ECN202
Assignments: Macromeasurement
You should answer question 1 and one of the other questions by going to the following sources.
What is the future look like in the labor market? This is a reasonable question for you to be asking yourself, and a good place to find the answer would be the BLS that regularly takes time to peer into the future. In late 2005 they published a volume of the Monthly Labor Review focused on the topic of the economy in 2014, and for this assignment you are to pick one of the following and provide a brief summary of what BLS sees in your future. Think of writing a brief that i could show to students in high school today thinking about the future.
In the macromeasurement section of the course you will notice there is a good deal of information supplied in the form of tables and graphs. To give you some practice you should go to the IMF's World Economic Outlook. After reading the introduction, you should go to the Statistical Appendix where you will find a number of tables of GDP growth rates, inflation, and unemployment for most of the countries in the world. You should look at the tables with unemployment and employment (P23 in the PDF file) and try to find patterns or some extreme numbers. For example, when looking at the unemployment rate data you should see if you can find the star performer in the 1990s. You are to write a brief report in which you describe what the employment and unemployment data tell you.
In the macromeasurement section of the course you will notice there is a good deal of information supplied in the form of tables and graphs. To give you some practice you should go to the IMF's World Economic Outlook. After reading and the the introduction, you should go to the Statistical Appendix where you will find a number of tables of GDP growth rates, inflation, and unemployment for most of the countries in the world. You should look at these tables to find patterns and some extreme numbers. For example, when looking at GDP see if you can find where the center of growth was located, where there were debilitating wars or painful adjustments, and make a comparison of the 1980s with the 1990s. I am interested in your ability to match up some of what you find in the tables with any of the news headlines of the past years - I want to see you bring the tables to "life."
In the macromeasurement section of the course you will notice there is a good deal of information supplied in the form of tables and graphs. To give you some practice you should go to the IMF's World Economic Outlook. After reading the introduction, you should go to the Statistical Appendix where you will find a number of tables of inflation rates. You should look at these tables to find patterns and some extreme numbers. For example, when looking at the inflation rate track down those areas that have trouble controlling inflation, those that have been successful at keeping inflation down, and make a comparison of the 1980s with the 1990s. I am interested in your ability to match up some of what you find in the tables with any of the news headlines of the past years - I want to see you bring the tables to "life."
What's going on with US trade? You are to write a brief summary of the situation, and I would suggest you use the BEA where you will find the International data that will include a link to Trade in Goods and Services. There you will find a link to tables for the news release and you are to use this to tell me what is the trade situation - what are we buying, what are we selling, and who are we trading with? I certainly want to know what is happening with China and oil. I want to see you bring the tables to "life."
What's wrong with GDP? Why do environmentalists believe that the reverence we have for GDP is a threat to the environment? To answer these questions you should check out Cobb, Halstead, & Rowe, "If GDP is UP, Why is America Down?," The Atlantic Monthly October 1995. What is the answer to the question posed by the authors in the article?
Go to the Information Sources link where you will find the Historical Data Series link. Once there you should find the Economic Time-Series Page with a link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics where you will find State and City Employment. I am interested in the unemployment rate and employment in your local community (city) - so find the closest city and plot the unemployment rate and employment and tell me what has happened in your city since 1990.