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, the first step in the course project is to conduct research on three time periods in the history of the United States:

• The Great Depression years of 1929 to 1933
• The 1970s Stagflation from 1973 to 1982
• The recent recession that occurred in the years 2008 to 2010

Your research should provide you with information about the key macroeconomic variables we have examined this week:

• GDP
• Unemployment
• Changes in the price level, either inflation or deflation

After gathering your research data on the macroeconomic variables of each of the three eras, write a paper 4 to 6 pages in length (not counting the title page). Your paper should include the following:

• On your first page, after a brief introduction, you should define the three macroeconomic variables. Then, using those three variables, define what we mean by recession and stagflation in terms of those concepts. For instance, in a recession what is happening to GDP, unemployment, and inflation?
  
• The next section of your paper should focus on each of the three events one at a time, discussing how each of these variables responded during each of the events. Keep in mind that when covering a period of years you will need to identify data for each of the years in order to provide a statement of the direction of the economy and how it changed during that event.

You should use your research to go beyond a simple statement of “the economy got better” or “the economy got worse” and describe how it got better or worse according to the economic concepts discussed this week.

• Finally at the end, provide a brief summary of what happened during each event compared to the time before and the time after each era.