Problem 1:
Go to the National Bureau of Economic Research website, "Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions." From the data given in the table, 1) describe the business cycles for the period of March 1991 to the most recent month, and 2) what conclusions can you draw about this period by comparing this cycle to previous business cycles? You may want to check the link to the November, 2001 Announcement page and the Latest Announcement of December, 2007 for further information.
Problem 2:
www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/incomestats.html
Go to this site and click on "Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States." Report the change in Household Income for the last year to year period listed. Also view the data to see how this has been allocated by race. What do you learn from these demographics?
Problem 3:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is the National Income Accounting arm of the Department of Commerce. It has the responsibility to calculate the national income accounts (including Gross Domestic Product) and to provide this information. To go directly to the data I want click here.
This NIPA Tables page will provide you with all the data needed to complete the following assignment. Scroll down and click on Table 1.1.5. Gross Domestic Product. Next, select 1997 for the first year and 2007 for the last year. Select the Annual button, then click Update. For the years 1997 and 2007, I want you to provide the following data:
• Gross domestic product (GDP)
• Personal consumption expenditures
• Gross private domestic investment
• Net exports of goods and services
• Government consumption expenditures and gross investment
Calculate the percentage change between the first and last years for each of the above. What trends do you see?