What does economic theory say about the behavior of individuals, households, or firms in response to the issue you are analyzing?

Use the knowledge gleaned from this course to write an opinion piece (using microeconomic insights) on any topic of your choice, similar to editorials you might see in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or The Economist. Assume the audience has not taken a course in Intermediate Microeconomic Theory, but has the basic understanding of intro micro. Apply the theory to make an argument for some particular course of action or way of understanding an event, trend, etc. and explain it to your audience in everyday terms (e.g., make it understandable to your boss, a policymaker, your parents/friends, voters). This assignment is a practice in turning a high-quality technical analysis into a convincing argument for the layperson.
Your goal is to pick a topic or issue and conduct your own analysis using the skills learned in class. We will discuss examples in class. Do not repeat or summarize the content or analysis of a news article. However, articles are a good way to find a topic or issue that interests you. The analysis should be on a micro economic topic, not macroeconomic. If you are uncertain, I can easily tell you whether the topic is valid for this assignment.
Length of the assignment. 500-700 words.
Citation Format: Cite all outside sources using MLA format (works cited page does not count in your 500-700 word limit)
Parts to consider including in your opinion piece.
1.) Clearly and concisely describe the issue and the relevant parties affected.
2.) What does economic theory say about the behavior of individuals, households, or firms in response to the issue you are analyzing?
3.) Can you make predictions on behavior? In the short-run? In the long-run? Is there a public policy available to address the issue in a positive way (or negative way for an existing policy you don’t agree with)?
4.) Concisely conclude the argument by tying it all together.
Broad Evaluation Criteria to be Used to Grade Your Paper (in descending order of importance)
textbook: Besanko, David and Ronald Braeutigam. Microeconomics. 4th Edition, 2011. (3rd or 5th edition are also acceptable but the 5th is much more expensive).