Economic health
Give a brief history of the country, including economic indicators and historical events that impacted economic outcomes. This should include a discussion of the overall economic health (including: unemployment, GDP growth, standard of living, inflation, and budget balances) of the country.
For this section, you will create 2 graphs, each showing your country and the US over the past 20 years.
Each graph should include a brief discussion of why it is relevant for the analysis conducted in part 3.
Choose 2 of the variables below and include separate graphs for each (either by downloading the data and plotting yourself or taking a screenshot of provided graphs):
GDP (per capita, which is the default option on the OECD site)
Government expenditure as a share of GDP
The budget balance as a share of GDP
National debt as a share of GDP
CO2 emissions
Inequality
Tax on personal income
Other if relevant to the event/article discussed in part 3.
Create graphs by finding the relevant variable, and changing the year slider on the data page. Select “none” in the “background” option so that the graph only shows the US and your country.
Find a news article from a reputable source such as The Economist, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc. that talks about the impact of a recent event of economic significance for your country. The article used must be less than a year old (published after April 21, 2021). Use the following questions as a guide, but write in essay format rather than bullets.
Briefly summarize the key points of the article – keep summary to a half page or less.
How severely impacted was your country by the event? Does the article give any indication?
Did the event impact the rest of the world or just your country? If the event impacted the US economy, how did outcomes differ in the U.S. verses the country being analyzed.
Does your article talk about any fiscal policy responses by your country? Do you see evidence of these policies in your graphs? How does any response compare to the US based on your graphs (and article, if applicable)?
Based on your graphs (and article, if applicable), do you think your country took a Keynesian or a Classical approach to dealing with the event discussed and why?
