Fall 2019 Student Presentations and Special Topic Debates
Debate team members will be notified via email about a month before debate. The first draft of debate slides should be sent to the instructor at least one week before the debate for feedback and comments. The final version of the slides shall be submitted within 3 days after the debate for evaluation purposes. For evaluation purposes, indicate at the end of the slides the division of work and major responsibilities among team members in preparation for the debate. Please follow all instructions when preparing and submitting your PPT. Keep your answers clear, concise, and concrete. Sources and links must be provided for all data and research findings. Any violation of the academic honesty code will result in failing the course and the issue being reported to the academic dean.
Debate format: See instructions below.
Presentations: 8-10 minutes each person.
Submission Policy
Reply ALL to the notification email with the subject E437 Debate/Presentation
When submitting your first draft and final draft of the presentation slides, please reply ALL to the notification email (Subject: E347 Debate #) and attach the file. Double-check the slides and send a single file (pdf is preferred). Avoid late submission and resubmission. Evaluation on the slides and debate performance will be sent via email within in a week upon receiving the final version of the slides.
In each debate, team members work together and prepare presentation slides. In evaluation, each students will be evaluated respectively based on the criteria below. In preparing for the debate, students need to read carefully the debate instructions and follow the guidelines, which can be downloaded below. It is necessary to prepare presentation slides to organize the statements/arguments/theoretical foundation/empirical support and submit them at least a week before the debate in order to receive timely feedback.
Team members need to know the debate structure, divide their work, and prepare slides to organize debate arguments. Please read general debate guideline and instructions carefully before your preparation. In preparing the slides, refer to the most relevant theory, evidence, and policy outcomes. Evaluation is based on the preparation of slides, participation, and performance/response during the debate. Meeting the requirements and academic standards in preparing the slides is important.
Sep 18 Debate I: Is the U.S. Debt Sustainable?
Oct 21 Debate II: Can Investor Make Money in the FX Market?
Dec 02 Debate III: Is China a Currency Manipulator?
Dec 04 Presentation: Financial Crises and Policy Reforms
This episode focuses on financial crisis occurred in developing countries since early 1980s. Choose a topic of your interest. For each of the financial crisis, please address the following issues:
1) Describe the prelude, unfolding, and aftermath of the crisis (timeline).
2) What macroeconomic events triggered and worsened the crisis?
3) What were the internal and external economic conditions (economic growth, unemployment, inflation, money and credit conditions, interest rates; balance of payments, foreign debt, debt default, capital flows, currency depreciation) most relevant to the crisis?
4) How different financial markets responded in the crisis (banking system, bond and stock markets, foreign exchange markets, commodity markets, real-estate markets, derivative market)?
5) How severe was the crisis in terms of scale and scope? How long did it last? When did the country start to recover? Provide data and measurements.
6) What were the government reactions and measures in and after the crisis?
7) Did international organizations play a role in institutional reform and restructuring its debt?
8) What lessons can be learned for economists, policy makers, and investors?
Latin American Debt Crisis (1980s) Mexico Financial Crisis (1994) Asian Financial Crisis (1997)
Russian Financial Crisis (1998) Brazilian Financial Crisis (1999) Venezuela Financial Crisis (2018)
Turkish Financial Crisis (2018) Argentine Financial Crisis (2018) Zimbabwe Financial Crisis (2018)
Readings for debate and presentation topics can be found on the Readings Page.
While it is possible to find dominant empirical evidence to support one side, the debate questions are designed in an ambiguous way so that the debaters would need to specify the conditions and constraints in which their arguments made are valid. In practice, a good economist always takes a comprehensive view of the issue and provides solutions following economic principles. Public policies, on the other hand, usually face short-run and long-run conflicts and also must need to strike a balance between equity and efficiency. But very often, public policies are influenced by interest groups and lack of rigorous analysis.
Students can send an email request (with at least two priority choices, each including the topic and stance, PRO or CON) to Deepthi Mohan (dmohan2@binghamton.edu) to participate in one of the three debates or six presentations. The spots are filled on a first come, first serve basis. Otherwise, TA will assign students to the remaining spots.
Binghamton University Academic Honesty Code
http://libraryguides.binghamton.edu/citation/honesty
Evaluation Criteria:
1) Appearance of team/seriousness of team
2) Delivery: addressed remarks to the audience in clear, loud voices
3) Opening statements were well organized, complete and included three arguments
4) Team members participated equally throughout the debate
5) Arguments were related to ethical perspectives and principles
6) Rebuttal was specific to arguments made in the opposing team’s opening statement
7) Summary provided and opponents’ counterpoints addressed
8) Answers to audience questions were well thought out
9) Respect shown throughout the debate for the opposing team (no name calling, interruptions, etc.)
10) Presentation slides are well organized; arguments are well developed; data and evidence are clearly cited