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October 2, 2011

Key Concepts of Macroeconomics

Filed under: Economics — Tags: , , , — Peter Anthony @ 8:28 pm

The article Be Afraid, from Economist provides an overview of the challenges facing policy makers dealing with growing public debt an economic slow down. Key terms that students have learnt in Macroeconomics are used by the author and provide an excellent opportunity for students to identify and define these terms and to supply a diagram is relevant.

The ability to provide real world examples is an important attribute of students who score at the top mark bands and this article provides some current real world examples for student to cite when needed.

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June 6, 2010

Project Based Learning: Reflections

Filed under: Economics — Tags: , , , , , , — Peter Anthony @ 8:46 pm

In a previous post I outlined plans to conduct activities based on Project Based Learning (PBL) as presented by the Buck Institute for Education. Students worked in groups to develop macroeconomic policy recommendations to deal with stagnation within the US economy. The situation was based on the oil supply–side of the 1970s. The unit culminated with students giving an oral presentation and answering questions from a panel of teachers I recruited to play the roles of president and other stakeholders including a retired citizen, a recently fired worker and the owner of an automobile manufacturer.

I would recommend the PBL activities very highly. Students were motivated to understand the intricacies of fiscal and monetary policies and how governments can use demand-side and supply-side policies to deal with issues. Above all they realized how trade offs confront policy makers.

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February 26, 2010

Bernanke steadies Wall Street

Filed under: Economics — Tags: , — Paul Clark @ 12:47 am

Photo: Gage Skidmore.

The Chairman of the Federal Reserve broke a two-day slide on US stock markets by announcing that federal funds target rate was likely to remain “exceptionally low for an extended period” as inflation levels remain low. The federal funds target rate is the rate at which the central bank wants US banks to lend to each other, and so sets a marker for lending to individuals and firms. The Directors of the Fed insisted that no interest rate increase was imminent despite raising its discount rate last week   – the  the rate at which banks borrow emergency, short-term from the Fed to 0.75%.

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February 13, 2010

Nervous times for stock markets as China raise reserve deposits

Filed under: Economics — Tags: , , , , , — Paul Clark @ 3:35 pm

Stock markets around the world, already nervous about poor economic news in Europe, have been further undermined by the unexpected decision by the Chinese central bank that domestic banks must hold 16.5% of their deposits on reserve by the end of February – up by 0.5 percentage points.This decision highlights the concern the Chinese government have about inflationary pressures.

It is feared that this will reduce bank lending and, consequently, spending by Chinese consumers on foreign goods. Commodity prices including oil, copper and gold also fell on the news of potentially lower demand by Chinese industry.  This highlights the significance of Chinese demand on the world markets and has led to fears that the weak economic recovery will be threatened. The IMF has proposed that central banks set higher inflation targets representing concerns that  ability  of banks to stimulate demand through monetary policy has been reduced by historically low interest rates.

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