ECON545: Project 2—Macroeconomic Analysis
The Macroeconomic Paper tests your ability to apply economic principles to a business decision considering the impact of macroeconomic variables. Select situation B Complete the paper on the selected situation as specified below. The completed paper is a professional report and is due in Week 6 (260 Points). See the grading rubric at the end of this document. Be sure to use the DeVry library to find data, and avoid questionable sources, such as Wikipedia.
Each of the scenarios has a list of Macroeconomic areas you are to address, with sources, in your answer. Briefly you are to research and show how these apply to your scenario: GDP growth rate (20 points), the business cycle (30 points), fiscal policy and level of unemployment (50 points), monetary policy and interest rates (50 points), international trade (40 points), and demographics (20 points).
Situation B
Your neighbor Cindy wants to start a contracting business for installing solar panels. She has heard of the cost savings that households and businesses can make each year by installing solar panels on their roofs. Cindy has also heard of government incentives for installing solar panels. Being concerned about the environment and wishing to reduce pollution, Cindy thinks installing solar panels also serves a good social purpose. But she does not want to risk her life savings on a venture that might not succeed or become profitable enough. After hearing from you about taking this course in business economics, she decides to ask you for advice.
At first you are hesitant to give investment advice. Then you read the piece “Postal Service Considering Cutting 120,000 Jobs” on page 668 of the textbook. You realize there are more pieces to the decision than Cindy is considering. You decide to research the economy in terms of GDP growth rate, interest rates, level of unemployment, the business cycle, fiscal policy, monetary policy, international trade, and demographics. You want to provide Cindy with the most informed advice possible.
P.668
AN INSIDE LOOK Will Pink Slips Be in the Mail for Postal Workers?
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Postal Service Considers Cutting 120,000 Jobs
The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service is considering cutting as many as 120,000 jobs.
Facing a second year of losses totaling $8 billion or more, the agency also wants to pull its workers out of the retirement and health benefits plans covering federal workers and set up its own benefit systems.
Congressional approval would be needed for either step, and both could be expected to face severe opposition from postal unions which have contracts that ban layoffs.
a The post office has cut 110,000 jobs over the last four years and is currently engaged in eliminating 7,500 administrative staff.
But the loss of mail to the Internet and the decline in advertising caused by the recession have rocked the agency.
Postal officials have said they will be unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to cover future employee health care costs due Sept. 30. It is the only federal agency required to make such a payment but, because of the complex way government finances are counted, eliminating it would make the federal budget deficit appear $5.5 billion larger.
If Congress doesn’t act and current losses continue, the post office will be unable to make that payment at the end of September because it will have reached its borrowing limit and simply won’t have the cash to do so, the agency said earlier.
In that event, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said, “Our intent is to continue to deliver the mail, pay our employees and pay our suppliers.”
b Postal officials have sought congressional assistance repeatedly over the last few years, including requests to be allowed to end Saturday mail delivery, and several bills have been proposed, but none has been acted on.
In addition the post office recently said it is considering closing 3,653 post offices, stations and other facilities, about one-10th of its offices around the country, in an effort to save money. Offices under consideration for closing are largely rural with little traffic.
And in June the post office suspended contributions to its employees’ pension fund, which it said was overfunded.
c In its 2010 annual report the post office reported a loss of more than $8 billion on revenues of $67 billion and expenses of $75 billion.
And even while total mail volume fell from 202 billion items to 170 billion from 2008 to 2010 the number of places the agency has to deliver mail increased by 1.7 million as Americans built new homes, offices and businesses.
The latest cutback plans were first reported by The Washington Post, which said a notice to employees informing them of its proposals stated: “Financial crisis calls for significant actions; we will be insolvent next month due to significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit pre-funding costs imposed by Congress.”
Source: “Postal Service considers cutting 120,000 jobs,” by Randolph E. Schmid from the Associated Press, August 11, 2011. Copyright © 2011 by the Associated Press. Reproduced with permission of the YGS Group.
Macroeconomic Paper as a Professional Report
Your paper should be organized into five parts as listed below.
1. Title Page: Name, class, and date
2. Introduction to situation but do NOT copy the scenario. Briefly summarize the situation and identify the macroeconomic issue(s) to be decided from the perspective of the organization.
3. Business Cycles, Unemployment, Inflation, International – Comparative Advantage, Exchange Rates, Trade, Etc., Monetary Policy and Interest Rates, and Fiscal Policy and Unemployment Identify the variables that are critical in addressing the issue(s). Gather and present the relevant data on the variables by searching the DeVry Online Library. Ask a librarian for help if needed. Use in-text citation to report the source(s) of the data. Graphs may be included here.
4. Recommendations and Economic Justification
Formulate and present your recommendations for addressing the issue(s) based on the relevant data and economic principles identified above. Justify your recommendations in terms of the economic impact on those affected.
5. References
List the full references for at least five sources alphabetically in APA format.
Grading Rubric
Section Points earned Points Description
Paper Presentation
10 Good format, citations, lack of spelling errors, etc.; correct Title page and Reference page
Relevant Data:
GDP, Business Cycle, International, Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, Demographics
210
GDP (20 points)
Business Cycles, Unemployment, Inflation (30 points)
International (40 points)
Monetary Policy and interest rates (50 points)
Fiscal Policy and unemployment (50 points)
Demographics (20 points)
Recommendations 40
What are your recommendations explained by your analysis?
Total 260
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