The Fluctuations' in Future Physical Gold and Silver Prices and its Impact on the Economy

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dissertation Proposal1

Research Background1

Research Objectives2

Research Design Strategies3

Literature Review5

An Overview of Commodities and Gold5

Commodity Prices5

The History of Gold and Silver6

Gold Standard7

Justification for Selecting Secondary Methodology8

Searching Strategies9

REFERENCES11

Dissertation Proposal

Research Background

Silver and gold are commodities which are traded actively in the markets across the globe. As they are subjected to the supply and demand level market forces, the prices keep on changing over the passage of time. Generally, in the period of insecurity internationally (such as changing the government of countries considered as powerful, or in times of war, etc) the silver and gold prices will increase since the people would be using silver and gold as a medium of trade in place of paper currency (Baur & Lucey, 2010, 218). This research focuses on analysing the impact of fluctuating prices of gold and silver in the future on the economy.

The topic was decided on the basis of taking stock on gaps of available research studies that could provide substantial insights into the impact of gold and silver on economy and what will be the prospectus of their prices in the coming years. The main purpose of this dissertation is to analyses the trends in price fluctuations in gold and silver commodities. These fluctuations in gold and silver prices often help us in understanding the health of the economy. As 2007-2012 global economic crises has affected almost the entire world economy and had so far affected demand of many good and commodities, the critical examination of demand changes of the physical gold and silver will be undertaken since 2007. This research will contribute to existing scholarly research and would be helpful for the researchers, investors and policy makers to anticipate the future spectacle of physical gold and silver prices.

Research Objectives

The study will begin with analyzing the history of gold and silver and how they play a significant role in any economy. The research will analyze why economy is said healthy or unhealthy when prices of gold and silver soar and decline and why investors take particular interest in gold when protecting their investments from economic or financial crises. Following this, historical trends in which gold and silver prices were affected from the economic crises will be studied. This is done through examining historical reports on prices of gold and silver from secondary sources.

There are two types of research methods: quantitative research methods and qualitative research methods. Quantitative research approach adopts a more structured approach aiming to analyse and examine the relationships between numerical data collected and the theories decreasing the level of flexibility. Qualitative research is the collection and analyses of the data that is non-numerical. Qualitative research is further divided into primary and secondary research methods. This study focuses on employing secondary research method (Davies, 2007, 16). Secondary research method involves obtaining information and collecting the data by accessing already existing information and studies.

The selection criteria used for collecting the literature was relevance to the topic ...