Select a news article on an economic topic from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times or the Economist dated within the previous two months and analyze the issue using the economic concepts and theory learned in this class. Possible concepts include:

· taxes and consumer or producer surplus

· demand, supply, and equilibrium price of a particular product

· elasticity on a particular product

· perfect competition or imperfect competition, such as monopolies

· labor market, wages, and income inequality

· poverty and public policy

· Topic gleaned from any one of the chapters in the course, check the topics in the chapter and the index for ideas

Your case should follow these guidelines:

· Include at least one graph developed in our course.

· A narrative of 3 to 5 pages in length not including appendices

· Have a title page and bibliography

· At least 3 sources not including the text

· Word processed using double spacing and a 12 point font

The purpose of the data exercises is to ensure that you are familiar with the methodology of collecting economic/financial data from the Web and analyzing it. These exercises include collecting the required data, creating a graph or table to present this information, and no more than three double-spaced pages of analysis of the data. Part of the purpose of the assignment is to teach you to write and present information concisely and to the point. Imagine that you are giving this to your boss or an important client and they will be able to devote only 7 minutes to reading your paper. What and how do you wish to communicate with them? Think about this question before you begin to write.

The point of view that you should take in addressing each topic is that your audience (see above) is ignorant of what this data represents and how it is measured. Your task is to explain what the concept is what it intends to measure, how it is measured and to what uses the data can be utilized. For example the unemployment rate is a statistic in very common use and it is intended to measure the percentage of labor force (which itself is a very specific metric) is currently not working and is actively searching for work. Uses of this statistic are to find ways and means to reduce it, to allocate unemployment insurance, to gauge inflationary pressure, etc.