ECON305 FULL COURSE [ ALL DISCUSSIONS AND ALL ASSIGNMENTS ]

ECON305 FULL COURSE [ ALL DISCUSSIONS AND ALL ASSIGNMENTS ] Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwcampus.com/shop/econ305-full-course/ Contact Us: [email protected] WEEK 1 GDP and Per Capita GDP are two of the basic and most widely used economic measures. They are broad measures that provide interesting and useful information about a nation's economy as a whole. And Per Capita GDP is the standard measure of the Standard of Living. But they are often criticized for not being a measure of Quality of Life. (What ever that means as there is no standard definition of Quality of Life.) However, GDP was never intended to measure "Quality of Life", just output and the income that the production process produces. In addition to the information in the text, review the two handouts linked below. Then share your thoughts on the following: Is GDP an adequate measure of national economic activity? Should GDP be replaced by a new Quality of Life Measure? Or should there be separate measures of economic output (GDP) and Quality of Life? Or some combination. The learning objectives are two fold: to understand what GDP measures and what it doesn't measure and to be aware of the on-going debate about GDP vs. the Quality of Life. GDP Overview Presentation Quality of Life Discussion Paper Another important measure of how an economy is performing is the unemployment rate. But there is more to the unemployment rate than just the headline rate reported on the news. In particular we are going to look at the U3 rate (the Headline rate), the U6 rate and the labor force participation rate. Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics On their home page from the menu on the right hand side of the page "Latest Numbers" click on Unemployment Rate. On the next page click on "Employment Situation Summary". The December 2014 report should be available. Read the report. Then using the tables linked from the bottom of the report find: The U3 rate; The U6 rate; and, The labor force participation rate. What are the differences among these measures? Note the percentages of each, what each measure includes and then express your views on what factors may be causing the U6 rate to be roughly twice the U3 rate and what may be causing the decline in the labor participation rate? Is the headline rate used by the most news report misleading? For your information, here is a summary of the six unemployment measures. • U-1, persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force; • U-2, job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force; • U-3, total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (this is the definition used for the official unemployment rate); • U-4, total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers; • U-5, total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers; and • U-6, total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers. WEEK 2 Supply and demand is used extensively in Chapter 4. To be sure that everyone has a full understanding of how to solve supply and demand problems, our first discussion will be a supply and demand problem. First review the attachments, then provide a step by step solution to the following problem (see the attachments for the steps): That the case of the machine tool industry in a closed economy. The market begins in equilibrium. The government imposes 10% VAT tax on all producers of machine tools. Provide a step-by-step explanation of the changes in the machine tool market as a result of the tax. Remember that the order of events is important. Also use correct terminology (see attachments), Supply and Demand Guide Supply and Demand Presentation Review the attached presentations on exchange rates. Then go to the X-Rates Web site (http://x-rates.com) and find the current: a) exchange rate for the US Dollar (USD) and any other country's currency that you wish to study. Do NOT select the Chinese Yuan as your other currency since it is not a freely floating currency; b) then in the Monthly Average display, select the last 12 months from the drop down menus and click "Go"; c) based on the 12 months of data, which currency is appreciating (gaining value) and which is depreciating (losing value)? Remember it can do both in a year. Report your finding to the class in your discussion post. Exchange Rates Part 1 Exchange Rates Part 2 WEEK3 WEEK 3 Actions for Economic Growth Locked. This week we want to examine in greater detail the factors that contribute to economic growth. Economic growth is measured by growth in Real GDP. But many factors contribute to that. Among the generally recognized factors that contribute to economic growth are: • Increases in the amount of physical capital: this can be measured by changes in investment spending (software is included in this category); • Advances in technology: this can be approximated by research and development spending; • Increases in human capital: this can be approximated by years of education; however, this is a very unreliable measure as educational quality is highly variable; • Other factors such as size of labor force also come into play and can be measured rather easily. However, to be meaningful that has to be match between the skills possessed by the labor force and the needs of the economy. Thus, mere size of labor for has to be viewed with the human capital variable in mind. • Government regulations, tax policy, immigration policy, interest rates all play a role in investment and, thus economic growth. For this week’s discussion gather information on growth in Real GDP and the other variables as possible on a country of your choice. And report the data and your analysis to the class. Remember that understanding and interpreting the data is more important than just reporting the data. Attached is a link to OECD report National Accounts at a Glance 2014 and you can find more detailed US data at the Bureau of Economic Analysis. 18 67 Unread for topic Economic Growth: (45) View profile card for Erskine Walther Erskine Walther Feb 3 at 3:13 AM WEEK 4 This is from March 2010, thus, some data is out of date. However, the point of the video is to help you make the connections between the recent/current economic policies and the events of 1937. The Topic: The Great Depression was a low probablity event. It required several negative economic events to occur at the same time. And for policy makers to respond poorly to those events. One of the best books on this topic is John Kenneth Gailbraith's The Great Crash, you might want to read it. The events of 1937 are largely forgotten, even by economists. But for those who study the relationships between public policy and economic growth, the lessons of 1937 are some of the most important ones from the 20th century. Table 7.2 page 232 of your text show GDP grow of 12.8% in 1936. In 1937 it was 6.9% and by 1938 it was -5.5%. How does an economy go from the stong growth (admittedly from a relatively low base) of 1936 to another recession by 1938? In this case the answer is government policy. For this week's discussion, go on the web and/or to the UMUC library and learn the specific monetary and fiscial policy changes (don't forget taxes) that occurred in 1937. Use what you have learned about GDP, production costs and aggregate demand and aggregate supply to project the most likely results of those changes. Next view our current economic condition and the recently proposed tax increases, the