Assignment:
1. Choose the country you would like to research:
- Canada
- U.S.A.
- Any other country in which you have a particular interest.
2. In your essay, you will consider and address the following questions and points:
- What is the current state of the economy that you have chosen? Collect the latest available data on nominal GDP, real GDP, per capita real GDP, unemployment rate, inflation rate, interest rates, exchange rate(s), and any other important macroeconomic data.
- Is the country experiencing an inflationary gap or a recessionary gap?
- What kind of macroeconomic policy should this country follow?
- Is the real GDP growing and at what rate?
- What is the per capita real GDP on Purchasing Power Parity basis? What is the trend in this variable? Is the per capita real GDP increasing?
- Can you find the relevant data for the last couple of years or more?
- Is the current unemployment rate close to NAIRU? Higher or lower?
- At what stage of the Business Cycle is this country presently in? Is there an inflationary or recessionary gap?
- What kind of fiscal and monetary policies is this country presently following? Expansionary or contractionary?
- What kind of exchange rate policy is this country presently following? Fixed exchange rate or flexible exchange rate?
- How is this country's economy going to perform in the coming years? What does the future look like? Will the unemployment rate and inflation rate change? Why or why not?
Required Materials
Review all the required chapters from the course textbook:
Ragan, C. T. S. (2017). Macroeconomics (15th Canadian ed.). Don Mills, Canada: Pearson Education Canada.
1. Business journal databases from Yorkville University Library
2. For the Canadian economy, some useful resources may include:
- Statistics Canada. (2018). Statistics Canada.
- Bank of Canada. (2018). Bank of Canada.
- Wikipedia. (2017). List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita.