At this point in the course, you have encountered many theories, ideas and authors. This short essay is your opportunity to apply one or more course concepts to a real-world situation, current or past.

You are to choose the economic system of a country and one or more ideas that you have encountered in the readings. Your task is to put these two elements in conversation with one another. Questions you can consider are as follows:

1. How does the course material help you better understand the economic situation?

2. How does what you are observing about your selected country help you better understand a given

   theory?

3. How might what you are observing cause you to revise/critique one of the concepts addressed in the

   course?

*Give considerable thought to what you select, as you will be given the option of building upon these ideas for your second short essay and the final essay. Of course, you are more than welcome to choose different topics for each.

Essay Structure:

You should have clearly defined beginning, middle, and end. Although I will not place too many restrictions on the essay structure, at minimum, you should include the following:

1. An introduction that presents an clearly-defined argument and a snapshot of the remainder of the essay.

2. Supporting paragraphs with evidence and analysis. The second part is key. Do not simply include details, with no analysis.

3. Internal citations, MLA format

4. A minimum of five reputable sources (e.g. journal articles, books)

5. A conclusion

The document should adhere to the following guidelines:

• 3 pages double-spaced

• Works Cited (also, not included in the 3 pages), MLA format

• Times New Roman font

• 1-inch margins on all sides

• Page-numbers (with the exception of the cover page) at the bottom-center of each page.