Assignments must be completed individually. For each assignment, collect a news article, dated May 1 of this year at the earliest.
For Assignment #2, collect an article on a monetary policy for any level of government
Avoid using the same articles analyzed in discussion groups.
Assignment Questions
Q1. Background (200 words max)
a) Provide relevant background information and data necessary to understand the context of the policy mentioned in the article. Cite any additional reference used and provide credits for any graph, picture or data borrowed from another source.
Q2. Policy (100 words max)
a) What policy is the article about? What makes it a Fiscal policy?
b) According to the article, what purpose is the policy intended to achieve?
Q3. Analysis (200 words max)
a) Who stands to gain and who stands to lose from the policy? Why?
b) What unintended consequences may result from this policy, if any? (Does the policy encourage some people to behave in a way that could create other issues or inefficiencies down the road?)
Q4. Discussion (300 words max)
a) Does the policy follow a more Keynesian, Monetarist or Austrian Monetaristapproach? Why?
b) What other policy could have been followed instead to achieve the purpose mentioned in 2b? Explain. (Note that not doing anything can sometimes also be a policy.)
c) If you were the decision maker, which of the policies described in 2a and 4b would you choose? Why? (Use concepts seen in class to explain how your favored policy would achieve its intended purpose, and why its superior to your less favored policy.)
Guidelines
Include the actual article in your assignment. A link to the article is not sufficient. Include the article’s text with the headline, reporter’s name, newspaper or magazine title, and date.
Be concise. There is only a maximum limit on answers length. A short and precise answer has more value than a long and vague answer.
Finished? Check your writing for grammatical errors. You can make use of online resources from the Writing Centre at Stauffer Library. Assignments with grammatical errors will be penalized.
Have you referenced every source? Be sure not to plagiarize! Put quotation marks around every quotation.
Now it’s time to submit the assignment. Please submit it in one PDF file. Do not zip your file.
