ECO-202-Q1881 Macroeconomics
ECO-202-Q1881 Macroeconomics
The final piece of research that needs to be done on my final project concerns foreign trade. Research foreign trade as it relates to the 1980s. Section I, part d) of the Final Project Guidelines and Rubric will guide your research for this final piece.
You will then draw overall conclusions using Section III of the final project for guidance and integrate this information with work done in previous milestones into a final, polished presentation of 15–20 slides with speaker notes. Be sure to integrate all feedback you have received from your instructor. Your final presentation must meet all critical elements outlined in the Final Project Guidelines and Rubric document. To assist you with your final project presentation, use the PowerPoint template provided.
Presentation Title
Your Name
ECO 202
Instructor Name
ECO 202
Choose a title for your presentation.
Include your name, the course name and the assignment name.
1
Ten-Year Period of U.S. Economic History Overview
This slide should include a brief overview of the 10-year period between 1950 and today that you chose for this presentation.
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Write a brief overview of the time period you chose.
To give greater impact make sure to be brief in the slide and explain in the speaker’s notes.
Imagine that you have to present the PPT to an audience.
The slides are an outline for the audience to follow your presentation.
The speaker’s notes would be what you are going to say.
2
GDP (1–2 slides)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Growth
Show a graph of real GDP growth rates for each year of your decade and highlight significant changes in growth rates, such as dips or negative growth (recession) or booms (economic expansion)
Real GDP data can be found here at FRED, the research database of the St. Louis Federal Reserve – adjust the data to your 10 year period and use these numbers to calculate the growth rate
Here is a video to introduce you to using the FRED site
Choose two or three of the most relevant events from this time period that impacted the U.S. economy. Apply specific models developed throughout the course to demonstrate how these events influenced national output during this time period.
You can use the GDP formula to explain how an event impacted GDP growth. For instance, if there was large increase in military spending because of a war, we would expect to see an increase in GDP.
Be sure the connections you make are supported by the data you present.
ECO 202
Start with the first topic you want to present.
First research the main idea you want to talk about, research sources, images/graphs/diagrams/tables.
Try to express the main concepts in a brief manner, such as bullet points, images with key words.
Explain the slide in the speaker’s notes.
3
Unemployment and Inflation (1–2 slides)
Analyze unemployment and inflation data as to their relation to output and growth, using macroeconomic principles and models to explain their effect.
Show graphs of both annual inflation rates and annual unemployment rates throughout your decade.
Find data on inflation rates here
Find data on unemployment here
Explain how inflation and unemployment are calculated for the data presented
Discuss how changes in both are related to changes in GDP growth
Apply specific models developed throughout the course to demonstrate how the previously selected events influenced both unemployment and inflation during this time period.
Discuss how the events impacted both economic indicators
For the final draft, look to include our AD-AS model to illustrate how events led the changes observed in both
ECO 202
Make sure to include speaker’s notes.
4
Interest Rates (1–2 slides)
Analyze interest rate fluctuations throughout this time period and their effects on other aspects of the economy.
Show graph of interest rates during your time period – there are different rate to choose from, like the Federal Funds Rate, the 3-Month Treasury Rate or the Bank Prime Loan Rate which will each give a sense of the level of interest rates and the trend throughout the decade
Then discuss the following:
How would these fluctuations affect/be affected by inflation?
Would investments and foreign trade rates increase or decrease?
How would the GDP of the American economy be affected?
To answer the above questions, consider the relationship between interest rates and GDP
ECO 202
Include Speaker’s notes.
5
Foreign Trade: Imports and Exports
For this element, you are to provide data on levels of imports and exports throughout your decade.
As with the other economic data, annual numbers for each year of your decade is ideal. In this case, you may want to look at the value of imports and exports in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars or you can present them as a % of GDP.
In your analysis of the data, make connections to other aspects of the economy, such as the exchange rate. An example might be a stronger dollar leads to more imports – since our dollar can buy more foreign currency than before, it also means it can buy more foreign goods and services (all other things being equal) and so would lead to an increase in imports.
The Census Bureau collects data on imports and exports and their data is compiled on other reliable website for easy access:
You can find export data here
You can find import data here
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Foreign Trade: Models
This follows well from the analysis of import and export data, where you can relate the trade levels to events within our economy and within our trading partners’ economies. For example, the Great Recession saw incomes decrease in most of the Western world and we know that demand for imports is determined by income. If demand for goods and services decrease, we should see a decrease in exports and imports all around the affected countries, the US included. This shows the application of the AD-AS model, with a shifting demand curve.
Consider also any relevant trade agreements during this time to explore changes in patterns of trade based on comparative advantage, another key economic model.
ECO 202
Fiscal Policy
This rubric element wants you to look at the policies in place at the start of your chosen decade.
You will need to provide details on the policies and examine how they were related to macroeconomic issues at the time. Your slide(s) on this will highlight the key points and your speaker notes will add the explanatory detail needed.
You may need to take a peak at what was happening in the years leading up to the start of your decade.
