Principles of Macroeconomics
Cuyamaca College
Assignment: Political Economy Days
Your Name:
Description:
This assignment will help you synthesize the material we are learning in this course with events occurring
outside our classroom (or our virtual space). Please attend or watch at least one of the Political Economy
Day guest lectures. The schedule of events is included under Announcements on our Canvas page. Some
of these lectures will be recorded; the information will be sent to you after the event concludes.
Instructions:
Please answer the following questions for each Political Economy Days lecture you attended or viewed.
Responses for questions 2-7 should be at least several sentences.
1. Which Political Economy Days lecture(s) did you view? Please state the title of the talk and the
name of the presenter.
The Political Economy Days lecture I viewed was titled "Shifting Political Dynamics: A
poster presentation focused on Immigration Policies along the US-Mexico Border
delivered by Alex Gomez who is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Palomar
College.
2. In your own words, please provide a brief overview of this session's topic.
Chaired by Nora Benavidez, the session aimed to discuss the current political and policy
processes regarding immigration in the US and Mexico border areas and how it may
affect the 2024 election. Professor Gomez explained the history of immigration as a
current issue in America, informing the students that the issue was not highly visible in
the past but its manifestation nowadays is made easier by the availability of social media
platforms. He also explored recent issues and concerns on borders and how they affect
perceived internal and external ways of thinking.
3. After watching this session, how has it affected your understanding of the topic? Focus on whether
this session has challenged or reaffirmed your ideas. If this is the first time you've engaged in this subject,
describe your reaction.
This session helped me expand my knowledge on the issues to do with immigration
policies as well as the political sub-overlays that come with it. I learned from it unlike
most movies where they come and go without having imparted anything new into my
brain about the issue it portrays by giving me a historical perspective to when the issue
started and how complex the issue is. Moreover, it emphasized the sociopolitical impact
and use of media and technological platforms as influencers of public opinions and
policy formulation issues to do with immigration.
4. How does this session relate to the economic concepts we covered from our first exam this
semester? Specifically, how did this session address any of the following (you may examine other
topics covered in this module as well): trade-offs, opportunity costs, marginal analysis, scientific
method, demand, supply, or market equilibrium? (In some sessions the relationships may be obvious, in
other sessions they may be more subtle – remember, economic principles are present in all aspects of
everyday life!) In your response, be sure to properly define all economic concepts/terms you discuss in your
answer. Please underline the economic term in your definition.
This session in particular is relevant to concepts like opportunity cost AND trade-offs.
Since the subject of immigration policies involves two key aspects, the process is usually
characterized by trade-offs between border security and the economic impacts. For
instance, improved border security measures yield a positive flip side by hiking up the
level of security yet may attract negative impacts such as economic repercussions or lost
opportunities in terms of availability of labor or relations with other countries.
5. How does this session relate to the economic concepts we covered in our second exam this
semester? Specifically, how did this session address any of the following (you may examine other
topics covered in this module as well): GDP, economic growth, business cycles, inflation? (In some
sessions the relationships may be obvious, in other sessions they may be more subtle – remember, economic
principles are present in all aspects of everyday life!) In your response, be sure to properly define all
economic concepts/terms you discuss in your answer. Please underline the economic term in your
definition.
About the second exam material outlining key concepts such as GDP and economic
growth, this session focuses on the possible effects of immigration policies on the
subject. Immigrants can impart various economic benefits in that they provide a pool of
employees, boost consumer spending, and encourage competition through innovation.
Nevertheless, restricting immigration at the policy level can have negative impacts on
the GDP due to reduced labor availability and decreases in productivity resulting from
decreased differences in skills and diverseness.
6. How does this session relate to the economic concepts we covered in our third exam this semester?
Specifically, how did this session address any of the following (you may examine other topics covered
in this module as well): aggregate demand, aggregate supply, fiscal policy, money, and monetary
policy? (In some sessions the relationships may be obvious, in other sessions they may be more subtle –
remember, economic principles are present in all aspects of everyday life!) In your response, be sure to
properly define all economic concepts/terms you discuss in your answer. Please underline the economic
term in your definition.
Enabling concept(s) addressed in this session include an understanding of fiscal and
monetary policies as an economic strategy/measure. An insight into how the policies of
immigration impact the economy entails understanding its impact on aggregate demand
and aggregate supply since the policies may have an impact on the labor market,
consumer expenditure, and investments. Other arguments related to immigration are as
such, that using public services for immigrants, costs a lot of money or that monetary
policy can only be applied to reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.
7. What additional questions do you have that were not addressed within the scope of the
presentation (or the following Question and Answer session, if recorded)? Time to use your critical
thinking and please think of some questions you have related to the topic of this talk. If left blank, you will
not receive full credit for the assignment.
Another question that may be of interest is how or to what extent immigration policies
and immigrant settlements that take place in the borders of Mexico and the United
States influence spatial economic development and distribution of income and wealth
within the bordered communities. More broadly speaking, I am interested in the
manner in which border policies impact economic conditions in terms of jobs,
infrastructural developments, and social well-being of communities at border fronts
particularly in The United States of America and Mexico.
Reference
Gomez, A. (Speaker). Shifting political dynamics: Immigration policies along the US-Mexico
border [Lecture]. Palomar College.
