political circle
Political circle: Essay Instructions Political circle
President Obama, sick of partisan politics, has decided to get some economic advice from someone outside his political circle. Because he wants his policies to be relatively straightforward, he has decided to enlist the help of a student in an Introductory Macroeconomics course. Specifically, he wants to hear from you.
Your opinion essay will be based upon advising President Obama on the THREE biggest economic issues in the US:
Issue 1: The current recessionary gap
Issue 2: The increased natural rate of unemployment (and corresponding decrease in potential output, or long-run growth)
Issue 3: The looming budget deficits and corresponding risk of a future debt crisis
As you can see, one is a short-run issue and two are long-run issues. You will be advising the President on both types of issues.
I want you to write a letter to President Obama in LIST form (with an intro and conclusion), addressing the following things.
1. List two specific things our federal government should be doing to fix our short-run problem (recessionary gap) and when they should happen. You must give a valid economic argument for each policy. Be sure to specify when each policy should be implemented and argue how it will return the economy to potential output. Please note that you may not recommend monetary policy, as the federal government does not have control over this.
2. List two specific things our government should be doing to fix our projected future deficits and specify when each should happen. Again, you must give a valid argument for each policy. In order to receive full credit, you must give recommendations that will reduce our future deficits by at least 20%. See the following link for details. As long as your policy reduces either the 2015 deficits or the 2030 deficits by 20%, you should be fine. If you simply say, “tighten eligibility for disability”, for example, this would not be enough on its own. You may NOT argue that economic growth is enough (but you could argue it will help). If you can’t get to 20% with two policies, feel free to use more.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html
3. List specific one thing that the federal government should do to increase long-run growth AND/OR reduce the natural rate of unemployment and specify when it should happen. You may absolutely recycle a policy you discussed in your first opinion essay.
Here is an example letter/list. (Follow the same format when you write the essay) :
Dear President Obama,
…Intro….We should be doing the following things to ensure…
1. Policy: Increase _____
Timeline: This policy should start today and should last approximately five years
Reasons: This policy is intended to fix the recessionary gap…..however, it will also have a long-run benefit…
2. Policy: Decrease ________
Timeline: This policy should start in approximately ten years
Reason: This policy is intended to reduce our national deficits. It will do so by ___________. I’m suggesting this is passed in ten years so that it doesn’t disrupt our current growth…
3. Policy: Decrease _________________
Timeline: This policy should start today and last into the foreseeable future.
Reasons: Even though this policy doesn’t have a great “bang for the buck” in terms of the multiplier, it will still increase growth today. This is because…Plus, it will also increase growth in the future…
Etc.
Again, our country needs…..
Sincerely,Political circle
my name
If your policies have multiple benefits, you may certainly double-up on your arguments. For example, you could argue that increases in education could have short-term and long-term effects. If you do this, you do not need five policies.
Grading Criteria/Expectations
1. Your total plan must make sense. For example, you can’t recommend cutting taxes to stimulate the economy AND raising taxes to pay down the debt. You could, however, create a timeline showing when you would use both, or you may treat different groups of people differently.
2. Different fiscal policies have different multipliers. Some may be more effective than others. If you choose the less effective option, you must justify why it’s still worth it.
3. Monetary policy is conducted by the Federal Reserve (and not the federal government) and is therefore NOT a valid recommendation.
4. I’m looking for a debt-reduction policy that will actually reduce the debt. If you argue for cutting taxes in the long-run, you MUST argue for spending cuts that are significantly larger than the cuts. If you argue for increased government spending in the long-run, you MUST argue for higher taxes or for other spending cuts that more than make up for it. Use this as your guideline:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html
Grading Rubric:
Expansionary policy:
1. Does the student list two specific things that will move the economy out of its recessionary gap?
2. Does the student adequately argue that these policies will increase real GDP in the short-run?
3. If the student uses a policy with a low multiplier as expansionary policy, does the student adequately justify that it’s still worth it?
4. Does each policy have a specific timeline?
Deficit/debt reduction
1. Does the student list at least two specific things that will reduce our future deficits?
2. Does the student adequately argue that these policies will reduce future deficits?
3. Are the student’s debt-reduction strategies large enough?
4. Does each policy have a specific timeline?
Long-run policies
1. Does the student list at least one specific thing that will increase long-run growth or decrease the natural rate of unemployment?
2. Does the student adequately argue that these policies will either increase long-run growth or decrease the natural rate of unemployment?
3. Does the policy have a specific timeline?
please use simple English. and make sure that you follow the same format in the example that I give above when you write the essay. and the most important thing is that no plagiarism in the essay. please make sure you read and follow the instructions. if you are not sure about something, please email me before you write the paper. thank you and good luck.
…………………..Answer preview………………………..
We should be doing the following things in order to have economic recovery in the United States. The first policy to be enacted would be to increase employment rates for the unemployed. Secondly, the government should also increased taxation on high income earners while the last policy would be to reduce consumption of recurrent expenditures………………………
APA
558 words
