ECO2101: You need to Search and Select FOUR (4) Articles from Accredited News Sources Only: Microeconomics Assignment, SIM,, Singapore

Assignment Details:

1) Newspaper Articles

a) You need to search and select FOUR (4) articles from accredited news sources only. Blogs, companies’ commentaries, third party commentaries, etc are NOT to be used. The following are some useful newspaper web links:

THE STRAITS TIMES https://www.straitstimes.com/
NEW STRAITS TIME https://www.nst.com.my/
TODAY ONLINE https://www.todayonline.com/
THE JAKARTA POST http://www.thejakartapost.com/
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST http://www.scmp.com/frontpage/international
BBC NEWS http://www.bbc.com/news
THE NEW YORK TIMES https://www.nytimes.com/

b) Each news article should be used to analyze a different aspect of the market that you are working on (e.g. PPF, demand, supply, market equilibrium, elasticity, budget line, etc). You may make reasonable (and realistic) assumptions for computation and illustration purposes.

The analysis must include illustrations such as graphs, tables, computation as supporting evidence.

c) You are free to decide on any theme. The following are some examples*:

i. Food and beverage industry – restaurants, cafes (Starbucks), food courts (Kopitiam), hawker centers.

ii. Housing industry – private houses/apartments, Government homes (HDB flats); rental and private-owned homes.

iii. Transportation industry – public transportation (taxis, SMRT buses, trains); private transportation (cars, bicycles)

iv. Travel industry – full-service airlines (Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines); low-cost airlines (Tiger Air, Jetstar)

v. Tourism industry – hotels (Shangri-la hotel, Mandarin hotel), Airbnb, new attractions (Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Flyer, Botanic Gardens, Singapore Zoo), tourist arrivals etc.

vi. Education industry – state schools, private schools (SIMGE), private tuition centers.

vii. Fashion Industry – (Zara, H& M, Uniqlo, Espirit, Nike, Sketchers).

viii. Technological/Electronic goods industry – computers (Lenovo, Asus), mobile phone (Samsung, iPhone), tablets, keyboards, memory cards and peripherals).

d) The articles selected must be relevant to the course concepts discussed in Lecture 1 to 4.

e) The articles selected should be recent, that is, dated from 1 March 2020 onwards. Marks (maximum 20%) will be deducted for articles that are dated earlier than or on 29 February 2020.

f) Start your research today. This ensures that you would have sufficient time to analyze and complete your report based on the selected 4 newspaper articles. To manage your time well.

2) Report – Analysis

1) For each analysis, highlight the key facts of the newspaper article and analyze them using Microeconomics concepts in Lectures 1 – 4. For example, you may write on the following:

a) Scarcity, choices and the use of production possibility frontier.

b) Determinants of demand and supply for the product or service selected.

c) Compute and analyze the price elasticity, cross elasticity of income elasticity of demand/supply of the product or service selected. Assumptions on price and quantity may be made.

d) Describe the impact of the newspaper article (an event or decision such as rise in oil prices), on the equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity of the market.

e) Analyze changes in demand for or supply of the product or service selected. This includes shortages or surpluses of the product or service selected.

f) Use a news article and determine elasticities of demand (YED, CED, PED) or supply (PES).

2) For each newspaper article, you are to use ONE (1) Microeconomics concept from ONE (1) lesson. You can refer to the module book and slides to help you illustrate your analysis. Do note that you need to explain in your own words.

3) Each analysis must be supported with appropriate economics charts, tables, and computation.