You decide

Order Description
Essay’s Objective:

The essay has two objectives. First, its purpose is for you to demonstrate things you have learned in this class. At this point, you should have a solid vocabulary and conceptual understanding of international political economy and how it relates to the topic of rich and poor nations. Secondly, the aim is to sharpen your critical writing and thinking skills. These are skills that carry beyond academia and into the workplace.
Watch Video
Analytical Essay Writing for Policy and Political Science
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ (Purdue’s online writing lab)

Essay’s Requirements:

The final paper must be 4 to 5 pages. The minimum is four and the maximum is five (Note however: you will not be penalized for a longer paper but you will be for one shorter than the minimum). Anything less than four pages (not including footnote/endnotes) will be graded starting at a C. The paper is doubled-spaced. See specifics on how to write and use references in the paper below. You must have at least two sources cited. Recall that you cannot use the etext, Wikipedia, Google, or the videos as a citation in the paper. Once again, these are resources, not sources to be cited! Failure to comply with these requirements will result in significant grade penalties!

Cover page excluded?

Appropriate length? <E.g. For the second assignment, 4-5 full pages, not counting sources> Page numbers included?

1-inch margins? Appropriate spacing (i.e. Single-spaced between paragraphs, when providing block quotations, and the first page heading? Otherwise double-spaced?) 12 point, Times New Roman font?

Essay’s Context:

After finishing your studies at a University, you have just been hired by Walmart. Your supervisor informs you that thanks to your knowledge of international political economy, you have been tasked to write a policy analysis for upper management. Walmart would like to expand and grow its market share. To achieve this goal, it needs more consumers globally. Thus, your task is to explain in a well written and concise policy paper why some countries are in a “poverty trap” and what ways these countries might escape from a “poverty trap.” From the four perspectives on IPE and the six learning modules, you are aware that international structures and processes such as trade, finance, migration, and global poverty all play a role in the gap between rich and poor nations. Also, depending on the perspective, these structures and processes both explain why many countries are in a “poverty trap” and what can be done to it escape from it! The central point of your policy analysis is that with a reduction in global poverty and a decline in the gap between rich and poor nations Walmart will surely gain because there will be more consumers for its goods and services.

How political economists visualize a poverty trap.

This is how it is defined:

The poverty trap is seen as an “S-shaped” curve: the poor (individuals or countries) are stuck on the left side of the graph below the diagonal line, wherein future income is lower than present income, and it continues to decrease over time. This is one explanation for why social mobility is much lower for impoverished people than their counterparts with a higher income. In Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo assert that “your income today influences what your income will be in the future.” The amount of money you have today determines what you eat, how much money spent on health, education, consumer goods, and ways to improve your work, etc., which in turn influences your income in the future.

Essay’s Format:

Opening thesis statement

This policy report has three specific objectives. First, I set forth a clear argument as to why some countries have fallen into a “poverty trap.” I identify three to four factors that account for these countries being in a “poverty trap.” Then, I provide specific arguments as to how a country might escape from its “poverty trap.” Specifically, I identify how and why certain factors can help a country move beyond poverty. In order to be specific, I highlight these factors with a focus on a particular country. It will serve as an illustration of why it is (or was) in a “poverty trap” and what needs to be done (or did) to get out it. Finally, I end my policy analysis on an optimistic note in underscoring that it is in the interest of rich nations and multinationals such as Walmart to have less of a global gap between rich and poor nations. For rich nations, the gain is more stability in the international system and for Walmart it is more consumers.
Objective 1.
Objective 2.
Objective 3.
Concluding summary and statement

In this policy analysis, I have … Two main conclusions can be drawn from this policy analysis for management at Walmart concerning the importance of a reduction in the gap between rich and poor nations on the company’s business model. First, Second,
References:

If you place them in the text, they should be incorporated in this way. According to John Smith (1999, p. 3) …. or Increased trade has resulted in …. earning more income from its exports (Bauer, 2003, pp. 20-23). The full citation of the reference – book, article, newspaper source is placed at the end of the paper as a bibliography. For example, John Smith 1999. The Cost of Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Or you can use footnotes. For example, According to John Smith, trade has …. resulted in increased dependency …[1] With the full citation in the footnote at the bottom of the page.

[1] John Smith 1999. The Cost of Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 3.

Grading Rubric:

I. Essay is well organized, followed specified rules and clearly written

Poor = .9 Points; Average = 1.2 Points; Strong = 1.35 Points; Excellent = 1.5 Points

II. Identifies and details the causes of poverty traps

Poor = 1.5 Points; Average = 1.8 Points; Strong = 2.25 Points; Excellent = 2.5 Points

III. Proposals for and concrete examples of escaping poverty traps

Poor = 1.5 Points; Average = 1.8 Points; Strong = 2.25 Points; Excellent = 2.5 Points

IV. Details the benefits to rich countries/multinationals in closing the gap

Poor = 1.5 Points; Average = 1.8 Points; Strong = 2.25 Points; Excellent = 2.5 Points

V. Proper attribution and citation

Poor = 0.6 Points; Average = 0.75 Points; Strong = 0.9 Points; Excellent = 1 Point