Feedback on EURO question + HWK 28/2/12

HWK due next week: Use my feedback below to write a perfect 30 mark answer to the question

The UK is a member of the European Union but has not adopted the euro as its currency. To what extent do the benefits of membership of a monetary union such as the Eurozone outweigh the costs?

(30 marks)

My general feedback on the essays you handed in last week is:

* Academic writing please, not journalism. No thoughts, feelings or emotions - no-one cares (sorry). Just points backed up by evidence, then explained and evaluated.

* Use current data to support your answers. Follow current economic data and keep track of it (UK vs Eurozone growth / deficit / debt % GDP, UK vs China vs India growth rates, unemployment, current account deficit etc)

* Answer the question. Lots of you wrote fascinating, well-researched paragraphs that got no marks because they didn't answer the question.

* Write balanced answers. The question required you to look at BOTH the pros and cons of Euro membership. "Evaluation" for this question means giving the other side of the question. 

* Answer structure. You MUST do a short bullet point plan before you write your answer. You can cross it out when you write your real answer. One paragraph per point. The answer format I've given you will help:

To achieve full marks, you needed 4 pros and 3 cons (or 3 pros and 4 cons). Other evaluation strategies could have included ranking the importance of your points, looking at short term vs. long term effects, or the type of country in question (small, large etc). Remember our list of generic evaluation strategies?

1. Opportunity cost

2. Short-run / long-run / time-lags

3. Magnitude of change

4. Quality / reliability of data

5. Which factor is most / least important? Why?

6. “Africa” / “Asia” / “S America” are not useful units of analysis – there’s a huge variation within them

7. Effect on different sectors of the economy (rich vs poor? Importers vs exporters? Manufacturers vs services?)

8. Trade-off between different macro-economic objectives (e.g. Phillips Curve – can’t cut inflation AND unemployment at the same time)

9. Keynesian vs Classical LR supply curve

10. Price / income elasticity of demand / supply