How do you calculate inflation?

Read through the inflation information supplied at the ECB wesite linked below.  After you have read through the example of calculating inflation at the bottom of the page, check out the game, Inflation Island at this link: http://www.ecb.int/ecb/educational/inflationisland/html/index.en.html

http://www.ecb.int/ecb/educational/hicp/html/index.en.html

Inflation and Price Level

View the presentation of Inflation and Price Levels and answer the following question:  Why is unanticipated inflation good for those who borrow money (debtors) but bad for those who lend money (creditors)?

http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.reffonomics.com/TRB/chapter20/inflationembedded.swf

Weekly Article

It's Monday...and you know what that means.  Find yourself an article relating to economics, read it, understand it and evaluate it in writing as your next blog post  Be sure to include the link to the article along with one relevant picture.

Weekly Reading Assignment

It's Monday...and you know what that means.  Find yourself an article relating to economics, read it, understand it and evaluate it in writing as your next blog post  Be sure to include the link to the article along with one relevant picture.

Crisis in the Union

Read at least three of the articles available on cnn.com regarding the plight of Greece, the European Union and the Euro itself.  Then, write a three paragraph explanation of what you have learned regarding this topic.  Include links to the three articles you read and two pictures that add understanding to what you have written.

You Make the Policy

We know that the economy can be affected by many different factors.  Government policies, such as levels of taxation, can also have either a positive or negative impact on not only consumer spending but also production , employment and many other indicators of an economy's strength.

This simulator, http://www.bized.co.uk/virtual/economy/index.htm, allows you to create your own policies and see the outcome that each has on people within your society.  While it operates on the English Pound, you get the idea of how changes in various factors create benefit or detriment within your economy. 

Your assignment today is to play with this simulator and learn what effects your policies have on the economy. 

John Maynard Keynes

Keynes was one of the most prominent economic minds of the 20th Century - his influence continues to shape economic policy throughout the world.  Your assignment is to briefly study his life and his contributions to the study of economics.

Research Keynes life and write a summary which includes the following ideas:

1. What were his early, formative years like?  How did he become the person he became?
2. What were his important ideas concerning World War I?
3. What was his influence during the Great Depression?
4. What did he suggest during the years of World War II?
5. What are the "big ideas" for which he is best known?

Be sure to include links to your sources of information and include two relevent pictures with your post.

Supply-side Policies

Government has as one of it's primary goals, a continual increase in the potential output of the economy.  Supply-side policies are often used in a variety of ways to increase the quantity of the factors of production and/or improve the quality of the factors of production.  We refer to these policies as either market-based or interventionist.
Your assignment is to explain and analyze each of these approaches.  To begin, explain what market-based and interventionist policy refers to (what does each mean?).
Secondly, choose one measure from each category and explain how it can work.  If it works as planned, how does it work and what should it do for the economy?  If it doesn't work as planned, what are the downsides to it's implementation?
As always, provide two pictures with your post that help to explain the ideas you expressed.

Reading Economics in Bratislava

In an effort to broaden our knowledge in the subject of economics we will embark on a reading program to ensure each student is able to pursue topics which both interest and enlighten him/her. Each week you will read and report on an economics article of your choosing.  The article must come from a reliable source - several will be provided but you may submit new sources as you find them.  Your task each week is as follows:

1. find an article from the discipline of economics
2. read the article (and understand what it is saying)
3. write a short "report" on the article which should include:
   • briefly summarize the article in your owns words
   • explain what you learned and what you found most interesting about the topic
   • describe how it relates to general topics we have studied in class

Your "report" should be a minimum of 150 words in length and should include a link to the article as well as two pictures which assist in explaining the content of the article.

This assignment should be finished and posted on your blog by Friday of each week.
Please include the date of your posting in the title of your post.

Test: Unemployment

Wednesday, September 28th, we will have a short test over the basics of unemployment.  You should be able to do the following:

Be able to define unemployment, in general.

Explain what is meant by “hidden” unemployment? – what are the three types of people who are “hidden”?

Explain why the unemployment rate might not accurately reflect a certain group of people?

Identify three “inflows” to the pool of unemployment.

Identify three outflows of the pool of unemployment.

For each type of unemployment, be able to do each of the following:

            Explain it using the definition

            Identify an example

            Draw the graph that illustrates it

            Explain the solutions

Please see me with any questions.

Solutions For Reducing Unemployment

Solutions for reducing unemployment depend on the type or cause of unemployment.  Since unemployment generally comes from a variety of sources it is generally necessary to implement a variety of methods for getting people back to work.

 

Your assignment is to examine (research) the two types of policies - demand-side policies and supply-side policies.  In your posting, explain the differences between these policies and analyze which type of unemployment would best be reduced with which type of policy.

Five Stories of the Unemployed

There are a variety of factors that contribute to the unemployment rate in any economy but there are five distinct types of unemployment.  Your goal is to accurately illustrate the types of unemployment with a detailed story of an individual person who fits the characteristics of each category.  To do this, you will need to be very creative while maintaining a focus on the definition, causes and solutions for each type of unemployment.

Start of with a detailed description of the person - name - demographic information (such as city, country, family size) - information about the type of industry and job in which they were employed - type of training and experience - the conditions or causes of the person's unemployment - the possible solutions which may lead to future employment or the conditions which may lead to longterm unemployment.

Be creative!

Give each story a title and include two pictures with each story.  Each story should be done as a seperate post to your blog.

Fixing Unemployment

The following article discusses various factors relating to unemployment.  Your assignment is to read and analyze the article and then post a short response of your thoughts and evaluation. 

What to do:  Explain the proposed stimulus plan which President Obama is trying to have passed into law.  In your post, provide specific details of the plan and explain how these ideas are designed to affect the unemployment rate.  Finally, provide your own evaluation of the plan and explain any positive or negative aspects as you see them (keeping in mind what you have learned about economics).

In your post, please include two pictures and provide a link to the article under review.