Country Trade Profile
Country Trade Profile
Example of tables. You will use similar tables, constructed for your country and your selected years, to compare and discuss changes in the rankings of revealed comparative advantages over time in your country following the task instructions. Note that the years chosen are just examples.
Country XX
Ranking of RCAs 1962
Rank Product Description Industry ID RCA
1 Electric energy 351 5.807
2 Perfumery and cosmetics 553 5.508
3 Non-alcoholic beverages, n.e.s.111 5.241
4 Fur clothing and articles 842 4.172
5 Tulle, lace, embroidery 654 4.068
6 Alcoholic beverages 112 4.015
7 Works of art 896 3.875
8 Fuel wood and charcoal 241 3.591
9 Essential oils, perfume and flavour 551 3.027
10 Barley, unmilled 043 2.966
Country XX
Ranking of RCAs 1989
Rank Product Description Industry ID RCA
1 Electric energy 351 6.287
2 Alcoholic beverages 112 5.587
3 Perfumery and cosmetics 553 5.372
4 Vegetable fibres, except cotton 265 4.127
5 Radioactive and associated material 515 4.066
6 Barely, unmilled 043 3.592
7 Meal and flour of wheat or mesli046 3.582
8 Non-alcoholic beverages n.e.s.111 3.526
9 Sugar and honey 061 3.471
10 Uranium and thorium and their alloy 688 3.356
Country XX
Ranking of RCAs 2019
Rank Product Description Industry ID RCA
1 Vegetable fibres, except cotton 265 8.688
2 Aircraft 734 7.106
3 Travel goods, handbags and similar 831 5.729
4 Alcoholic beverages 112 5.136
5 Barely, unmilled 043 4.512
6 Perfumery and cosmetics 553 4.08
7 Electric energy 351 3.492
8 Radioactive and associated material 515 3.383
9 Live animals 001 3.152
10 Cheese and curd 024 2.995
ECO3BWE Business in the World Economy
Semester 2 2023
Individual Assignment
The National Perspective: Country Case Study
Due date: 23.59 Sunday August 27th, 2023
This task carries 30% of the total mark in the subject
Submission Instructions
This assignment is to be submitted on a Word document via Turnitin using the link that will be provided on LMS. Only the tables and diagrams marked in red are to be included in the Word document. You will also have the option to submit your working Excel file, but only the Word document will be considered for assessment.
Submissions after the due date willbe subjecttoLa Trobe University late submission policies. If you are not able to complete your assignment by the due date, please apply to special consideration to avoid mark deductions. For more information, please click on this link:
https://www.latrobe.edu.au/students/admin/forms/special-consideration.
Please use APA7 Referencing Style or later. For more information, please check the following site: https://latrobe.libguides.com/apa7
Data Sources
For detailed instructions on how to download the data please check the Data Downloading Guidelines at the end of this document. Make sure that the country of your choice has trade data available prior to 1980.
Section 1
Globalising Australia
6 marks (3 + 3)
Read Chapter 1 of the report Globalising Australia, by the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science: https://publications.industry.gov.au/publications/industryinsightsjune2018/documents/IndustryInsights_2_2018_ONLINE.pdf, and answer the following questions (your answers can be complemented by information provided in other chapters of the report, as well as information obtain from other sources).
Question 1. (3 marks) In no more than 250 words summarise the key international trade transformations experienced by Australia since the 1970s.
Question 2. (3 marks) In no more than 250 words explain what is meant by a structural transformation that is generated when a country is exposed to international markets. How was the Australian manufacturing sector affected by the structural transformation observed in Australia in recent years?
Section 2
Country Trade Profile
Activity 1.
10 marks (5 + 5)
Analyse the degree of integration of your selected country to the world economy. In this point, you will need to download trade data for your selected country, plus annual GDP at current US$.
(5 marks) Generate a table where you include annual exports, imports, GDP and your countrys openness to trade. Also include in your table the yearly change of your countrys openness to trade. Depict your countrys openness to trade values over time using a line diagram.
Trade openness is computed using the following formula:
Trade Opennesst=Exportst+ImportstGDPt(5 marks) Discuss your findings. Make sure that your analysis includes references to specific political or economic events that may relate to the long-run evolution, as well as short-run changes, of your countrys openness to trade. Support your analysis with references to the relevant literature when appropriate.
Activity 2.
14 marks (7 + 7)
Analyse the pattern of exports comparative advantages. In this activity you will need to download your countrys exports data disaggregated by products (SITC 3-digit level).
Download the data for three years: the earliest year available in your dataset, one year around the centre of your time series (possibly beginning of the 1990s), and for 2019, or the most recent year in your dataset as long as it is not later than 2019. If you find some missing observations in your dataset that is okay, as long as there is enough data to conduct the analysis just work with what you have.
In your Excel spread sheet(s) calculate the index of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) for each product at the SITC 3-digit level using the relevant data. Please keep RCA values to 3 decimal places. The RCA of a product i of country j in year t is given by:
RCAjit=XjitiXjitjXjitjiXjit,
where Xjit is the export value of product i of country j at year t. The denominator incorporates aggregated world values (all countries).
(7 marks) Generate 3 tables where you list the top 10 products by RCA in each of the selected years (one table per year). Each table should include the rank, product ID, product name and the corresponding RCA.
Note: The index represents the share of a particular products exports in total exports of a country, relative to the share of that products exports in total world exports. A country is said to have an RCA in a product when the corresponding index is greater than 1 (RCA>1).
(7 marks) Discuss your findings by analysing the patterns and overtime trends of RCA in your country. Explain the sources of the RCAs and the determinants of their change over time (when changes are observed over time). Your discussion should be supported not only by the data analysis but also by research on relevant literature and the theories studied in the subject.
Data Downloading Guidelines
For Activity 1
To download the trade data go to http://wits.worldbank.org/WITS/WITS//Default-A.aspx?Page=Default (you will need to create an account if you did not have one yet).
Once you are logged in, go to Advanced Query and select Trade data (UN COMTRADE).
Give your query a name and description and select data source: COMTRADE.
Select the Reporters (this is your selected country).
Select Products: Nomenclature SITC Revision 1 (or another revision if the data was not available in Revision 1). Then, since this task requires aggregated data go to Select from Product Tree and select Total Trade.
Select Partners: World
Select Years: all years available up to 2019
Select Trade Flow: Exports and Imports
Submit
Click on the Download icon (down arrow).
Click Download and then OK
Once the status of the query is completed, click on the save icon. Note: you may need to click on the View and Request Download and then the Download Data boxes for the query to be completed and to be able to see the save icon.
Download Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data in current US$ from: https://data.worldbank.org/For Activity 2
In WITS, go to Advanced Query and select Trade data (UN COMTRADE).
Give your query a name and description and select data source: COMTRADE.
Select the Reporters (this is your selected country). Note: for world exports go to Predefined Country Groups and select All countries.
Select Products: Nomenclature SITC Revision 1 (or another revision if the data was not available in Revision 1). Then go to Clusters and select ALL Group (3-digit).
Select Partners: World
Select Years: your years of interest (if preferred, you can select one year at a time to generate one spreadsheet per year)
Select Trade Flow: Exports
Submit
Click on the Download icon (down arrow). To the selected columns add Product Description.
Click Download and then OK
Once the status of the query is completed, click on the save icon. Note: you may need to click on the View and Request Download and then the Download Data boxes for the query to be completed and to be able to see the save icon.
