PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS

PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS (ECON 50)

WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR GENERAL EDUCATION

California State University, Fresno Spring 2018

Every lower division General Education course requires a minimum of 1,500 words of writing. To meet this GE (under Area D3) requirement, we will have an essay assignment with total of 30 points (two parts, each 15 points).

The details of GE learning outcomes for this assignment is:

General Education(GE) Learning Outcomes: Upon completing a course in Area D3 (Social Science), a student will be able to:

►Discuss the influence of major social, cultural, economic, and political forces on human behavior and institutions.

The total length of the paper (including part 1 and 2) should be at least 5 pages, including reference page, typed using double space and font size is 12.

In the writing assignment, you need to provide critical analysis/answers for the assigned economic issues. The details and the procedure of the assignment will be provided during the semester. You need to submit your file through Blackboard before the class on April 15, 2018.

No credit will be given for failure to submit this assignment on time.

Part I: (15 points) Economists in the History

Students need to pick an economist in the history (or current) and research on his/her main contributions. In this research, students need to include their schools of thought, main ideas along with contribution and the historical background. To do so, students need to conduct “Literature Review" using scholarly or peer reviewed journal articles. Reliable sources can be from scholarly economic articles, books, economic journal, newspaper, academic blog and videos that support your writing

You must cite at least two reliable sources both in text citation and references at the end of the paper.

Example of Reference (not limited to):

· Samuelson, Paul A. “Economists and the History of Ideas.” The American Economic Review, vol. 52, no. 1, 1962, pp. 1–18. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1823476.

· New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought, by Todd G. Buchholz

Part II: (15 points) Current News Economic Analysis

“How to interpret America’s experiment with huge budget deficits”

Article to read:

1) “How to interpret America’s experiment with huge budget deficits” from Economist, Released on Feb 15th,2018

2) Conduct at least one more “literature review” to get the views of academic economists or other professionals on the subject. You must cite at least two reliable sources both in text citation and references at the end of the paper.

Please note that our focus is on economic status and concerns not on political side.

Questions:

1) What are the two ways of economy could go wrong according to Orthodox economics?

2) In chapter 10, we have talked about the loanable funds market. Can you explain the previous answer (question 1) with what we talked in class? What happens to the real interest rate on the loanable market?

3) Provide your answer with loanable funds market graphs. (You can draw them in a separate sheet and attach at the end of the paper.) What other reasons that the orthodoxy does not apply according to the assigned article?

4) Overall, with the additional reference that you found, debate whether US budget deficits could be a huge problem or not. Your arguments should be based on the article that you provide.