NSS Exploring Economics.doc

NSS Exploring Economics SBA Assistant Essay/Report Writing — The impact of the increase in the tobacco duty Choosing a topic You can start with the topic you are most interested in, such as the impact of government policies on the market. The topic, which has such a wide scope, cannot be handled easily. Therefore, you must narrow it down, e.g. to tax issues. You can look up keywords in the books, such as unit tax and taxes in Hong Kong. When you key in ‘Dutiable Commodities’ in the search engines, you will find a list of dutiable commodities in Hong Kong, including liquor, tobacco, hydrocarbon oil and methyl alcohol, on the website of the Customs and Excise Department, HKSAR. Recently, tobacco duty has become a hot topic. You can find a lot of information when you key in ‘tobacco duty’ in the search engines. You can consider choosing ‘the impact of the increase in the tobacco duty’ as your topic. When you decide whether to use ‘the impact of the increase in the tobacco duty’, you can ask yourself: a. Is this topic important, interesting, special or debatable? b. Do I have sufficient information about the topic? (Answer: there is plenty of information online, and various opinions on the issue.) c. Can I use a variety of economic concepts / tools to analyse the topic? (Answer: this topic involves both micro and macro perspectives. The micro side involves demand and supply, change in total income, government intervention and externalities. The macro side involves taxation and government policies.) d. Can I handle the relevant economic analysis in a proper way? e. Do I have my own views on this topic? (For example: I support the increase in tobacco duty because I do not want to be affected by second-hand smoke.) (For example: I oppose the increase in the tobacco duty because this deprives the lower income group of a pleasurable activity.) f. Am I able to write news commentaries or essays/reports on this topic? Assume that you have chosen this topic. You need to decide