CISS SCHOLAR: Economics

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This website is dedicated to the students of the International School of San Salvador. Here, you can find copies of course materials such as syllabi, calendars, assignment guides, and reviews for exams as well as an array of links to scholarly articles, music, videos, artwork, and websites. You can also browse selected student work. Click on the COURSE TAGS ABOVE to find the latest posts for your class (displayed BELOW) or browse the RIGHT HAND TOOLBAR which contains links to student resources, school info, and everything else. Go Falcons!

Showing posts with label Economics. Show all posts

Economics Games

Fed Chairman Game Practice employing monetary policy to understand effects on unemployment and inflation rates.

The Bailout Game Practice balancing fiscal and monetary policy to improve the economy.

Portfolio Project Part I

For Wednesday, March 23, 2011, you are to turn in a copy of your Portfolio Report Form and an accompanying graph. You can easily create a variety of graphs showing gains or losses by using GoogleDocs or downloading the form to Excel.

In addition, please submit a one page report covering the following for ONE of your investments:
a. Reasons why you chose to invest in the stock.
b. Stock performance.
c. Factors influencing the gain/loss in value. (Try using Google Trends for this. You may also look in the papers or on your company's website.)
d. Analysis of why you would hold your stocks for either the short or the long term.

Constructing a Market Basket & Measuring Unemployment

Constructing a Market Basket

Once you have made your list of the basic list of the goods and services—and their relative prices—you believe a Salvadoran family of four needs to live, research the official “canasta basica” for El Salvador. Compare your list to the official canasta basica. What items are included in both your list and the official list? What items were missing from your list? Are there any items you believe are missing on the official list? Are there any items included on the official list with which you don’t agree? How are prices calculated for the official list? Who issues the official canasta basica for El Salvador? How often is the canasta basica updated? Do you agree with the proposed quantities? Are there too much of some things or too little of other things? What is the difference in final cost when you compare your list with the official list?

Prepare your answers into a presentable report. Include your original draft of your market basket, a new typed chart listing your revised market basket and relative prices, and a copy of the most recent canasta basica for El Salvador. Include a summary of your answers to the questions posed above.

Unemployment

As a group, decide what you believe the unemployment rate in El Salvador currently might be. Use the Internet to find at least 5 different statistics/sources for unemployment in El Salvador. (You might check Wikipedia, the CIA’s World Fact Book, official Salvadoran government websites, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the United Nations, CEPAL, nonprofit websites, etc.)

How is unemployment defined in El Salvador? How do the statistics given by different sources compare and contrast? Are street vendors, substance farmers, those undocumented abroad included in the statistics? Organize your findings into a brief report in which you summarize the state of unemployment in El Salvador. Do things, statistically speaking, appear to be getting better or worse? Do you feel the statistics reflect the reality you witness? Why or why not?

Investment Portfolio Project

Beginning on Wednesday, February 16, each super senior :D will be entrusted with $10,000 to "invest." You have a few days to investigate how you'd like to distribute your "financial assets." Recalling knowledge gathered thus far, especially chapters 14 (money and banking) and 11 (savings), be sure to consider the diverse forms in which you may opt to allocate your funds: CD's, treasury notes, gold dust, savings accounts, checking accounts, corporate bonds, dresser drawers, foreign currencies, collectible items, and, of course, stocks(!).

Over the course of the semester, you will monitor your investments and motivations attached to them. Weekly, you'll turn in a mini-report charting your investments, and periodically, you'll have the chance to compete for prizes. . .based on your portfolio's growth.

A few ground rules to get started. . .

Portfolio Check #1 will be next Wednesday, February 23, 2011. . .so you'll need to create your portfolio by then.

*Your portfolio must include at least 3 products and at least one must be a stock. You must account and document where all of your $10,000 has gone.
*All of the products in your portfolio must be "real." If you choose to invest in gold, you need to research how much gold costs and where it can be bought and use and cite that information. If you invest in stocks, you must provide accurate, honest, real-time information on when you bought the shares, how much they cost, etc.
*The buying and selling of stocks/bonds will be at a flat rate of $10 per trade unless you research online to find information on a(n online) broker who has more competitive rates. You may use those rates as long as you note and cite the broker.
*You will conduct some basic research on at least on of your investments (firm/bank background). Consider the "type" of company in which you are investing. Do you feel comfortable about investing your money in such a company.. .do you agree with the firm/bank's mission and goals?

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011 you will turn in your first portfolio report. Each week thereafter you will be given a "portfolio challenge."

Suggested Sites:

Google Finance
NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) Stock Market
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange)
Wall Street Journal's "Market Watch"
"The Wild Investor"
Yahoo! Finance

Monetary Policy & The National Economy: Cases Studies from the Global Economy

Generally speaking, countries have at their disposal two main tools with which to influence the state of the (nation's) economy: monetary and federal policy. As we studied in chapter 14, countries can opt for either an easy or tight monetary policy to grow or shrink the nation's monetary reserves. . .to expand or reduce the amount of money flowing through the economy. These policies are decided on by, in the case of the US, the Fed. Alternatively, as we'll explore in later chapters, Congress may make use fiscal policy to aid a particular sector of the economy (businesses or consumers) by implementing or reducing regulations, increasing or decreasing taxes, offering stimulus checks or bailouts, etc.