Your work here should include scholarly research which you can best find information on specific fiscal policies, search by President instead of by years – start with these sites:
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Fiscal Policy Actions
This rubric element wants you to examine what the fiscal policy initiatives were going forward, to respond to the changing economic landscape.
You should specifically state what the intent of the actions were – for instance, it could be to decrease unemployment.
Then, use our macroeconomic principles and models (like the AD-AS model or Keynesian consumption function) to explain why the action would lead to the outcome desired by the government.
Keep the main points (and any use of graphs to show the economic models) on the slide and use the speaker notes to add full explanation.
Scholarly research is required here as well (this may overlap with research from the previous element, as appropriate).
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Fiscal Policy Impact
After looking at what the government set out to do and why, you will now examine if it actually worked.
You will look at the macroeconomic data (which you already gathered in milestone one) to see if policy actions achieved their goals. For instance, if President Johnson’s “War on Poverty” aimed to reduce poverty in the U.S. and, in doing so, create a stronger economy. With less poverty, we should see increased consumption and higher growth rates.
Keep in mind that there may be times when the government misread the economy and implemented a policy that had unintended effects so its important to compare what was observed after the policy in the macroeconomic data to what the policy objectives were.
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Monetary Policy
This rubric element wants you to look at the monetary policies in place at the start of your chosen decade.
Remember that the Federal Reserve controls our monetary policy and they have a four main goals:
Price Stability
High Employment
Economic Growth
Financial Market Stability
The main tools the Fed uses are the decreasing or increasing of the money supply (through open market operations, changing the required-reserve ratio, and changing the discount rate) and changes to interest rates.
Be sure to read up on these policy tools the Fed uses in our textbook and check out this video for further understanding
The San Francisco Federal Reserve is a valuable resource for research on Federal Reserve history
The Federal Open Market Committee (the part of the Federal Reserve that controls open market operattions) has site where you can access transcripts of meetings and other historical materials – just enter the year you need!
ECO 202
Monetary Policy
This rubric element wants you to look at the monetary policies in place at the start of your chosen decade.
Remember that the Federal Reserve controls our monetary policy and they have a four main goals:
Price Stability
High Employment
Economic Growth
Financial Market Stability
The main tools the Fed uses are the decreasing or increasing of the money supply (through open market operations, changing the required-reserve ratio, and changing the discount rate) and changes to interest rates.
Be sure to read up on these policy tools the Fed uses in our textbook and check out this video for further understanding
The San Francisco Federal Reserve is a valuable resource for research on Federal Reserve history
The Federal Open Market Committee (the part of the Federal Reserve that controls open market operattions) has site where you can access transcripts of meetings and other historical materials – just enter the year you need!
ECO 202
Monetary Policy Actions
This rubric element wants you to examine what the monetary policy initiatives were going forward, to respond to the changing economic landscape throughout your decade.
You should specifically state what the intent of the actions were – for instance, the Fed may have used expansionary policy to help expand the economy in response to a recession. Such policies could have been buying up government bonds – this puts money into the economy since the Fed is buying these bonds from a bank and then the bank can use that money in the economy. This open-market operation increases the money supply.
Then, use our macroeconomic principles and models (like the Supply and Demand of Money model, AD-AS model to show impact of interest rates on equilibrium GDP, Phillips Curve, etc.) to explain why the action would lead to the outcome desired by the government.
Keep the main points (and any use of graphs to show the economic models) on the slide and use the speaker notes to add full explanation. Scholarly research is required here as well (this may overlap with research from the previous element, as appropriate).
ECO 202
Monetary Policy Impact
After looking at what the Fed set out to do and why, you will now examine if it actually worked.
You will look at the macroeconomic data (which you already gathered in milestone one – feel free to add more here if needed to support your analysis) to see if policy actions achieved their goals. For instance, if the Fed raised interest rates as a contractionary policy aimed at slowing down inflation, did it work?
There might also be examples of where the Fed misread the economic landscape and initiated expansionary policy when they should have taken on contractionary policy, or vice versa. Consider all actions taken by the Fed during your decade and analyze their impact on the overall economy, paying particular attention to GDP growth rates, unemployment and inflation.
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Conclusions
For this element, you will take all the data, history and policy analysis you have presented and summarize it in a coherent and thorough manner. Basically, this is your time to tell the economic story of the decade and make all the necessary connections now that your analysis is done. Be sure to include specific examples and data points that help tell the story.
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Speaker’s notes.
15
“Agree/Disagree”
Here, you will state whether you agree or disagree with fiscal and monetary policy actions taken.
It is possible that some actions you agree with and other you disagree with – that is fine. You can discuss your reasons for disagreement or agreement on a case-by-case basis.
In your argument, be sure you are using our economic models and concepts to support you and not just your own opinion or feeling about what is best. For instance, saying that we should not have spent money on government programs because it’s not fair to give out money to people would not be an macroeconomics-based reason. You could say that increased government spending through expansionary fiscal policy created too much inflation later on and so you disagree with that action.
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