approved topics: “what can the government do to deal with the current inflation issue”, and “what businesses could do to bring workers back and lower unemployment”.
my special instructions: Don’t make me sound too smart, minimum of 5 sources, one or two from a “legitimate source”
Exact Instructions from teacher:
The term paper should be on a macroeconomic subject of your own choosing. In most cases, you should find your subject in current events, but in rare cases, you may want to write about a theoretical or historical subject. I will be more interested in your argument and your analysis than in how many facts you have. Your paper should have both of these features:
1. It should contain an argument. For example, it is not enough just to describe pollution in the Hudson River. You should make an argument about why firms pollute the Hudson River, or about what the government should do to clean up the pollution, or about why the government should not take action to clean up the pollution, etc. When you are developing your argument, think of your reader as a person who will listen to reason, but who needs very good reasons in order to be persuaded, since s/he is inclined to disagree with you. If you think, for example, that the government should tax polluting emissions, imagine your reader to be someone who rather thinks the government should not tax: s/he will need to hear very good arguments from you, if s/he is to change her mind.
2. It should use some economic concepts, something you have learned in this class. This does not mean that you have to use graphs or algebra—although you may if you want. Rather it means that you need to show that economic ideas can be useful in thinking about real-world problems.
