Consulting Project: Objectives and Overview
Combine the economic tools learned during the semester to make a recommendation to accept or reject a policy proposal. Students will use economic analysis to communicate and defend their positions.
Module Overview
This project requires two stages for completion – first you are to act as a consultant and second you will take on the role of a mayor who has to communicate the action plan as a result of the consultant recommendation.
Part A: Consultant
You are employed as a consultant for a city that is investigating the possibility of building a convention center to attract tourists.
Provide your recommendation to the mayor’s office regarding the construction of the center. (One recommended source for your work is a report by Professor Heywood Sanders, produced for the Brookings Institute.
The report contains information about the demand for conventions and the supply of convention centers, and is provided as a link below.)
You are required to find two additional sources to use in your analysis. Conflicting sources are also acceptable so long as they use sound economics in the analysis.
Part B: City Mayor
You are the Mayor of the city who is tasked with the job of conveying the final decision on the convention center project to residents and stakeholders. You must discuss both the decision itself and the justification for the decision.
Utilizing evidence and data provided by the consultant, a successful communiqué should be informative and persuasive such that residents and stakeholders ultimately support the policy decision.
For this portion of the assignment, students are required to submit a one-page press release. Students may not submit more than the one page.
Note: Your submission should be no longer than three pages – one page for the consultants executive summary, a reference page, and the one page press release.
