Assignment:
Topic:
Economic Growth 1946-1950
Present a thorough analysis of economic growth. What are the factors that contribute to economic growth? Provide your perspective as to what our society can do to enhance economic growth.
Discussion
Instructions:
Summary
1. Identify a five-year period that does not overlap anyone else's. You will reuse this same five-year period in the next two discussions to discuss fiscal policy and the Phillip's Curve.
2. This is not about defining terms. Anyone that spends an inordinate amount of time defining things like growth, recession, fiscal policy, etc. will not get credit. Everyone can look this up in the book.
3. You may "claim" a time frame before you are prepared to post about it.
4. Put the dates in your subject line, e.g. US Growth 2000-2005 (This can be a period or growth or decline, i.e. recession or depression.
5. Find data to explain what happened during this time period. (See links below)
6. It helps greatly if you find a news article from a reputable source that describes the events that occurred and potentially impacted the economy those five years. Even if it only looks at part of the time period it will still be useful.
7. This is a more fact based (positive economics) post. You are describing events that took place, although you may have opinions or the opinions of others about what caused these events. Bottom line, normative positions are not as important for this post.
8. Cite your sources.
9. Do not repeat the topic of someone else's post.
10. You need a minimum of three substantial interactions that add new information to the discussion. Please see the General Discussion area for more information.
Present a thorough analysis of economic growth. This will include finding data from a creditable source. Select a five-year period in US history, please no more than 5 years. Write the years you are investigating in the subject line to avoid duplication. It is your responsibility to let everyone know the period you are researching. If someone duplicates your time frame because the subject line was too generic, you will have to redo your post or lose points. You may reserve time frames while you do your research by starting a post and writing the dates in the subject line.
I prefer you discuss growth within the US, but if you have a passion for another country, you may write on that topic as well. Although we are focusing on growth, recessions are often more interesting to study, so you may include a recession in your five-year period if you would like. Most recoveries, growth, last 4 to 5 years, although lately they have lasted much longer. If you do choose to write about a recession, none lasted more than five years in the 20th or 21st centuries, including the two that make up the Great Depression, so a portion of your time frame will include the years leading up to the recession or following a recession.
When thinking about what to say, here are a few suggestions. You do not have to answer each of these questions. These are just ideas regarding things you might research and guide your thinking on this topic. a) What are the factors that contribute to economic growth during this period? Be sure you understand how the economy has grown (or not grown) over the entire five-year period you selected. b) What happened to unemployment? Inflation? c) If there was a recession, what caused that recession?
Here is a link to the data:
https://www.bea.gov
https://www.bls.gov/data/
You can find business cycles date here:
https://www.nber.org/
Note: A post that merely recites an example without offering economic analysis or responding to the questions assigned, garners few points.