Part 1

1. Group A will read Fallows' "How the world works" and Group L will read Christensen's "The Great Disruption."  Both groups will be responsible for making a 10 minute presentation to the class on the secret's to an economy's success based on your article.

2. Now it's time to see who is actually growing - and who is not - and to do that you will need to look at some data on GDP that you can find at the IMF's 2006 Statistical Appendix. There is an enormous amount of data here, so you will need to work your way through it to find the data on real GDP and inflation and browse through the tables to come up with a "picture" of economic growth  and inflation - where it is happening and where it is not - and be prepared to describe your picture in class.

Part 2

1. A goal many of you expressed for the course was that when the course was over you would have a better understanding of China's past and how China and the US are interrelated. In this assignment we are going to read Landes' article "Why Europe and the West? Why not China?" and be prepared to discuss an answer to Landes' question in class.

2a. Team A It is time to check out a very impressive data set that has been compiled by Angus Maddison, one of the experts on long-term economic growth. World Population, GDP and Per Capita GDP, 1-2003 AD  What I am most interested in is understanding why China fell behind and lost its status of the world's superpower, and if an understanding of that gives us any insight into the future of the US - the reigning superpower. Will there be a reversal of power - and what does it mean to you? You should also use the data set to create a "spiffy" graph that you would use in a "Rise, Fall, and Rise of China" paper - and be prepared to discuss the significance of the graph.

2b. Team L You are to read Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion's "How Have the World's Poorest Fared Since the Early 1980s?," Policy, Research working paper ; no. WPS 3341, World Bank June 2004. (available online)  I want to know how China has done relative to other countries in reducing poverty - and I want to see you translate the data into a spiffy graph - and be prepared to discuss the significance of the graph.