| ECONOMICS aSSIGNMENTS |
| Useful websites: Websites for Financial Planning: Standards & Poors personal finance site FinanCenter Motley Fool CNN Financial News Quicken U.S. Federal Reserve System Consumer Price Index & Inflation data www.stls.frb.org/fred/data/cupdate.html Calculators for the time-value of money www.moneyadvisor.com/calc Money Magazine Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine Business Week Magazine Worth Magazine Smart Money Magazine The Wall Street Journal Websites for Money Management and Budgeting: Goal-setting Tips Budgeting Information www.americanexpress.com/student National Center for Financial Education Savings Information Websites for Banking Services: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation U.S. Savings Bonds Federal Reserve System Online Banking Information Credit Union Information American Bankers Association Current Value of U.S. Savings Bonds Use the: 1. Internet, 2. above sites and the textbooks, 3. Personal Financial Planning by: Kapoor, Dlabay, and Hughes Sixth Edition (www.mhhe.com/kdh6e) and 4. Economics: Principles and Tools by Arthur O'Sullivan and Steven M. Shefferin to complete the Economics assignments. Requirements: To complete the assignments you are going to have to submit more than a few sentence answer. Each answer must be thorough and in depth. You must show a complete understanding of the question and topic. Use examples and current on-going issues to illustrate your mastery of the topics. All answers must be submitted via email or as a hard copy no later than Sunday by 11:59pm. Assignments: Personal financial planning is the process of managing your money to achieve personal economic satisfaction. This planning process allows you to control your financial situation. Economics is the study of choices made by people who are faced with scarcity. Scarcity is a situation in which resources are limited and can be used in different ways, so one must sacrifice one thing for another. Assignment 1: Week of September 25, 2006 1. Why does the unemployment rate vary from year to year? 2. How does one decide which goods and services are produced? 3. What are the five factors of production? And give examples of each. Assignment 2: Week of October 2, 2006 1. Using time value of money calculation, compute the following: (Use the table in Appendix A in the Personal Finance textbook) a. At 12%. What would be the value of the $22,000 education funds in three years? b. If the cost of long-term care is increasing at 7% a year, what will be the approximate monthly cost for a person eight years from now? c. Fran and Ed plan to deposit $1500 a year to their retirement fund for 35 years. If they earn an average annual return of 9%, what will be the value f their retirement fund in 35 years? Assignment 3: Week of October 9, 2006 1. Define Microeconomics and use a minimum of 5 examples to explain the concept. 2. How do environmental regulations affect the price of gasoline? 3. Should the government prevent the merger of two large firms? Assignment 4: Week of October 16, 2006 1. How does gender discrimination affect the wages of men and women? 2. Define Macroeconomics and use a minimum of five example to illustrate the concept. 3. What causes unemployment? Test over the above assignments 1 - 4 on October 22, 2006. Assignment 5: Week of October 23, 2006 1. What are some common personal financial mistakes people make? 2. How does goal-setting help a person to achieve long-term financial security? 3. What factors influence the level of interest rates? Assignment 6: Week of October 30, 2006 1. Why do some countries grow much faster than others? 2. Why does the United States seem to have a trade deficit (buying more from abroad than we sell) every year? 3. Which nation has the highest standard of living, and why? Assignment 7: Week of November 6, 2006 1. Why are interest rates higher in some countries than in others? 2. What actions need to be taken to reduce our trade deficits? 3. What is the purpose of a financial plan? Assignment 8: Week of November 13, 2006 1. Identify some common actions taken to achieve financial goals. 2. How does a job differ from a career? 3. How would a ban on shoe imports affect the price of shoes? Assignment 9: Week of November 20, 2006 This is a short week so you will only have one question. Calculating Future Value of Property. Ben Collins plans to buy a house for $200,000. If that real estate is expected to increase in value by 10% each year, what will its approximate value be in seven years from now? Test over Assignments 5 - 9 on November 26, 2006. Assignment 10: Week of November 27, 2006 1. A family spends $32,000 a year for living expenses. If prices increase by 4% a year over the next three years, what amount will the family need for their living expenses after three years? Assignment 11: Week December 4, 2006 1. What are the current unemployment rate in the United States? 2. What are the current unemployment rate in Georgia? 3. Which state has the highest unemployment rate? Assignment 12: Week of December 11, 2006 1. Should the President and Congress take action to reduce the unemployment rate in the United States? 2. What is "the principle of opportunity cost"? 3. Using the Economics textbook, Define principle and give three examples of the term. Assignment 13: Week of December 18, 2006 1. Using the Economics textbook, define fixed costs. 2. Using the Economics textbook, define Variable costs. 3. What is the difference between the two and what determines that difference? Assignment 14: Week of December 25, 2006 1. Using the Economics textbook, define explicit costs. 2. Using the Economics textbook, define implicit costs. 3. Compare and contrast the two terms. Test over Assignments 10 - 14 on January 2, 2007 |