Economies and their Similarities and Differences (2 Viewers)

[RivalryofTroll]

So I basically have to compare China's economy and Australia's economy.

I was wondering which websites or sources would provide me RECENT INFORMATION, RECENT STATISTICS, DIAGRAMS AND FIGURES on the following: (Sources for information/stats from the year 2008 to 2012 would be appreciated)
China's Environmental Sustainability
Australia's Environmental Susitainability
Recent impact of the global economy for China and Australia > I plan to discuss on how the financial crisis in 2009 affected China's and Australia's economy.

I've been trying to use textbooks like Tim Riley textbooks but the information is outdated (2003 to 2007 info and stats) so yeah....
So how should I approach these two sub-topics? [Environmental Sustainability and Recent Impact of the Global Economy]

I'm not really asking for answers, because this would be cheating, but rather I'm requesting for websites/sources to gather the information that I might need and ideas + suggestions on how to approach this!
ANY FORM OF HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED!

 

[OzKo]

RBA and ABS are always a good place to start.

 

[theind1996]

So I basically have to compare China's economy and Australia's economy.

I was wondering which websites or sources would provide me RECENT INFORMATION, RECENT STATISTICS, DIAGRAMS AND FIGURES on the following: (Sources for information/stats from the year 2008 to 2012 would be appreciated)
China's Environmental Sustainability
Australia's Environmental Susitainability
Recent impact of the global economy for China and Australia > I plan to discuss on how the financial crisis in 2009 affected China's and Australia's economy.

I've been trying to use textbooks like Tim Riley textbooks but the information is outdated (2003 to 2007 info and stats) so yeah....
So how should I approach these two sub-topics? [Environmental Sustainability and Recent Impact of the Global Economy]

I'm not really asking for answers, because this would be cheating, but rather I'm requesting for websites/sources to gather the information that I might need and ideas + suggestions on how to approach this!
ANY FORM OF HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED!

dafuq?! Girra has the exact same assignment.. except we get to choose which Asian economy we want to compare. Use the IMF's stuff on Google Data. Use Tim Riley and Market Economy 2012 textbooks. If you don't want to buy them, go down to Dymocks after school, look at the stats, write them down or remember them. Rinse and repeat until you've find gathered all information.

 

[seremify007]

One thing which is worth researching is the difference in how the government/central banks control the economy. Whilst Australia uses fiscal policy and monetary policy, not every country uses them in the same manner as us. There's also obviously different target bands which they use, etc.

From memory, and my limited knowledge from when I researched this for FX trading, China uses controls over banks in terms of liquidity requirements (i.e. how much money the bank is allowed to lend out vs. how much it must keep on hand), lending criteria requirements (e.g. business loans or personal/residential loans), and spending/investment limits on local counties/regions/etc to control the economy. This is quite different to how Australia has monetary policy which impacts the Aussie government yield rate, and there is obviously talk nowadays of whether or not it really does have a blunt instrument to control activity in the economy given that most banks finance using other means (e.g. offshore markets).

 

[RivalryofTroll]

dafuq?! Girra has the exact same assignment.. except we get to choose which Asian economy we want to compare. Use the IMF's stuff on Google Data. Use Tim Riley and Market Economy 2012 textbooks. If you don't want to buy them, go down to Dymocks after school, look at the stats, write them down or remember them. Rinse and repeat until you've find gathered all information.

We got to choose our country case study as well... My group chose China :/

 

[seremify007]

China is a great country to do a case study on but then you have to keep in mind the risk that since everyone else is doing China, it'll be harder for you to stand out, and you'll need more than just inflation & interest rates to set yourself apart. Also if everyone else is quoting stats, don't make them up

 

[OzKo]

China is a great country to do a case study on but then you have to keep in mind the risk that since everyone else is doing China, it'll be harder for you to stand out, and you'll need more than just inflation & interest rates to set yourself apart. Also if everyone else is quoting stats, don't make them up

This is good advice. From what I can gather, China is the most popular case study to do within this particular topic. Many of the sources you use would have been well scoured before you went searching so teachers and markers are well aware of what to expect from a China case study. As the second largest economy, you will have a lot of bases to cover and don't forget that this changes all the time.

I think a good point of discussion would be the challenges facing the Chinese and Australian economy. Identify the similarities and differences and explain why this is so (e.g. the Chinese government is quite concerned about inflation sourced from rising food prices). Perhaps commentary on the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone could be worth mentioning as the risk of contagion influences decision-making outside the region. Obviously don't get too caught up about the technicalities regarding these events but focus on their effects and responses instead.

 

[seremify007]

I'd also consider the key challenge that because there's SO MUCH information and analysis overload, you need to figure out what needs saying and what doesn't.

Also, a lot of editorial articles out there are very emotionally written (just look up Stern Hu)... so keep in mind that you need to remain neutral in your analysis and the words you choose to express the differences. e.g. political risks, sovereign risks, cultural differences, legislative or judicial system differences, etc...

As for how I would write such an essay, for example, on a general essay/analysis comparing China and Australia, I would try to link news/current events/cultural knowledge (e.g. Chinese people like to save) with economic data/statistics (e.g. national savings level) and economic concepts (e.g. marginal propensity to save, paradox of thrift/tragedy of commons)... then you can compare and contrast with statistics/data. How to apply this to environmental sustainability will be challenging but that's the challenge!

Good luck!

 

[theind1996]

I'd also consider the key challenge that because there's SO MUCH information and analysis overload, you need to figure out what needs saying and what doesn't.

Also, a lot of editorial articles out there are very emotionally written (just look up Stern Hu)... so keep in mind that you need to remain neutral in your analysis and the words you choose to express the differences. e.g. political risks, sovereign risks, cultural differences, legislative or judicial system differences, etc...

As for how I would write such an essay, for example, on a general essay/analysis comparing China and Australia, I would try to link news/current events/cultural knowledge (e.g. Chinese people like to save) with economic data/statistics (e.g. national savings level) and economic concepts (e.g. marginal propensity to save, paradox of thrift/tragedy of commons)... then you can compare and contrast with statistics/data. How to apply this to environmental sustainability will be challenging but that's the challenge!

Good luck!

Um, would Japan be a good country to do? My group didn't choose China because we thought that the Chinese government would have fake statistics that would be unreliable (as with North Korea). Thoughts?

 

[gnrlies]

Check the Dec 2011 leading edge economics update..... You will find a discussion on the reform process within China. Your teacher should be able to get it for you if you don't have it.

 

[corzacollymore]

Try trading economics has most statstics on each country
But i recommend newspapers

 

[seremify007]

Um, would Japan be a good country to do? My group didn't choose China because we thought that the Chinese government would have fake statistics that would be unreliable (as with North Korea). Thoughts?

Japan would be fine. Plenty of information available.

That being said, I don't think the risk of 'fake statistics' is really a concern for you as the ability to assess the reliability, validity and independence of data is not part of the syllabus nor is it expected (beyond the obvious of not referencing Wikipedia in your work).

 

[gnrlies]

Japan would be fine. Plenty of information available.

That being said, I don't think the risk of 'fake statistics' is really a concern for you as the ability to assess the reliability, validity and independence of data is not part of the syllabus nor is it expected (beyond the obvious of not referencing Wikipedia in your work).

Not to mention that chinas NBS is fairly credible eliminating the premise of these concerns