ending of the Federal Reserve's Quantitative Easing and the proposals for increased goverment spending that may or may not be offset by spending cuts in other areas. Again using the tools you have learned, what do you think is the most likely result? In other words, compare 2015 to 1937 and explore what lessons and cautions may be learned from that comparision. Think in terms of an economic policy advisor. WEEK 7 Unlocked: Monday, February 23, 2015 12:00 AM EST - Sunday, March 1, 2015 11:59 PM EST. Last week we explored deflation which was one of the risks that arose from the Great Recession. This week we want to focus more directly on the macroeconomic policy responses to the Great Recession. Chapter 15 provides a useful and detailed starting point for the discussion. Since there are many aspects to the macroeconomic response. Both in the US and in the Europe, built from the information in Chapter 15 and select one or more aspects of the policy responses to explore in more detail. Monetary policy as well as fiscal policy responses are appropriate for examination. Use this as an opportunity to examine as aspect of the US response or the UK's or European Central Bank's response to this challenge that is of particular interest to you. WEEK 8 Actions for Reflection Unlocked: Monday, March 2, 2015 12:00 AM EST - Sunday, March 8, 2015 11:59 PM EDT. This week reflect back over the course. • What have been among the most valuable information that you have learned during the course? • Has the course been benefitical to you either personally or professionally or both? • Do you have any suggestions for improving the course in the future? • And any other thoughts that you may wish to share. This week responses to other students' posts are optional. SHORT PAPER Select a news article dated within the previous two months on an economic problem and develop an advocacy paper for a government policy to address it. Prepare your argument using the economic concepts and theories you have learned in this course. The length of the paper should be 5 to 6 double spaced pages (not including the title page or the reference page). You should reference at least five articles, including scholarly articles as defined on the UMUC library website, to develop your analysis. The paper should include at least one graph developed in our course. Possible graphs include, but are not limited to: • per capita production function • saving in a steady-state economy • technological change in a steady-state economy • aggregate supply and demand • Phillips Curve • exchange rates and aggregate demand • other graphs appropriate to your topic that are covered in our text or supplemental readings. FolderData Exercise 1Instructions The purpose of the data exercises is to ensure that you are familiar with the methodology of collecting data from the web, and utilizing and analyzing it. These exercises include collecting the required data, creating one or more graphs that describe the causal relationships among two or more variables, and 2 to 3 double spaced pages of analysis of the data (including the graphs, but excluding the title page and the reference page). Data Exercise 1: This data exercise focuses on specific relationships to GDP. Select one of the following as your paper topic: 1) Relationships between private consumption and Real GDP; or, 2) Relationships among the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index and the GDP Deflator. Remember to include proper citations and references using APA style. While you will create the graph(s), they will need a citation as to the source of the data used. Everything should in one document. Therefore, do not put your graph(s) in a separate document from your analysis. Also start your report with an introduction, not with your graph(s). The data methodology description comes next, then the data presentation (the graph(s)) followed by the analysis. The paper should end with a concluding/summary paragraph. The references would be the last item, unless you have an appendix. The appendix follows the references and will contain their citations and references as needed. Graph(s) may be put into an appendix if that works better for the flow of your paper. But if you do so, remember you must refer to the appendix in the appropriate place(s) in your report. Data Exercise 2Instructions The purpose of the data exercises is to ensure that you are familiar with the methodology of collecting data from the web, and utilizing and analyzing it. These exercises include collecting the required data, creating one or more graphs that describe the causal relationships among two or more variables, and 2 to 3 double spaced pages of analysis of the data (including the graphs, but excluding the title page and the reference page). Data Exercise 2: For Data Exercise 2, select one of the following as your paper topic: 1) Unemployment by duration and reason; or, 2) Phillips Curve. Remember to include proper citations and references using APA style. While you will create the graph(s), they will need a citation as to the source of the data used. Everything should in one document. Therefore, do not put your graph(s) in a separate document from your analysis. Also start your report with an introduction, not with your graph(s). The data methodology description comes next, then the data presentation (the graph(s)) followed by the analysis. The paper should end with a concluding/summary paragraph. The references would be the last item, unless you have an appendix. The appendix follows the references and will contain their citations and references as needed. Graph(s) may be put into an appendix if that works better for the flow of your paper. But if you do so, remember you must refer to the appendix in the appropriate place(s) in your report. Data Exercise 3Instructions The purpose of the data exercises is to ensure that you are familiar with the methodology of collecting data from the web, and utilizing and analyzing it. These exercises include collecting the required data, creating one or more graphs that describe the causal relationships among two or more variables, and 2 to 3 double spaced pages of analysis of the data (including the graphs, but excluding the title page and the reference page). Data Exercise 3: For Data Exercise 3, select one of the following as your paper topic: 1) Disposal personal income per capita chained dollars and personal consumption expenditures per capita chained dollars; or, 2) Percentage change in real GDP and prime rate charged by banks; or, 3) Calculate M1 and M2 velocity of money using MV=PY theory of money (Quantity Theory of Money). Remember to include proper citations and references using APA style. While you will create the graph(s), they will need a citation as to the source of the data used. Everything should in one document. Therefore, do not put your graph(s) in a separate document from your analysis. Also start your report with an introduction, not with your graph(s). The data methodology description comes next, then the data presentation (the graph(s)) followed by the analysis. The paper should end with a concluding/summary paragraph. The references would be the last item, unless you have an appendix. The appendix follows the references and will contain their citations and references as needed. Graph(s) may be put into an appendix if that works better for the flow of your paper. But if you do so, remember you must refer to the appendix in the appropriate place(s) in your report.