Homework for the week of 9.28

For Tuesday: Economic Growth Profile Research.

Note that the regions underlined on the second page are hyperlinks to the World Bank's website for your region.
For those of you who were absent, here are the countries I would like you to briefly research:
Sydney: Bangladesh
Hannah: Lebanon
Fitz: Venezuela
Directions should be clear.
Did I catch everyone? If you don't have a country email jeason@usmk12.org and I'll assign you one.

For Wednesday: Read chapter 8

For Thursday: Create a study guide for your test on Tuesday. If I like your ideas, I'll incorporate them into the test.

For Friday: Harford, chapter 3.

Test on chapters 5-8 on Next Tuesday.

Homework for Monday, Sept. 28th

Just to clarify: the homework for Monday is to read chapter 7 of the textbook.

Homework question for 9.24 (C-Day)

Again, with sincere apologies to those of you who labored for today. Bring answers to those questions and I will look over them for a grade as promised.

For 9.24: Given the Hurricane Andrew scenario, where an increase in demand created a higher price and quantity demanded for bottled water, but a price ceiling created a shortage: what alternative steps might a government take to bring quantity supplied and quantity demanded in line at the same, pre-hurricane equilibrium price?

For E-day, Monday September 28th, read chapter 7. We should be able to knock out inflation (our discussion of it, that is) and the rest of ch6 tomorrow in class.

Excellent discussion today. Be sure to speak up, you all have good insights.

Link to Unemployment Data

Here is the link to the entire BLS labor report from class on Friday.

Homework for Wednesday (after the retreat)

First, answer two of the following questions - be sure to answer thoroughly, as I would like to pick this up for a homework grade.

1. Explain how the current US tax system levies taxes on capital gains and earned interest. What does this mean for the costs of inflation?
2. Does inflation always cause workers losses due to decreases in real wages? Why or why not?
3. What is a GDP deflator? Why do some economists consider the GDP deflator to be a better measure of overall inflation than CPI?

Second, take a look at the latest CPI statistics at the BLS website and come prepared to discuss. Read especially the sections explaining how CPI is calculated and at changes over the past few years.

Homework for Cycle 3

For Tuesday, Sept. 15th: Read chapter 5 of your text. Come with notes and questions.

For Wed., Sept. 16th: Answer 5 of these 7 questions. In class we will survey the US Economy since the Great Depression

For Fri., Sept. 18th: Read chapter 6. Come with notes and questions

Test 1 Study Guide

Click here for the test 1 study guide. It is the same as the one you received in class.

Homework this week and into next

Here is an update on homework for this week:

For Thursday, September 10th (E)
Read the Introduction (don't skip it!) and Chapter 1 of Harford's The Undercover Economist. Come ready to discuss. I think you will enjoy this book and should have a lot to talk about.

For Friday, Sept. 11th (F)
Read Chapter 2 of Harford. We'll spend half of class on this and half discussing Monday's test.

For Monday, Sept. 14 (A)
Test on chapters 1-4.

Articles from Friday, 9.04

For Tuesday, you should read chapter 4 in the textbook.

Here are links to today's article.

Few expect progress at Doha
Make sure you understand what the Doha talks are, why they are important, and the role the US has played.

Here are some articles we did not get to, but hopefully will eventually:

US loses to Brazil (not just for soccer fans)
Remember that barriers to trade are not just tariffs.

On the jobs report
The economy lost not so many jobs. This is good news? Read the fine print. (Here from BLS)  Look especially at the data concerning discouraged workers.

But maybe there is good news after all.