Economics Homework Help

Purpose

           You will need to be able to critically evaluate economic arguments and convey your reasoning to a general audience in writing. This writing assignment will help you develop these skills. You will need to demonstrate your ability to apply economic concepts and tools to different, more open-ended contexts. This will also help you develop your ability to apply and to view events through the lens of economics.

The critical examination involves a few steps. First, translating a written argument into a form that can be analyzed using tools you have learned in class. The next step is to use these tools to critically examine the argument being made. The analysis involves doing more than merely paraphrasing the textbook, class notes, or using jargon. It involves things like identifying which model/tool is appropriate for this context, checking to see if the assumptions required are satisfied, identifying any changes in circumstances, and working through the predictions, etc. You need to be able to compare your analysis with the author’s arguments and be able to articulate any differences or similarities in a precise manner. The final step is translating all of this back into clear language that readers can easily understand.

Task

There will be two writing assignments in this course to give you practice and opportunities to get feedback on your writing. This is an individual writing assignment.

For this writing assignment, you will be given an economic podcast and will be asked to critically evaluate it.  You will be graded on the quality and thoroughness of your analysis.  Therefore, you will also be graded on the clarity, flow, and overall cohesiveness of the writing in your paper.

Podcast:

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/doughnut-economics/ (Links to an external site.)

Prompt

In the podcast, economist Kate Raworth introduces a new economic framework called the “Doughnut model.” She argues, “the blind pursuit of economic growth leaves out too many people and puts too much strain on the planet’s resources,” which runs counter to our understanding of traditional economic thinking. Imagine you are an economist and the President of the United States asks you to critically analyze the “Doughnut model.” Based on your analysis, you are to make a recommendation to the President.