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The Case of the Great Recession

Aggregates - Business Cycles

Introduction

A long long time ago, in a land not so far away, came a housing crisis to crush the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans. It was called the Great Recession. It happened just before Barack Obama became President of the USA, and forced him to bail out several banks, and to buy General Motors so as to avoid its bankruptcy.

Great Recession Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM0uonkloXY

Description 

Using the following links from US data sources (FRED - St-Louis Federal Reserve),  identify the start and length of the US recession using the three main macroeconomic aggregate indicators.

Real GDP
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPC1 

CPI
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPALTT01USM657N 

Unemployment Rate
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE 

Evaluation Criteria 

Your solution will be graded using the following expectations.

  • The answers are explained concisely
  • The answers cover the issues of output
  • The answers cover the issues of inflation
  • The answers cover the issues of unemployment

Guidelines

Your solution should be written up as a 250 word text, using at least three paragraphs to cover the three sets of issues.

The text should be focussed on the period 2007-2009, but also compare with other recessions.

Deliverables

Submit a 250 word solution on the Innovatank Case Platform.

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