Last week the class considered the overarching topic of Macroeconomic Policies and important policy goals: full employment, economic growth, price stability, and favorable balance of payments. We learned that media dealing with the economy focus on a surprisingly wide range of information that affect the overall, global economic picture. Student began to understand the effects and consequences of economic developments, as measured by indicies like Gross Domestic Product and reported by economic institutions. For example, they took the news of a "surprising" growth in the job sector in 2006 and analyzed what the impact would be on interest rates set by the Federal Reserve Bank, on fueling consumer spending, the strength of the U.S. dollar, and raising the spector of inflation.

We also considered issues related to another important measurement: Disposible Personal Income, including consumer habits, investment choices, debt, and debt servicing impacts on DPI.

This week (8 January - 12 January) and into next week, we will consider Economic Performance, with a focus on GDP and Population; Economic Instability, with a focus on business cycles, employment, inflation, and poverty; The Fed and Monetary Policy; and Achieving Economic Stability, with a focus on stabilization policies in the face of the cost of economic instability.

Paper or Presentation: Assignment

Students will have a choice of writing an up-to 1,000 word paper or making an up-to 15-minute in-class presentation on one of an array of economic topics within the framework of Macroeconomic Policy. The soft due date will be Friday, 12 January; the hard due date will be Tuesday, 16 January. The following are a list of topic examples:

1. Debate: Income Inequality (Pro and Con)
2. Well-known immigrants: reasons for immigration and contributions to our society
3. The Great Depression: Causes and Recovery Policies
4. Inflation: Causes and Consequences
5. Poverty & the Effectiveness of Remediation
6. Comparison: U.S. Federal Reserve System with Great Britain's
7. Compare Approaches of Fed Chairmen: Alan Greenspan & Ben Bernanke
8. Cost of Economic Instability
9. Economics & Politics
10. The Era of Reagonomics
11. Importance of International Trade in Today's Economy
12. Economic Impact of the Green Revolution
13. Other