1. Please be prepared to summarize the reasons behind your country’s sovereign debt crisis.
2. We will try to develop a generic timeline for countries with sovereign debt crises.
3. If time permits, we’ll talk about the Deficit Paper.
1. We need to summarize what we’ve learned about the evidence that the US Federal Budget deficit is problematic. To that end, please write a document in MS-Word that shows the data bearing on this subject that we have discovered, but more importantly analyzes the data to draw a conclusion. In other words, the word document should include data (or links to the data), graphs of the most important data, and text to explain the data and draw conclusions.
You are likely to find this a challenging assignment since it requires you to write a joint paper. You need to determine who is going to contribute what, and then select an editor (or editorial team) to knit all the pieces together and make the document coherent in tone. Please email this to me no later than Thursday, February4.
2. One of our tasks is to explore the financial implications of large budget deficits. To that end, please find one nation which has experienced a deficit-based financial crisis for you to explore. Your goal will be write a case study of that nation’s experience. (HINT: You might want to search using the keywords “Sovereign Debt Crisis”.) Please post your choice on the course wiki by classtime Tuesday, February 2. Each of you should select a different country. Your case study will be due at a later date.
Your task for this week is to read David Walker’s Comeback America. It is a quick read so you shouldn’t have trouble getting thru it by next Tuesday. I’m thinking of having each of you present one chapter so make sure you read them all.
Dean Baker offers a somewhat different view on cutting the deficit
Published January 14th, 2010 sgreenla in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsFirst Task – How can we most appropriately measure the deficit/debt?
Published January 12th, 2010 sgreenla in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsThe task for Thursday is to collect data on the U.S. federal deficit and U.S. public debt. Please decide who is going to collect which data (e.g. Chris is looking for data on Federal financial assets and liabilities) and email it to me by Thursday morning.
Welcome to ECON 405: Contemporary Economic Issues!
Published November 17th, 2009 sgreenla in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsThis course will explore the long run implications of the U.S. Federal Budget Deficit. I used ‘explore’ intentionally. We will organize the class as a research team to explore this important question, while trying to separate the ‘wheat’ from the ‘chaff.’ I do not know the answer to this question, but I hope to figure it out with your help by the end of the semester.
