COURSE PROJECTS

How many self-portraits must Daffy paint to pass this course?

Stay tuned for some helpful hints!


top PROJECT #1: MONETARY POLICY PROJECT

HINT #1: Now that the country of Iraq has been turned over to the Iraqis, the U.S., in coordination with the United Nations, is sending a committee of qualified experts on macroeconomic policy to Bagdad to establish a new monetary regime. All of the current members of the FOMC have been asked to serve on this special committee. As a result, you have been appointed to replace one of the members. Find your name in the table below to see whom you have replaced.

Monetary Policy Project Assignments
District Federal Reserve Bank Former FOMC Representative Current FOMC Representative
Board of Governors Ben S. Bernanke, Chair Dr. Furfero
Board of Governors Janet L. Yellen, Vice Chair (Monetarist)
Board of Governors Kevin M. Warsh (Keynesian)
Board of Governors Elizabeth A. Duke (Monetarist)
Board of Governors Daniel K. Tarullo (Keynesian)
Board of Governors Sarah Bloom Raskin (Monetarist)
Board of Governors Open (Keynesian)
1 Boston FRB Eric S. Rosengren (Keynesian) Sung Ho Byun
2 New York FRB William C. Dudley (Monetarist) Beverley Chyke-Okpuzor
3 Philadelphia FRB Charles I. Plosser (Keynesian) Dehan Basnayake
4 Cleveland FRB Sandra Pianalto (Monetarist) Yifeng Li
5 Richmond FRB Jeffrey M. Lacker (Keynesian)
6 Atlanta FRB Dennis P. Lockhart (Keynesian) Ann-Katrin Kohnle
7 Chicago FRB Charles L. Evans (Monetarist)
8 St. Louis FRB James B. Bullard (Monetarist) John Lozowski
9 Minneapolis FRB Narayana Kocherlakota (Keynesian)
10 Kansas City FRB Thomas H. Hoenig (Monetarist) Sema Sadaruddin
11 Dallas FRB Richard W. Fisher (Keynesian) Shanta Samlal
12 San Francisco FRB John Moore (interim) (Monetarist) Brendon Singh
Secretary William B. English

HINT #2: Research your Federal Reserve organization and your predecessor on the Federal Open Market Committee by clicking on the links to the left of your name.

HINT #3: Read the following publications: HINT #4: Each member of the FOMC must prepare a written report for an FOMC meeting at the end of the semester. Your thesis is: "As a Governor/District Bank President, I recommend that the FOMC should raise/lower/keep unchanged the target rate for federal funds by 0/25/50/75/100 basis points." The report is equivalent to a term paper and must meet all of the standard MLA or APA guidelines for paper submissions. (Do NOT plagiarize! Give credit where credit is due!) It must include the following parts:
  1. an introduction stating your thesis and the purpose of the paper
  2. a section on the definition and measurement of the macroeconomic goal(s) (maximum employment, maximum production, price stability, and external balance); quantify the goals
  3. a section on numerical goals, actual data, and forecasts; collect and graph actual data and forecasts and compare them to the numerical goals; identify the "gaps" where the macroeconomy is not meetng its goals, and what your policy objecive is, e.g. lower/higher unemployment, increased/decreased real growth rate, lower/higher inflation, equilibrium in the balance of payments accounts/foreign exchange rate, etc. [NOTE: This section must include current and forecasted data for the economy and deviations or expected deviations from the ideal numbers.]
  4. a section expressing your economic position as a Monetarist or Keynesian
  5. a section using the Monetarist or Keynesian methodology to conduct a theoretical analysis of how and why your decision on the federal funds target rate will accomplish your goals (use appropriate diagrams from the modules to support your analysis). [NOTE: Your choice of theoretical analysis must be consistent with your methodological position in Part 3 of the paper.]
  6. a conclusion justifying your federal funds target rate decision and recommendations for using alternative tools, as economic conditions might require.
HINT #5 The key to good writing is to say what you mean and mean what you say ... and quit! KISS (Keep it simple, stupid!) Busy executives do not have time to wade through a lot of excess verbiage. Before you write your paper, memorize the rules for good writing found on the Bulletin Board.

HINT #6 Reports must be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced, with a double space between paragraphs. They are due in class on Monday evening, April 30, 2011.

HINT #7: On Monday evening, April 30, 2011, at 7:10 pm SHARP! the class will conduct an FOMC meeting like that described in chapter 12, section IV, of the textbook. See also Simulation of FOMC Meeting: Learning About Monetary Policy by Doing for more details. Each student speaks for 5-10 minutes during the go-around. Prepare your most salient points to explain what you would do with the federal funds target rate and why. Do NOT read your papers. You do not have enough time. Do NOT spend time preparing all of the economic and financial data for inclusion in your go-around presentation. The senior economic staff members will make a presentation on the current economic and financial conditions at the start of the meeting. Get immediately to an analysis of your decision on the federal funds target rate. Be prepared to make recommendations for using alternative tools, as economic conditions might require. All students must listen carefully and take notes as colleagues speak. Each student must ask at least one question of your "colleagues" during the discussion section of the meeting which follows the go-around. Finally, the committee members develop and vote on its proposal for the federal funds target rate and a directive to the Manager of the System Open Market Account.

