COMPETENCIES TO MASTER Can identify and explain basic macroeconomic principles Can analyze current macroeconomic and financial news Can research a topic of general interest and summarize findings in writing Can read critically in order to identify main ideas, supporting evidence, and conclusions Overview You have been hired as an economic advisor to Peter Politico, who is running for U.S. Congress. Unfortunately, Mr. Politico is not very well informed about economic issues. You have been asked to write a briefing to prepare him for a debate about the role of the Federal Reserve (“the Fed”) in controlling unemployment and inflation. Directions To prepare to write your briefing, explore the Project resources to make sure you understand all the concepts that will come up in the debate. The Project resources explaining these concepts are listed in the order that you should review them. Also, read the two articles about the Federal Reserve. Write a briefing that explains the important background concepts to Mr. Politico. The report should be written so that someone without much knowledge of economics can understand. Your briefing does not need to follow a specific format, but it should include the following information and follow this basic structure: Begin by explaining the background concepts of: real GDP. inflation. unemployment. Explain the concepts of aggregate supply and aggregate demand, including recessionary and inflationary gaps. Explain what the Fed does. Use the above background concepts in your explanation, and answer the following questions: What is the Fed’s “dual mandate”? What tools does the Fed use to achieve its goals? What happens when the Fed pursues an expansionary or contractionary policy? To provide Mr. Politico with two specific examples of how the Fed works, summarize the two news articles. For each article, explain the main ideas presented, the evidence given to support these ideas, and the conclusions. Throughout the briefing, you will need to translate any economics jargon into simple, clear language for Mr. Politico. Look up any concepts that you don’t understand to help your analysis and be sure to use your own words as you write your briefing. Any sources of information are cited using APA format, with no major errors Briefing Document Suggested Word Count: 1000 Accepted File Types: .doc, .docx, .odt, .rtf, .txt, .pdf Project Resources Read the following sections in this textbook: Sections 20.1, 20.2 and 20.3 (pages 751-783) Section 22.3 (pages 853-865; skip “Restoring Long-Run Macroeconomic Equilibrium”) Sections 24.1, 24.2 and 24.3 (pages 905-937) Section 25.1 (pages 941-953; skip “Foreign Exchange Markets”) Section 26.1 (pages 976-986) APA citation: Principles of Economics (2012). Saylor Academy. Retrieved from http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Principles%20of%20Economics.pdf DC Hold’em Summarize and explain this article as part of the Briefing. http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21697859-how-long-will-fed-keep-rates-steady-dc-holdem?zid=295&ah=0bca374e65f2354d553956ea65f756e0 Fed Slows Down on Plans Summarize and explain this article as part of the Briefing. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/business/economy/fed-interest-rates-meeting.html?_r=0