports and imports (respectively) for each country listed for 2016 and 2017. Discuss your findings.