TMA 01: Econometrics

Part A: (900w limit)

Question 1 (20)

Imagine you are a research assistant for an economic think tank and you have been asked to find the following information:

(a) Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the year 2020 in current (nominal) prices.

Go online and find the website of the national statistics agency in Canada. Search its website to find the figure for Canada’s 2020 GDP (expenditure-based). What is the URL of the website and what is the GDP figure to the nearest tenth of a trillion Canadian dollars?

(b) You are considering an overview of the market for brewing, food and beverages.

Extract 1 reproduces some information from the website of an organisation that may be relevant. Explain how it would help you rate information from this organisation against the ‘O’ (Objectivity) in the PROMPT criteria.

Extract 1  Information about the BFBi (Brewing, Food & Beverage Industry Suppliers Association) from its website: https://www.bfbi.org.uk – About us/Benefits of Membership

As a not for profit organisation, all income is for the benefit of Members via the improvement of services, provision of information, grants and facilitation/promotion of training (grant funded wherever possible).

The Association promotes its Members via the website; social media channels; quarterly newsletter and a variety of professional and social events, both in the UK and overseas.

The Association uses its group purchasing power to facilitate discounts on exhibitions, market research, insurance etc.

The Association is a Department of Trade Trade Challenge Partner for various exhibitions around the world, enabling eligible participating UK companies [to] achieve grant funding. We also partner with other Associations, helping Members benefit from grants at their discounted Member Management fees.

The Association’s free of charge Business Advisory Helpline, run by Croners, is particularly useful to small companies who would normally have to pay for advice on VAT, Tax/PAYE, Commercial/Legal matters, Health & Safety.

The Association communicates with Members via e-groups, disseminating information, statistics, export leads on a regular, if not daily basis. BFBi (2022)

Question 2 (36, 6 points per point)

Drawing on your study of Block 1, in one or two sentences in each case, briefly explain why each of the following statements is false.

(a) Ceteris paribus, a change in one of the conditions of demand (other than the price of the product itself) is shown by a movement along the curve.

(b) If markets operated in conditions of perfect competition, they would efficiently account for all costs, including those known as externalities.

(c) Under the approach advocated by Karl Popper, a robust way to advance knowledge is to test theories so that they can be verified.

(d) Steven Lukes’ first dimension of power involves setting the agenda so that issues that people might have grievances about are suppressed and not open for debate.

(e) Carrying out research on personal data using ‘Big Data’ quantitative methods is allowed without condition in Europe.

(f) Mixed methods research is not useful in a study when carrying out trials.

Question 3(34)

A researcher is working with a sample (1000 cases) designed to be largely representative of the registered businesses of a (fictitious) country. The data includes information about the annual turnover of each company for the most recent year available. Open the Excel file called ‘TMA 01: Annual turnover’ and carry out the following tasks:

(a) Find and remove any missing values (please note in your spreadsheet which respondent identity number accounted for the missing values).

(b) Using appropriate Excel functions, calculate the following descriptions of the data:

i.mean

ii.median

iii.standard deviation (bearing in mind that this is a sample not the whole population)

iv.skew

v.kurtosis.

(c) Using the ‘pivot table’ feature in Excel, create a frequency table of the data.

(d) Create a chart of your choice to illustrate an aspect of the data that you would like to highlight.

(e) Comment on what the chart you created in question (d) is showing.

(f) Explain whether or not exactly 95.5% of the data lies between the mean plus/minus two standard deviations and the reasoning for your answer.

You should submit your completed Excel file as the answer to (a), (b), (c) and (d); the Excel file does not use any of your word count.

Part B: (100w limit, 10)

Reflect on what you expect to be the main challenge for you in studying DD226 and how you would like to use your tutor to help you address this challenge.

“Reflecting constructively on your personal progress including awareness of your strengths, weaknesses and preferences relating to study, work and/or other interests; and awareness of how your tutor can support your progress.”

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