economic paper

Writing Assignment #2: The Natural Rate of Unemployment

1. (1 paragraph) Has the U.S. economy achieved approximate full employment yet? Explain how

we define ‘full employment’ and how you can tell whether or not that goal has been achieved.

Use appropriate data to support your answer (see below). Be sure to cite the sources of your data

in your essay.

 Use the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ estimate of the Natural Rate of

Unemployment (short-term) at http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/NROUST Drag

your cursor across the graph to find the estimate of the natural rate of unemployment for

the second quarter of 2017 (2017 Q2). (The graph shows estimates of the natural rate

from 1950 to 2024).

 Use the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (bls.gov) to find the most recent estimate of

the actual unemployment rate.

2. (1-3 paragraphs) Read the Introduction (the first three pages of the pdf) of the article “A

Search and Matching Approach to Labor Markets: Did the Natural Rate of Unemployment

Rise?” by Mary C. Daly, Bart Hobijn, Aysegul Sahin, and Robert G. Vallet. How do the authors

explain the increase in the Natural Rate of Unemployment during and after the financial crisis

(from 2007 to 2012)?

Grading Rubric The table below shows the criteria your essay will be judged against. I expect about five paragraphs,

double-spaced. Your essay will be assessed as either ‘Meets expectations’ or ‘Needs improvement’

on each of the five criteria in the table below. If your essay meets expectations on 3 of the 5 criteria,

your score will be 60%; 2 out of 5 criteria met will result in a score of 40%, etcetera.

After receiving feedback from NetTutor, you may revise and re-submit the essay to NetTutor for

another try – but you only get one second chance on each writing assignment. You have one week

from when you received feedback to submit your revision. If you don’t get an acceptable score, even

after revising and resubmitting this assignment, you can still rescue your writing assignment

average by doing well on the next two assignments. I will take the average of your three highest

writing assignment scores to compute your writing assignment average.

5 Criteria Needs Improvement Meets Expectations

Writing

The writing is difficult to follow and/or poorly organized. Transition sentences are

absent or ineffective. Typos and/or grammatical errors

distract the reader.

Ideas are well-organized. Transition sentences

effectively connect one idea to the next. The essay is free of

typos and grammatical errors.

Application of economic analysis

The definition of the term full employment is vague, incomplete, or incorrect.

The definition of the term full employment is thorough and correct.

The student draws the wrong conclusion from her comparison of the actual and natural rates of unemployment

The student draws the correct conclusion from her comparison of the actual and natural rates of unemployment.

The student does not identify the reasons for the changes in the natural rate of unemployment from 2007 to 2012, or does so incompletely or incorrectly.

The student discusses the reasons for the changes in the natural rate of unemployment from 2007 to 2012 completely and correctly.

Analysis of data

The student inaccurately reports the natural rate of unemployment and/or the actual rate of unemployment, or does not cite the source of the data.

The student accurately reports the natural rate of unemployment and the actual rate of unemployment and cites the source for both.