Group Presentation #1 Graph Review (three or four students)
A review of the Cartesian coordinate system, positive and negative slope, increasing and decreasing slope, zero and infinite slope. Students might use one student as the x axis, one as the y axis and a third as the slope. A little gymnastics training in your background wouldn’t hurt for this one.
Group Presentation #2
Should the bookstore be owned by the college? What advantages would there be to have a store that is run by the college (a
substitute for the state, i.e., the government)? What disadvantages would there be? Interview the bookstore manager –Heather
Lyng and the Financial Officer—Joe Manning (Pollock Hall). Consider the impact on the prices of books and
supplies and the effect on tuition.
Group Presentation #3
Comparative Growth Rates of Two Countries: Examine statistics for two countries (say the United States and Japan, or the
United States and Germany). Determine which country has the greater rate of growth over the last 20 years. Determine by
looking at other statistical tables what might be the reason for one country’s growth rate of GDP being less than the other. Write
a brief statement that outlines why you believe the differences exist based upon the research you have done.
Graphs would be nice. If you need to make transparencies, drop them off in my office and I will take care of that.
Statistical Sources;
1.World Bank, World Tables, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press)
2."Managing Productivity," McKinsey Global Institute, Wash. D.C. Oct. 1993.
3.International Financial Statistics Yearbook, (Wash: International Monetary Fund).
4.National Science Board, National Science Foundation, Science Indicators.
I would suggest looking at the Resource For Economists Web Site first:
http://rfe.wustl.edu/node11.html
Group Presentation #4
Employment by Race, Gender and Age
Using the tables at the back of the current Economic Report of the President in the reference
section of the library and/or the web site http://www.bls.gov/home.htm, find the unemployment rates for 1970, 1980, 1990 and
2000 by race, gender and age group. Compare
these to the overall unemployment rate for those years. Using infotrac, Business Week , The Nation, Dollars and Sense or
some other good source, find an explanation for the significant difference in employment experience of these
demographic groups. Summarize the article as it explains the unemployment of at least one of these groups.
Group Presentation #5
Relative Rates of Inflation: College Tuition
College tuition determine the increase in Green Mountain College’s tuition (not room & Board) over the last five year’s
(get this
information from the College catologs for the period. Check the Chronicle of Higher Education, the web site
www.bls.gov, http://stats.bls.gov/cpihome.htm for college tuition compare with Private college’s nationwide? Survey a few students to get
their sense of whether Green Mountain’s tuition is rising slow, moderate or fast on a 1 to 5 scale. What is the rate of rise in the
CPI over the same period? What does that do to the purchasing power of those who buy education services –assume increases
in income that are comparable to the annual rise in CPI.
Group Presentation #6 (about three people)
The Reserve Army of the Unemployed
Explain the business cycle with a simple skit. First, check out Folbre's 9.2 (The New Field Guide to the U.S. Economy). Ask
for 20 volunteers from the class to help you explain one full business cycle from depression through recovery, peak and
downturn. Start with a depression (unemployment rises from 1 to 5 workers), workers wages fall ($10 to $3 per hour), Profits
are low (2%), GDP is low (use the real GDP for 1933); recovery begins (low wages cause profits to rise to 4%), three workers
are hired back, so unemployment falls, workers' wages rise to $7/hour; recovery continues, profits are still rising (say to 5%)
and hiring continues (one more worker is hired); the Peak is reached, wages start to rise(say to $12 per hour) as labor pool is
drained, profits fall (2.5%), workers are layed off (5 workers again have no jobs). The downturn continues. As all this is going
on someone is directing people around the floor from the employed to the pool of the unemployed.
Group Presentation #7 (two students)
Produce a graph of macro variables. Using a statistical software package (SPSS, SAS, TSP, Excel or someother graphics
software--once you collect the data, I'll help you run the correlation if you're unfamiliar with statistical software) produce a
graph that superimposes the rate of inflation (use the rate of change in the CPI--back endpaper) and the rate of unemployment
from 1969 to the present. The Economic Report of the President will have the figures through 1999. I'll help you make a
transparency of the graph so you can show it on an overhead projector. On the graph, clearly define the different presidential
terms (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton). In your presentation of your results describe the economic condition
(inflationary, recessionary, stagflation etc) and attempt to say something about the economic policies and conditions during the
presidential terms.
Group Presentation #8 (Two Students)
Report on an article from the New York Times or Business Week on the current size and composition of the federal
government budget. What is the growth trend in the government budget, what is the size of the budget relative to the U.S. GDP?
What do the authors of the article say are the important issues surrounding the federal budget. Graphs, transparencies and/or
hand-outs are appreciated.
Group Presentation #9 (Two Students)
Present a brief summary of the President's statement at the front of the 2004 Economic Report of the President
(find this on the RFE website through the coolsites
link). Find one article that discusses the President's statement and/or policies presented in the report and present those to
the class as well.
Group Presentation #10 (Two Students)
The Power of the Fed: Does the Fed have too much power? Should Congress and the President have a stronger influence in
setting monetary policy? Find one source that offers a criticism of the central bank's independence (Dollars and Sense and The
Nation might be good sources) The major purpose of the Fed has been to maintain price stability. Does that bias the Fed
toward a conservative economic policy? Then check out the Fed's own website for some insight into how they portray their
own role in setting monetary policy. How do they view their power and independence?
http://www.federalreserve.gov/
Group Presentation #11 (Two Students)
Monetarists vs Keynesians Re effectiveness of Monetary Policy: Monetarists believe that changes in M1 are closely (and
directly) related to changes in inflation, while Keynesian economists believe that changes in M1 affect mostly real GDP (output
discounted for price changes). Using the data in the endpapers of the textbook (perhaps the Economic Report of the President,
2000 in the library), plot a diagram displaying the annual percent changes in M1 on the vertical axis over the past 20 years and
the change in the rates of inflation on the horizontal axis over the same time period. Then for another diagram, plot the annual
percent changes in M1 on the vertical axis over the same period with the percent changes in annual real GDP on the horizontal
axis. Do a visual comparison. Which appears to be more of a linear function (straight line function?). If you wanted to really
demonstrate the difference, run a simple correlation in excel or a statistical software program like SPSS -- they're on our
computers in the library.
Group Presentation #12 (one student)
Globalization: Find two websites that discuss the effects of globalization on the social, environmental and economic well-being
of the planet and its people. Find one that argues the benefits far exceed the negative effects and one that argues against
globalization on most or all counts. Report on these to the class. Consider questions about population, poverty, depletion of
resources, pollution and the distribution of economic and social benefits from globalization.