ECONOMIC SYSTEMS ELSEWHERE: TERM PAPER
Objectives: This project fosters analytical, writing, and research skills and allows you as students to examine the lives of citizens of other countries on an everyday basis and/or over the long run. By looking at case studies for the given country as well as at comparative statistics, you can examine how everyday life in that country compares with life in the United States. The objective is not to look at these comparisons narrowly, but rather to look widely at the quality of life overall in any of the countries and to even question what the term "quality of life" means.
Directions: Choose any country other than the United States. Examine the typical lives of their citizens in the given country and make comparisons with the typical lives of citizens in the United States. Consider questions such as those listed below. Subject areas that you can examine and use for comparison should be something that interest you. These may include:
• Income
• Work
• Business Environment
• Savings
• Transportation
• Environment
• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Debt
• Vacation Time
• Labor Rights and Practices
• Leisure Activities
• Material Possessions
• Taxes
• Retirement Security and Lifestyle
• Housing
• Education
• Contentment
Someone studying Greece could, for example, could ask questions such as the following:
• How much free time, for example, do Greeks have away from work and how does that compare with that of those in the United States? What do Greeks do with their free time?
• How much time do Greeks spend with their children? What variables account for the amount of time?
• How do Greek citizens access health care and education? How do they pay for these services and what quality do they receive in turn?
• How healthy are Greeks in comparison with those in the United States?
• What is their life expectancy? How does that compare with those in the United States?
• What is the infant mortality rate in Greece? How does that compare with those in the United States?
• What is the enrollment rate in Greece? What is the literacy rate in Greece? How does these compare with those in the United States?
• What percent of the population is living in rural areas in Greece?
• What percent of the population is poor or homeless in Greece?
• What health care is available for poor children?
• What is the parental leave policy and practice in Greece and how does that compare with leave policies in other industrialized economies?
• When parents work, how are children taken care of in the Greece?
• How do Greeks typically commute to work?
• How widespread is auto ownership and how much does the average Greek drive?
• How big are houses in Greece and, when compared with citizens in the United States? Does that correlate with happiness and contentment?
Answers to such questions can be followed up with analytical questions that look at the causes and effects. What accounts for the amount of time off from work, for example? Public policy? Culture? Or one can ask what the effects of time off are. Does the amount of time off lead to more or less stress in society? What are the comparative policy implications of the answers?
Much case study material will be available via Web searches (including journal articles, often for sale), but good university libraries will be the best source for books and (free) journal articles and their use is recommended.
In your comparative analysis, you can also use the following online databases:
• Nation Master (https://www.nationmaster.com/)
• OECD Factbook (https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/)
When you click "Browse by Country" on the top navigation bar, you can only access the information by the option.
• OECD Statistics (https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx)
• Statistics of the Human Development Report (https://hdr.undp.org/en/data)
• World Development Indicators Database (https://data.worldbank.org/)
These databases provide data and comparative international rankings in health, economics, labor laws, security, etc.
For data on United States, you can also use data from the Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/).
Submission Guidelines
1. In this project, you can choose a maximum of two partners (this means no more than three members in a group).
2. This group paper is due on March 28, 2015 (Monday) at 10:00AM.
3. The format of your paper should be 1.5-spaced using 12-point font (any font). There is no limit to the number of pages of your term paper.
4. Cite your references properly. You can use any citation format (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.)
5. Submit your paper by uploading it to the CONTENT section of our class page on the Blackboard.