MACRO ECONOMICS PROJECT: OPTION ONE
SPRING 2022
Your project OPTION ONE this semester will basically summarize information that you have already gathered (and will gather throughout the semester) and allow you to investigate the economic theories and concepts we have discussed this semester and observe how they apply to Denmark.
You will take all this information, perhaps add more research as necessary, and do an “economic evaluations” of this country as if you were a government attaché presenting this analysis to the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.
The following are some of the examples you should cover. Think about the concepts we have discussed this semester and how they apply. Feel free to compare and contrast to the U.S. if you wish….THIS WILL GIVE YOU A PLACE TO START BUT PLEASE DON’T FEEL LIMITED BY THIS LIST….SOME OF THESE ARE MORE APPROPRIATE TO SOME COUNTRIES THAN OTHERS. (Remember if you are following a “developing country” you will be particularly interested in the application of the 2 policy strategies we discussed in CH 21)
In Chapter 2 you looked at the GDP, GDP/capita, the value of imports and exports, what level of economic freedom this country has, and what type of market structure do they have?
Chapter 4: What are their environmental issues? Are there any obvious external costs or benefits? What is the government doing about it?
Chapter 6: What is the unemployment rate? What has the 10 yr trend been? And WHY!
Chapter 8: What has their business cycle looked like in the past 10 years and WHY! Are they experiencing economic growth now? Or Are they in a recession? WHY?
Chapter 11: Have they used fiscal policy to change their economic activity? And WHY!
Chapter 12: What is their debt situation? (perhaps look at 10 yr trends in debt and debt/GDP ratio)
Chapter 13 and 14: Describe this country’s central bank. How is it structured? Do they utilize monetary policy as a stabilization policy? Provide a specific example
Sources
1. You MUST have a minimum of four (4) sources from the LIBRARY DATABASES (these are accessed through the PBCC library website) OR GoogleScholar.com OR sources we have used in the chapters like the World Bank, etc
· Go to the PBSC library homepage..there you will see a link to library databases
2. Other sources may be obtained from Googlescholer.com Please do not use the basic “Google” as the sources are not considered always “valid”.
3. You may use any additional references you wish. You may also want to check newspapers, periodicals, non-profit organizations for viewpoints from an economic, business and societal perspective. (Many of these are available through the library databases). Often trade organizations and government offices do research on these topics and might be an excellent source of information
If you need assistance, please feel free to discuss this with me or a reference librarian. The Reference Librarians are even available for “online” chats…see the college library link.
Written Requirement
At the end of the semester, you will compile a “brief paper” including a summary of all of the information you have gathered. This paper which will serve as a “Economic Analysis/Summary of your country”( Denmark.) or a “State of the Economy of ____” written as if you were a government Economic attaché from this country presenting this analysis to the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.
The project will be written using proper APA Format (if you do not know how to do this, please ask a reference librarian, the writing lab, or check out the APA resources on the library website). This is non-negotiable requirement. APA format is REQUIRED! Do not use MLA.
I encourage you to use and include any tables, graphs, statistics or other items that might support your claims in an Appendix. Data is always the best way to support a discussion. HOWEVER data or tables are NEVER used within the text.
Please keep your search to “current” information. If you need a bit of historical information to set up your argument, please keep it to a minimum. Otherwise, your sources should be within the last 10 years..keeping in mind the more current the data, the more effective the analysis.
Include only the references in your “Reference” page that you actually use in your presentation
Your references should be included at the end of your powerpoint and each slide should contain the source information at the bottom of the slide
SIDE NOTE: Please “discuss and include” the during COVID but focus more on now current trends and some of the 10 year trends which will reflect a better overall picture of the economy…Those aberrations of unemployment data for example don’t really reflect the overall economy now for most countries
Powerpoint
When you have completed your research, you will compile this information into a summary powerpoint to share with your classmates..we are all interested to see what interesting things you discovered throughout the semester about your country.
Use your creativity. Approach this as you wish. Just make sure it is a thorough and in-depth economic analysis of the country (Denmark) .
Evaluation/Grade
This project will be worth a total of 60 points: 35 points for your paper and 25 points for your powerpoint.
Your grade will be based upon the CLARITY, DEPTH, AND BREADTH of your analysis.
(please don’t try to cram multitudes of written information on one powerpoint slide…presentation does count!)
