Fall 2012
FE312Q Macroeconomics
Professor Smith
Economic Brief #1
A Snapshot of the U.S. Economy
Objective: Write a paper describing the current state of the U.S. economy. Where
are we in the business cycle? Where are we headed? What is the unemployment
rate? What is the growth rate of consumption and investment? What sectors of the
economy are slowing? What correlations do you see in the data?
Sources: Read “popular press” articles from The Economist, Newsweek, NY Times,
ect. to help generate ideas.
Charts/data: I would like you to produce your own charts from raw data rather than copying
images from the popular press. The Fred database (http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/) is a
great source of macro data as well as the Bureau of Economic Analysis
(http://www.bea.gov/).
Specifications for Each Paper
a.)
b.)
c.)
Minimum 8 pages of text (roughly two pages per person) excluding graphs
12 pt. font
Reasonable margins
Grading- You will be assessed on the following criteria:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Quality of data
Informational content (quality and quantity)
Ability to communicate effectively
The cohesiveness of the document
Your groups assessment of your input