Assignment:
A. Pay Discrimination
Why do women earn less than men?
In this assignment you will look at the data on women's and men's pay, and explore reasons for the pay differential. Respond to the 3 key questions below.
What does the data tell us?
1. Based on information you find in the sites below, compile a list of the five most important statistics that you find regarding pay differentials. Explain why each statistic is important.
Go to the U.S. Department of Labor's Women’s Bureau "Women in the Labor Force in 2006" at:
https://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/Qf-laborforce-06.htm
For a journalistic summary see "End Sex Discrimination for Good" in The Christian Science Monitor at:
https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0501/p09s02-coop.html
What are the reasons for the pay differential?
2. Prepare a list of explanations for the pay differential based on this source:
https://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/career/20050307a1.asp
3. Choose the two most plausible explanations from your two lists. Summarize the data in support of these two explanations.
Your final product will be a paper that:
1. Addresses each of the four questions above in total.
2. Is APA fortatted.
3. The body is to be 2 pages minimum.
B. Inequality
Is inequality in the U.S. rising or falling?
As we have seen, our economic well-being depends on many factors: income, wealth, pre-or post-tax earnings, family size and whether or not earnings postponed to the future.
Consequently, it isn’t surprising that politicians can find data to support nearly any position about whether Americans are getting poorer or richer. In this week’s assignment, you will investigate the use of data by two economists who reach entirely opposite conclusions.
Steven Pearlstein, conservative business columnist for the Washington Post, argues that the middle class continues to do well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/29/AR2007052902001.html
On the other hand, Jared Berstein, writing in the liberal The American Prospect magazine maintains that living standards have slipped for the middle class.
https://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_income20040826
Or:
https://prospect.org/article/squeeze-0
Respond to the following key questions:
1. What are the strongest arguments presented by each side?
2. What are the weakest arguments presented by each side?
3. What additional data would you like to have in order to determine who is correct?
Your final product will be a paper that:
1. Addresses each of the four questions above in total.
2. Is APA fortatted.
3. The body is to be 2 pages minimum.
C. International Trade
Think of the importance of trade in your life. Look simply at what you’re wearing today. When you shop, do you look for the “Made in the USA” label? Perhaps you believe we might be better off as a nation economically if we produced more goods in the attempt to become more self-supportive.
Perhaps you believe we should increase the amount of goods traded internationally. Opinions and speculation vary as much as the number of economists that predict economic climate.
Having said this, as a nation, simply put, we trade. And with that activity come many rules and regulations to try and ensure our best interests are protected.
Based on this;
1. How is international trade regulated? Log on to www.wto.org and click the “Trade Topics” tab tolearn about the scope of trade agreements and trade controversies. What is involved in “trade agreements”?
2. Log on to www.bea.gov and view the “International” tab, then “Trade in Goods and Services.” What is the current balance of trade for the United States? Has this balance been increasing or decreasing? Based on the current economic conditions, how do you thing this balance will move in the near future, and why?
Your final product will be a paper that:
1. Addresses each of the four questions above in total.
2. Is APA formatted.
3. The body is to be 2 pages minimum for each assignment.
The requirements for your assignment are:
1. Answer each question fully
2. Define the overall subject of each question.
3. Cite at least three (3) resources from this week’s materials