One of the purposes of learning about the Economics is that it is a necessary building block of becoming a good citizen. Another part of being a good citizen is being informed about the world surrounding us. We cannot possibly hope to change the world if we do not know the problems that confront it. We cannot possibly know the intricacies of the problems that confront this world if we do not keep up with the current state of the problem. Hence, it is very important that we, as good citizens, keep up to date on our current events.
Due the above underlying beliefs about being an informed citizen, in this class you will be required to do one current event every month relating to Economics, be it on a Micro scale or a Macro scale. You should do your best to incorporate a concept that we have covered in class into your post. You will be expected to post this current event on my blog. I expect you to include a link to the current event or reference the paper or magazine that you found said event in. In your post I want you write the Who, What, Where, When and to put a few sentences of your insight or opinion on the event. I have included an example of what I want the current event to look like.
Here are some web sites that you could look at for current events:
1.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/
2.) http://www.cnn.com/
3.) http://www.npr.org/
4.) http://www.lvrj.com/
5.) http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
6.) http://www.economist.com/
7.) http://www.newseum.com
8.) http://www.boston.com/bigpicture
On top of this, twice every month I want you to comment on a fellow classmate's current event post. This comment should be at least 4 sentences long and should provide an opinion or insight into the current event post.
You will receive 10 points per month for you current event post that is well written and contains all the aforementioned components of a post. You will receive 5 points for each comment post that you make on a classmates current event post. The maximum amount of points that you can receive each month from current events is 20 points.
On our scoring scale:
18-20 points = 4 17-14 points = 3 13-10 points = 2 9-5 points = 1 Below 5 points= 0
The following is an example of a post that you could make:
Current Event Title: "Unemployment in America: Labor without Force"
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2010/07/unemployment_america
Who: United States Labor Force
What: The U.S. lost 125,000 jobs in the month of June. Many of these lost jobs can be attributed to the ending of temporary Census jobs. The private sector did 83,000 people to the payrolls. Total hours worked did rise by 3.3% throughout the country
Where: The whole country of the United States
When: Jobs report is for June 2010
Insight: Looking at this from a Microeconomics perspective, those people that lost their jobs from the census will experience a decrease in demand for non necessity products. To say it another way, elastic products will see a decrease in demand. Inelastic products will not see a change in demand because they are inelastic.
Now here is an example of a response post that could be written:
I agree that demand would decrease for elastic products. Those workers that just lost their job are not going to go buy a brand new plasma t.v (an elastic good). Inelastic or necessity products, like food, are not going to experience a decrease in demand. Within the foods market, high end and high priced food products will see a decrease in demand, while generic brands will experience a stable or possibly increased demand.
Please let me know if you have questions about anything regarding these two monthly assignments! At the end of every month on Sunday afternoon I will be checking to make sure that you posted a current event and two comments. Have fun becoming engulfed in the world of current events and Economics!
