Subject：Corporate Finance

 

Question:

Suppose that you are working for a government. You are required to prepare a 2,000-word max background paper on Home bias and the International Diversification Puzzle. You presentation should include both the empirical and the theoretical literature on this topic.

 

2000 words

 

 

 

Structure：

 

Title

 

–       The assignment should include a title.

 

–       It should be concise and informative. A good title can make a real difference.

 

Abstract

 

–       A concise and factual abstract is required. Abstract must be a maximum of 100 words

 

–              The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the assignment and the major conclusions.

 

–              The abstract must be able to stand alone. For this reason, references should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Introduction

 

–              Your analyses should tell a “story” which leads the reader through the steps needed to logically answer the question(s) you posed in your Introduction. The order in which you present your results can be as important in convincing your readers as what you actually say in the text.

 

–              Be very explicit in the introduction about the steps of your reasoning. Prefer an explicit ordering using `first…, second…, third…’

 

–              Make it clear what are your conclusion of your assignment

 

–              Any non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be defined at their first mention in the introduction.

 

Core the text

 

The main text should include two or three parts (your choice!) with sub-titles. The assignment should include math formulas, visual and bibliographic references as described below.

 

Math formulas

 

–              The assignment should include 2 to 4 math equations (1 won’t be enough; more than 4 will be too much) that should be displayed separately from the text

 

–              Equations should be numbered consecutively.

 

–              Each equation should be cited and explained in the main text.

 

–              In all mathematical expressions and analyses, any symbols not previously defined should be explained in the main text.

 

Example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphics

 

The assignment should include 2 to 4 `visual elements’ (1 won’t be enough; more than 4 will be too much). A `visual element’ could be a figure, a graph, a map, a table or even a picture if you think this is useful. These elements could be done from raw data (e.g. Graph using Excel for instance) or taken directly from an outside source. In all cases, it should follow all the explicit recommendations below:

 

–    All should be clearly labelled, include a title, an explicit label  for axes of graphs.

 

–       All should include a note below the graphs/figures/tables with the precise source of the data.

 

–       Any Table or Figure you present must be sufficiently clear, well-labelled, and described by its legend to be understood by your intended audience without reading the results section, i.e., it must be able to stand alone and be interpretable.

 

–       All should be possibly taken as stand-alone elements. Preferably, all words should be spelled out completely in descriptive legends. Any additional information necessary to understand it (e.g. if abbreviations are used, they should be defined in the note).

 

–       Figures and Tables are numbered independently, in the sequence in which you refer to them in the text, starting with Figure 1 and Table 1.

–       Every Figure and Table included in the paper must be referred to from the text.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in the text:

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

–       The assignment should include a short conclusion

 

–       The conclusion should be less than 100 worlds

 

–       The last line of your assignment should give some perspective to the question.

 

Bibliography

 

–       The bibliography should include between 10 and 15 references.

 

–       References should be presented in alphabetic order.

 

–       Use credible, and preferably academic sources for quotes and background information; journal articles, official reports (eg from the IMF) and working papers by academics. Blogs and Wikipedia are more dubious.

 

–       Do not cite lecture slides or lecture notes. Cite the original source of information.

 

–       The bibliography should not include a website alone. However, it may include an article found on a website.