EXHIBIT 1
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT – Unemployment or Inflation?
That is the Question!
GUIDELINES to WRITE the FINAL PAPER:
 Limit the entire paper to no more than 10 pages, including analysis and supporting graphs and
data series.
 Divide the paper in the following components:
1. Table of Contents
2. Chapters:
a. Introduction – states purpose of the paper, summary of the methodology utilized, and
a word on the end results.
b. Macroeconomics Indicators – include information on:
i. RGDP – summary of data collected, main industries, main sources of
income, phase in the business cycle
ii. Unemployment – summary of data collected, causes, more prevalent types,
main consequences in this country.
iii. Price Level – summary of data collected, inflation or deflation, causes, more
prevalent type, consequences in this country.
c. Unemployment or Inflation? That is the question! - Analysis of the Phillips Curve
(does this country’s data show a tradeoff between the Unemployment Level and
Inflation? If so, how? Which one is more prevalent?)
d. Fiscal and/or Monetary Policy Suggestions to solve the main macro problem.
e. Conclusion
3. Exhibits - Printouts of the data collected from FRED and corresponding graphs used to
support the conclusions.
4. List of Sources – if you use somebody else’s work, whether hard-copy, electronic, or webbased, you must list it as part of this paper.
COLLECTING DATA from FRED DATABASE:
STEP 1 - Use the RGDP, Unemployment Rate and Price Level data available at the St.
Louis Federal Reserve Bank FRED Economic Data database
(http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/)
a. For the RGDP data series, use GDPC1 (Billions of Chained 2005 Dollars)
b. For the Unemployment Rate data series, use UNRATE (Civilian Unemployment
Rate), Seasonally Adjusted.
c. For the Price Level data series, use Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers:
All Items, Seasonally Adjusted.
STEP 2 – Download Unemployment Rate and CPI data to Excel.
STEP 3 – Select correct time periods:
a. For the Unemployment Rate data, select the period of time corresponding to January
2000 through December 2012 (24 months).
b. The CPI data is indexed, so students will have to calculate the percentage change of
the CPI to determine if this country is experiencing Inflation, Deflation, or Disinflation.
In that process, students will lose one data point, so they will need to select the
period between December 1999 and December 2012 to come up with the 24
months.
STEP 4 – Use EXCEL to plot the Unemployment Rate and the percentage change in CPI data
series on the same graph.
Do NOT hesitate to contact your instructor if you need assistance as you work through your project!