Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Make decisions informed by macroeconomic principles and the business cycle
Determine the economic impact of historical and current events using models of macroeconomics
Assess how changes to macroeconomic policies impact the economy
Scenario
You have just completed your seven-year term as the chief economic policy advisor responsible for managing the economy of the nation of Econland. You are expected to create a report for the incoming administration. In this outgoing report, you will summarize your macroeconomic policy decisions and the economic outcomes for Econland. The purpose of this report is to share the lessons you’ve learned over your term and promote sound macroeconomic decision making moving forward.
Directions
First, assemble the materials that you will need to complete this assignment:
Access the Macroeconomics Simulation: Econland from Harvard Business Review and select either the Rollercoaster or Stagnation scenarios. Once you have completed your final year of your seven-year term, you can access the final reports under the Dashboard and Reports tabs at the top of the webpage. You will use these charts, graphs, and other visualizations to illustrate your report in the indicated areas of the template (for example, Table 1.1). Reach out to your instructor if you have any questions about accessing these resources.
Review and use the Project Template located in the What to Submit section.
The cover page, Table of Contents, and Introduction sections of your report are provided and should remain standard in all submissions except where indicated in the template. You should read the brief Introduction section, as it provides insight into the purpose and structure of the deliverable, and add the high-level descriptions where prompted.
There are placeholders in the template for your data visualizations (e.g., charts, graphs, tables, etc.). These placeholders are meant to give you a rough approximation of the placement of the visualizations that are required. You should replace the placeholders with the appropriate, indicated images in each case. To create an isolated image from the simulation data, it is recommended that you use a snipping tool or other image-editing software to copy and paste your data visualizations into the template. See the relevant tutorials in the Supporting Materials section for more information.
You are expected to reference any source material used in your report with appropriate citations. To support you, a References page has been added to the project template with the citation for the course’s reading already provided. Any other references you add should be cited according to APA format.
Once you have assembled the required materials listed above, you can now begin drafting your economic summary report by completing the following steps:
The first section of your report is the Introduction, in which you will personalize the provided content with the particular information related to your term (i.e., your simulation results) as the chief economic policy advisor for the nation of Econland. Follow the instructions in the template for contextualizing this section, including adding Table 3 from your simulation report to the indicated area of the template (i.e., Table 1.1). Then, add a two- to three-sentence summary specifying which underlying scenario you chose and your overall performance and approval rating.
Taxation Policies: In the Fiscal Policies: Taxation section of your report, discuss the taxation policies of Econland for the public and your successor. Within this section, you should add an image of Table 1 from your simulation results to the indicated area of the template (i.e., Table 2.1). Then, answer the following questions in the paragraphs below the table:
Explain your intent for the taxation policy decisions you made over your seven-year term. What were the macroeconomic principles or models that influenced your decision making?
Identify the impact of your changes to the income and corporate tax rates. How were consumption and investment affected by your tax-policy decisions? Explain these dynamics using specific macroeconomic principles from the course reading.
Compare and contrast the impact of your tax policy decisions with those of current or historical examples in the United States. What do these examples demonstrate about the validity of macroeconomic models? Be sure to cite your research appropriately. (See the Supporting Materials section.)
Government Spending: In the Fiscal Policies: Government Expenditure section of your report, discuss government spending policies of Econland for the public and your successor. Within this section, you should add an image of the “Real GDP Growth” and “Unemployment Rate” graphs from your simulation results and use an aggregate demand and aggregate supply (AD/AS) model to the indicated area of the template (i.e., Figures 3.1 and 3.2). Images of the AD/AS model can be found in the course reading or any reputable online source. Then, answer the following questions in the paragraphs below the figures:
Explain your decision making regarding government expenditure and how it changed based on the macroeconomic conditions. What was the intent of your fiscal policy decisions in response to the given economic climate?
Evaluate your fiscal policy decisions, including how they impacted key macroeconomics factors such as real GDP growth and unemployment. To what extent did your policies yield positive or negative outcomes?
Refer to the AD/AS model to support your analysis in this section of your report.
Monetary Policies: In the Monetary Policies section of your report, discuss the monetary policies of Econland for the public and your successor. Within this section, you should add an image of the “Inflation Rate” graph from your simulation results to the indicated area of the template (i.e., Figure 4.1). Then, answer the following questions in the paragraphs below the figure:
Explain how you changed the interest rate levels and how these changes impacted other macroeconomic factors such as inflation, consumption, investments, GDP, and foreign trade. Provide specific examples to help illustrate.
Compare and contrast the impact of your monetary policies with those of current or historical examples in the United States. What do these examples demonstrate about the validity of macroeconomic models? Be sure to cite your research appropriately. (See the Supporting Materials section.)
Global Context: In the Global Context section of your report, you will expand your discussion from the particular case of Econland to consider the wider global context. Analyze the impacts of openness to trade in general. Why and how are the impacts of monetary and fiscal policies different in a closed economy versus an open economy? Support your claims with specific details from the course reading.
Conclusions: In the Conclusions section of your report, draw your overall conclusions about the relevance and significance of macroeconomics for the public and your successor.
Assess the effectiveness of your economic policy decisions. Did your economic policy decisions produce the anticipated results? Did your macroeconomic principles and models behave in ways that you expected? Provide specific examples to illustrate.
Evaluate how consumer confidence might have impacted the outcomes of your policy decisions for the economy of Econland. Why is consumer confidence a relevant factor for making informed macroeconomic decisions?
Finally, ensure that all of your sources are properly cited using in-line citations and references according to APA format.
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:
Economic Summary Report
Your economic summary report should outline the key principles and takeaways of your Econland simulation for your successor. It should also illustrate how the macroeconomic ideas are relevant to the nation’s future economic success.
Template: Project Template Word Document
Use this template to submit your economic summary report, and submit it as a Word document. Sources should be cited according to APA style.
