Introduction to Macroeconomics

Do You Wonder?

1. Q: Think about your COVID-19 experience, what is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy?
   1. This link to FRED data shows the U.S. GDP over time: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP
2. Q: Do you think that the business cycle has a bigger impact on automobile and capital goods manufacturers or on grocery stores? Explain.
3. Brainstorm about what the effects may be NEU on the local community. (For example, do employees live near campus? Do employees patronize local merchants?) Use these ideas to illustrate the circular flow.
   • For more background, see the article on the “rights and wrongs” of modeling economic impact at http://www.economicmodeling.com/2014/01/07/the-rights-and-wrongs-of-economic-impact-analysis-for-colleges-and-universities/.
4. Business Cycles: 2007-2009 US economic crisis. Recession Feel Like a Recession? Understanding the Paradox of Recessions
5. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the last U.S. recession officially ended in July 2009; however, many people probably would not say the economy was recovering at the time. Currently, there is much discussion and debate about whether the U.S. economy is headed for a recession. Here are some current news articles with competing thoughts on whether or not the U.S. economy is headed for a recession:
   • The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/16/is-the-us-heading-for-a-recession-heres-what-you-need-to-know
   • CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/20/us-economy-is-nowhere-near-a-recession-this-year-says-economist.html
   • NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/07/28/1113649843/gdp-2q-economy-2022-recession-two-quarters
6. National Income Accounting
   • CIA World Factbook  https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-per-capita/country-comparison.
7. Monetarism: Anna Schwartz: A Pillar in the Study of Monetary Policy
8. Q: Each summer, many of the campsites at America’s most popular national parks sell out months in advance due to their limited supply, low prices, and prime locations. This had led entrepreneurial individuals to reserve these campsites well in advance and then resell the reservations at a higher price. Does the money earned by these campsite scalpers appear in GDP? Why or why not? Suppose the government attempts to minimize campsite scalping by doubling the price of campsites. Would this affect GDP? Explain.
9. Q: The small Himalayan country of Bhutan has a GDP per capita of around $3,300 per year, about 1/20th that of the United States. But the Constitution of Bhutan focuses less on GDP and instead has developed an alternative measure of well-being called the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index. https://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/. What are some components in Bhutan’s GNH index that do not appear in official measures of GDP?
10. GDP and Our Standard of Living: Happiness Without a High GDP? Costa Rica: A Study in Holistic Wealth Beyond GDP
11. Time to fix GDP? https://cepr.org/voxeu/video/time-fix-gdp