HINT #8: All students MUST be present and ON TIME for the FOMC meeting.

top PROJECT #2: FISCAL POLICY PROJECT

HINT #1: President Obama has submitted his proposed budget for FY 2012 to the Congress. As members of the Congress, you now have the opportunity to revise, amend, and change it in the way that you see fit. You will be working in the following teams:

Fiscal Policy Project Assignments
Methodological Persuasion Senate House of Representatives
Monetarists Sung Ho Byun
Beverley Chyke-Okpuzor 		Ann-Katrin Kohnle
Yifeng Li
Keynesians John Lozowski
Shanta Samlal
Dehan Basnayake 		Sema Sadaruddin
Brendon Singh

HINT #2: Read the following publications: Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2012 and the budget proposal for 2013, when released (It was released February 13, 2012 with the President's Budget Message). You may conduct any other research that you feel is necessary to write your report and arguments for a congressional debate.

HINT #3: DELETE: As a team, rerun the The National Budget Simulation to prepare a budget for your written report. The balance on this budget must be designed to achieve your macroeconomic goals. REPLACE: Instead of using the National Budget Simulation which is 6 years old, I want you to use the current budget proposals — one from the Obama Administration (Democrats) and one from House Rep. Paul Ryan (Republicans). The Keynesians will argue in favor of Obama's budget and against Ryan's budget. The Monetarists will argue in favor of Ryan's budget and against Obama's budget.

HINT #4: Each team must prepare a written report for a congressional debate at the end of the session. Your thesis is: "As Monetarists/Keynesians in the Senate/House of Representatives, we recommend that the Congress should pass a federal budget for fiscal 2013 that plans for a deficit, a surplus, or budget balance in the amount of $_______." The report is equivalent to a term paper and must meet all of the standard MLA or APA guidelines for paper submissions. (Do NOT plagiarize! Give credit where credit is due!) It must include the following parts:
  1. an introduction stating your thesis and the purpose of the paper
  2. a section on the definition and measurement of the macroeconomic goal(s) (maximum employment, maximum production, price stability, and external balance); quantify the goals
  3. a section on numerical goals, actual data, and forecasts; collect and graph actual data and forecasts and compare them to the numerical goals; identify the "gaps" where the macroeconomy is not meetng its goals, and what your policy objecive is, e.g. lower/higher unemployment, increased/decreased real growth rate, lower/higher inflation, equilibrium in the balance of payments accounts/foreign exchange rate, etc. [NOTE: This section must include current and forecasted data for the economy and deviations or expected deviations from the ideal numbers.]
  4. a section on your budget prepared with The National Budget Simulation
  5. a section expressing your economic position as Monetarists or Keynesians
  6. a section using the Monetarist or Keynesian methodology to conduct a theoretical analysis of how and why your decision on the federal government budget's balance will accomplish your goals (use appropriate diagrams from the modules to support your analysis). [NOTE: Your choice of theoretical analysis must be consistent with your methodological position in Part 5 of the paper.]
  7. a conclusion summarizing the justification for your federal budget balance decision
HINT #5 The key to good writing is to say what you mean and mean what you say ... and quit! KISS (Keep it simple, stupid!) Busy executives do not have time to wade through a lot of excess verbiage. Before you write your paper, memorize the rules for good writing found on the Bulletin Board.

HINT #6 Reports must be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced, with a double space between paragraphs. They are due in class on Monday evening, May 7, 2011.

HINT #7: On Monday evening, May 7, 2011, at 7:10 pm SHARP! the class will conduct two (2) congressional debates: one between the members of the Senate and one between the members of the House of Representatives. Teams may use power point presentations to facilitate their arguments. Before you design your PPT, memorize the rules for good powerpoint presentations found on the Bulletin Board. Each student MUST take part in the oral presentation. This time, the teams should be prepared to use economic and financial data to support their theoretical arguments. However, you may NOT read your papers. Speak from index cards, notes, or the powerpoint presentation.

HINT #8: The format of the debates is as follows:
  1. The House of Representatives teams debate first and the Senate teams debate second.
  2. Each team has 15 minutes to make arguments in favor of its position on federal budget balance.
  3. Each team MUST take notes during your opponent's presentation and be prepared to rebut your opponent's arguments.
  4. Each team has 10 minutes for rebuttal to attack and criticize the other team's position.
  5. Each team has 5 minutes for summation.
  6. All members of the respective congressional houses (all students) vote on the proposed budget balance measures.
HINT #9: All students MUST be present and ON TIME for the congressional debates.

GOOD LUCK!!!
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