Economics Research Paper #1--                             

    Examining Economic Theories                               Assigned:  10 March 2008

                                                                                                 Due:  2/3 April 2008

General Information:

1. This assignment is meant to provide you with a chance to do an in depth examination of an economic theory.  Your work should reflect the abilities of a senior in high school

2. The rules of written English apply to this assignment.

3. Plagiarism//paraphrasing are not acceptable.  You must give credit to your sources of information through parenthetical notation.

4. Encyclopedias are not valid sources for a paper of this type.

5. Be sure the language you use in your work is language you are able to understand and explain.

6. Papers are to be typed, double spaced, 3 pages in length.  Title page and Works Cited page should be separate.

7. Paper was assigned on 10 March 2008.  Paper is due on  2/3 April 2008.  I will collect the papers on that day.

8. There will be a presentation of your research, to the class, included in my assessment of your work.  Order of presentation will be chronological.  You must have a list of key terms separate from your paper that others can look at while you explain the theory. 

This must be on a poster sized sheet along with some visuals that will help us learn about the theory.

9. Collaboration on research is good; papers must be done individually.

10. Your work must deal with these elements:

            -when was the theory devised?

            -to whom is the theory attributed?

            -what conditions led to the creation of the theory?

            -what are the key points of the theory-- how does it (or is it supposed to) work?

            -are there flaws in the theory?

-your assessment-- does the theory "hold water?"  do elements of the theory still operate today?  are there elements of the theory which might help solve or understand some of the economic problems we face today?

over

You may choose one of the theories listed, or another you have heard of through family, the news, etc.  You must clear your topic with me.  Topic choice is due, well, now.  No more than three people will deal with any particular topic, so have a few backup choices.

There is a work entitled The Worldly Philosophers that is very useful for this assignment.  There are limited copies, so you may only check them out overnight.  Many other sources are reference books, so they cannot be removed from the library. Plan you time carefully.

Topic List

Thomas Malthus—diminishing returns, checks on population

Adam Smith—competitive markets, absolute advantage, laws of the marketplace

David Ricardo—iron law of wages, comparative advantage

Jeremy Bentham—utilitarian socialism

Robert Owen—Utopian socialism

Charles Fourier—Utopian Socialism

Karl Marx—Marxist Socialism

Herbert Spencer—Social Darwinism

Thorstein Veblen—Theory of the Leisure Class/conspicuous consumption

John Maynard Keynes—Deficit Spending

The Business Cycle—1920’s-1940; the present

Walt Rostow—stages of growth

Affirmative Action—JFK, LBJ, supreme court decisions

Supply Side/Reaganomics—the 1970’s, 1980’s

Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke-- monetarism

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