Final Paper ECON 200: Microeconomics Required Assessment

Final Paper

ECON 200: Microeconomics Required Assessment

Introduction to Assignment

Africa, by almost any measure, is the wealthiest continent in terms of natural resources yet, a large percentage of the continent’s population lives in poverty and continually struggles with civil strife. The material you covered in this course can help us to explain why economic development in many African Countries is still lagging behind other nations of the world.

In this assignment, you are required to write a research paper on the general topic of natural resource extraction and utilization in two countries (Ghana and Kenya) Preparation

Development of Thesis

Listed below are possible research questions that could help formulate the topic for your paper. In every case, be sure to support your thesis with concrete examples from your research of African Countries and with economic theory. Factual information about countries must be supported with valid sources and economic theory should be cited (either from your text or from academic publications). In addition, you must include your own analysis, in your own words, based on your sources and references. Be sure to tie together the information you present so that the main theme is clear to the reader; do not assume that the reader can guess why you are including the information.

Please answer this question when writing the research paper- Research Question using Ghana and Kenya

Should political leaders have the ability to control natural resources? What advantages and disadvantages might there be to such control in theory? What has been the actual What externalities result from the situation where political leaders control the resources and subsequently appropriate the income and wealth from these resources? Do political leaders have the same goals as citizens of a country in directing resources? You might consider actual and possible uses of resources including military, personal gain of leaders, infrastructure, public health, education, and any others you can think of. Where are resources currently directed? What are the opportunity costs of using resources in this way? Is the current allocation of resources efficient? Could resources be better allocated? Support your claims with evidence and economic theory.

Minimum Requirements

The paper will be 6-8 pages in length not counting the cover page or reference page.

APA format must be used. The paper will include a cover page, abstract, introduction, body, conclusion, and reference page.

The introduction must clearly identify your research question and the countries you are using to support your thesis.

While the paper will be written in narrative reporting form, it will address a set of issues related to an overall research question. Do not enumerate or bullet the questions or issues in list form. Include the information that addresses the questions and issues in the body of the paper.

Information should be summarized and paraphrased as much as possible. Scholarly sources and/or reputable news sources must be used to validate factual information and to support critical analysis. There must be at least three such scholarly sources and/or reputable news sources cited in addition to information that may be taken from the assigned readings and course text. Editorials, opinion pages, commentaries, and blogs that are posted at news media web pages are not to be used for this purpose (that is, to validate factual information and to support critical analysis). Sources must be recent (within the last 5 years).