ECO 203 Complete Course

Week 1

ECO 203 Week 1 Quiz

Discussion Questions

One of the scarce resources that constrain our behavior is time. Each of us has only 24 hours in a day. How do you go about allocating your time in a given day among competing alternatives? How do you go about weighing the alternatives? How can you apply the concepts of opportunity cost to your decision to attend Ashford? Use the notion of opportunity cost in your answer.

The rent for apartments in New York City has been rising sharply. Demand for apartments in New York City has been rising sharply as well. This is hard to explain because the law of demand says that higher prices should lead to lower demand. Do you agree or disagree? How is this going to affect prices in the market for New York City? Make sure to provide appropriate economic terms in your answers.

Week 2

ECO 203 Week 2 Quiz

Discussion Questions

Visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics and click on the links for state employment and unemployment. Look at your home state and describe what changes have taken place in the workforce and unemployment rate. Has the labor force participation rate gone up or down? Provide an explanation for the rate change. Are your states experiences the same as the rest of the country? Provide an explanation of why your states experiences are the same or different from the rest of the country.

With each of the following examples, please explain what happens to contributions to GDP and economic growth in each of the following statements:

a. A woman who makes a living charging for investment advice on her Internet website marries one of her clients, to whom she now provides advice at no charge.

b. A tennis player wins two top professional tournaments as an unpaid amateur, meaning the tournament sponsor does not have to pay out his share of prize money.

c. A public utility installs new antipollution equipment in its smokestacks.

Respond to at least two of your classmates postings.

Week 3

ECO 203 Week 3 Quiz

ECO 203 Week 3 Assignment

Given the role of the Fed in our economy, how can the Fed use the tools that it has to influence an economy that is in a recession? The Fed has three tools to influence the direction of the economy; in your two to three page paper, make sure to address each of them and what the Fed should do to get the economy out of a recession.

Discussion Questions

While many thought that the 2008 fiscal stimulus plan described in the feature on pg. 174 was a good idea, some did not. Some even thought that Congress didnt go far enough. In retrospect, who was right? Did the economy experience a recession in 2008 or 2009? What happened to employment during the rest of 2008? What are some of the alternatives to a tax cut that might have been used?

Why do you think the FED evaluates the money multiplier when making decisions with regard to the money supply? What function does the money supply serve in our economy to influence certain economic variables? Why does the FED like to fight inflation in our economy and is inflation a concern right now given our current economic situation?

Week 4

ECO 203 Week 4 Quiz

Discussion Questions

Your boss offers you a wage increase of 10 percent. Is it possible that you are worse off with the wage increase than you were before? Explain your answer using proper economic terms and analysis.

On pg. 255 in your text, The Economics in Practice describes the increase in food prices around the world in 2008. Since food, in large measure, affects the real income of households, increasing prices will eventually push up wages and have an impact on the aggregate supply curve. Central banks were very worried about the prospects for inflation becoming generalized. To stop inflation, what would the Fed be likely to do? What are the consequences for the economy? Specifically, what would be the effects on employment and unemployment given the actions taken by the Fed?

Week 5

ECO 203 Week 5 Final Project

Complete a 5-6 page final paper that completely answers the following:

Economists generally agree that high budget deficits today will reduce the growth rate of the economy in the future. Why? Do the reasons for the high budget deficit matter? In other words, does it matter whether the deficit is caused by lower taxes, increased defense spending, more job-training programs, and so on? In your analysis, what role do fiscal and monetary policies have to lead to higher or lower budget deficits? How do budget deficits affect overall long-term economic growth and the debt that the U.S. has to contend with?

Discussion Questions

Some states are required to balance their budgets. Is this measure stabilizing or destabilizing? Suppose all states were committed to a balanced budget philosophy and the economy moved into a recession. What effects would this philosophy have on the size of the federal deficit?

Between October 2004 and 2005, real GDP in the United States increased by 3.6 percent, while nonfarm payroll jobs increased by only 1.4 percent. How is it possible for output to increase without a proportional increase in the number of workers? What are the implications in our economy of more output being produced by fewer workers?