There are, however, several cases in our current global economy in which nations, willingly or not, have forfeited their ability to employ monetary policy. Cases vary by country and context. At times, such decisions have beneffitted the nations in questions. Other times, the consequences have been more grave.

Your task is to explore a country which has given up, to some extent, its control over monetary policy. . .within the past decade or so. You should research the roots of the decision behind your chosen country's decision to replace the national currency as well as the ways the country has been affected since the currency was changed. Organize your findings into a 1-2 page persuasive article in which you argue in favor or against your chosen country's decision to do away with its currency. Bolster your case by including data about changes in employment, foreign (business investment), GDP, per capita income, etc. Quote economists and/or critics who have spoken/written about your particular topic.

Some suggestions for case studies. . .

*"Dollarization" in El Salvador, East Timor, or Ecuador
*"Euro" in European Union countries (pick a specific country)
*spread of the "Austrailian Dollar" in Oceania
*spread of the "New Zealand Dollar" in Oceania
*spread of the "South African Dollar" in south African countries

Deadline: Thursday, February 24, 2011.

Economics Semester Review Guide

Click here to view the Economics Topics Study Guide for First Semester Exam, 2010-2011.

View the Economics Review Slides here.

View the Economics Review Questions here.

Link to 108 Analytical Multiple Choice Practice Questions & Answers from SUNY at Oneta's Intro to Economics Course

Link to BubbaBrain for Concepts/Vocab Review (Choose "High School," then "Seniors," then "Economics")

Food Aid Case Study: Edesia, Rhode Island, Malawi, Haiti, Nicaragua, France, Niger, Tanzania, and More

Edesia was the Roman goddess of food. Today, Edesia is also the name of a small Providence, Rhode Island based "Global Nutrition Solutions" company that produces "Plumpy'nut." The life-saving, malnutrition-fighting peanuty goo packs protein filled peanuts, fatty vegetable oils, sugar, and an alphabet's worth of vitamins into an all-in one wonder bar for, in particular, the starving children of the world's developing countries. More than a decade ago, Doctors Without Borders expressed the need for a practical nutritional food substance that didn't need refrigeration or water (which in the developing countries can be as hard to come by as food). Perhaps now with some embellishments grown over time, the story goes that a Frenchman who was enjoying nutella in the 1990's had a epiphany while eating breakfast, and hence came up with the good-tasting and life-giving nutrition bar.

While Anderson Cooper's clip makes concrete the vital humanitarian aspect of the "Plumpy'nut" issue, there is also the economic side of the issue to explore. As we read Chapter 7 (monopolies, patents, competition, market structures, positive and negative externalities, market failures, anti-trust laws, and government regulation) and remember Chapter 6 (market equilibrium, price controls, ceilings, floors, and subsidies), a case study of "Plympy'nut," provides not only real life illustrations of economic theory in the works, but also challenges everyone to re-evaluate or re-affirm market baises.

You can visit Edesia: Global Nutrion Solution's website here.
Read "The Plumpy Crusader" article from Newsweek.
Read "The Peanut Solution" article from The New York Times Magazine.
And, check out Rhode Island's local press, by reading "RI Company Produces Supplement" article from The Providence Journal.

Economics Self-Evaluation Survey for the First Quarter

Please click here to access the "Economics Self-Evaluation Survey" for the first quarter. Be sure to complete your self-evaluation, which accounts for 5% of your first quarter course grade no later than Friday, October 29 at 11:59PM CST. Please email vicklauren@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Final 1st Quarter Economics Essay

Using the standard writing rubric for the course, please respond to ONE! of the following prompts. Aim to enrich the quality of your writing by citing examples you've researched. Essays are due Friday, October 29 no later than 2:30pm. Please be sure to turn in a hard copy with a rubric attached.

*Your book states that the fundamental economic problem is scarcity. Many economists agree. However, some argue that there is "enough to go around." Opponents to the scarcity argument say that the real issue is distribution. What do you say? Then, take your argument one step further. Based on your point of view (scarcity v. distribution v. something else), what can be done to respond to the "economic crises" of our times?

*What sort of economy do you believe produces the best results? Would you propose a communistic, socialistic, traditional, or capitalistic structure? Understanding that all economies are mixed, in essence, why do you believe that your chosen economic structure is best? Back up your case with hard data, explaining why your choice offers the best possibilities for all involved.

*In Chapter 5, we looked at how government regulations can affect supply. Pick a recent case in the news (any country, any firm), in which the government influenced a firm's production by creating or removing regulations. Then, evaluate the government's actions. Are you in favor of the regulations or against them? How did the government's decisions affect the economy?

*Write an entertaining and creative essay, explaining in reader-friendly terms the topics covered in chapters 4 and 5 on supply and demand. You can be humorous or outrageous, but be sure to really explain the intricacies of supply and demand.