Econ maps

Assignment – Maps – Econ 120 and 121

Look over the maps under the “Maps” link on Blackboard. It is divided into sections, and each section has multiple links to maps/graphics. Choose two maps/graphics – and please don’t choose more than one from any one section. For each of the two maps/graphics complete the following:

1. Reserve them in your group. You cannot write about a map or graphic another student has written about.

2. Describe the map or graphic and include the link (one to two paragraphs).

3. Tell why it caught your attention (one paragraph).

4. Relate it back to the textbook. Specify the Chapter and section, and find at least two separate sections it relates (the section must be different – and letters do not designate separate sections) . For each map/graphic use different book references (so you will need four separate book references total).

More information needed for this assignment:

1. Even though spacing can be tricky, put your completed assignment post right in the discussion board, rather than submitting as an attachment. If breaks aren’t showing, double space between paragraphs and that should fix the problem.

2. Complete 2) through 4) above separately for each of the two maps/graphics – do not describe both graphics together.

3. Be sure to number your post 2) through 4) as well (you’ll be doing that twice). All of the Assignments should be numbered rather than essay style.

4. Number your peer review the same way (for this and all Assignments).

5. If a map or graphic elicits an emotional response (and many of them are meant to), be careful with your post and don’t make it normative. But you can discuss issues in terms of costs and benefits, if you have general facts to back it up. For example, if I was looking at a map of income distribution in Country Y, and it showed a large disparity that upset me; rather than saying “incomes should be more equal”; I would say “the costs of a large disparity in income, according to information I found in …. are social unrest, increase in disease, etc…”

View Map - Minimum wage

Here you can find the inflation-adjusted minimum wage amount since it's inception:
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/minimum-wage-since-1938/?iid=SF_LN
Let's go a little further.  Check out the comparison in this article to other wages and to productivity:
http://www.marketplace.org/2016/07/25/business/after-seven-years-minimum-wage-worth-lot-less

The affects of raising the minimum wage are widely studied, and here is a very thorough report of a recent proposal, conducted by the Congressional Budget Office:
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44995

Look over maps - trade
Students sometimes wonder what different countries we have a trade deficit and surplus with. This interactive graph shows over time our status with our largest trading partners. Run through it once just glancing, then pick a country (such as China) and keep your eye on it while running through it again. Finally - just look at the latest data thoroughly.  The green countries are those with which we have a trade surplus, the pink shows trade deficits:  http://www.brightpointinc.com/interactive/ustrade/
Another fascinating map is to see who we have trade disputes with and what they are about.  There are lots of ways to look at this data.  Go to
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_maps_e.htm?country_selected=none&sense=e
And this one has a plethora of information on it about exports and imports from different countries:
http://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore/tree_map/export/usa/all/show/2005/

View maps - inflation
This isn't just any pie chart... it's got some very interesting factoids (hover over gasoline, for example). Take a look at:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05/03/business/20080403_SPENDING_GRAPHIC.html

Here are inflation rates worldwide:

http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PCPIPCH@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD

View maps - unemployment
To start with, take a look at when our country's jobs were disappearing!  Be sure to push "play"
http://www.latoyaegwuekwe.com/geographyofarecession.html
And you have learned that the unemployment rate may be understated if people actually drop out of the labor force.  Did they do that in the recent downturn?  Might the unemployment numbers then have shown lower than they "really" were?  Check out the changes in the labor force participation rate at
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
A fascinating group (large group) of photo's from the great depression  have recently been released.  Note that this one won't count for the maps Assignment, but it's still very telling to flip through the first few of these (and be sure to read the writing below each photo).
http://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/economy/2015/10/19/great-depression-170000-photos-yale/index.html

View Maps - GDP
First let's see what countries have the highest GDP.  The IMF Data mapper (link below) shows a lot of different ways to look at the GDP:
http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/index.php
Next, you might want to compare blocks of countries:
http://snippets.com/what-is-the-gdp-per-capita-for-every-country.htm
Click on the link below to discover some unique methods of comparing the GDP in the US to that of other countries. http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/01/us_equivalents
And here's an interesting graphic that compares state's contributions to overall GDP.   There is a saying among merchants:  As California goes, so goes the rest of the country", meaning many things, but relevant to this graphic meaning that they often have to plan production for what California wants as it is their biggest market.
https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/09/how-much-does-each-state-contribute-to-the-us-economy/

Look over maps - Economic Growth
The world bank has a lot of information on conditions related to growth.  Take a look around this website:

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator#topic-3
What's going on in the U.S. with our recovery?  How can we be growing and still have a high unemployment rate?  This graphic ends in 2011 with some predictions about future growth needed.   Have we met those?  Check out the other map on this section to help answer that.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/the-output-gap/index.html

View Maps - Fiscal Policy and Pork
An interesting thing about the government spending portion of fiscal policy is that "not all government expenditures are created equally". Any economist can tell you (and by now you probably know also) that the spending that would be most useful would be that, first of all is directed to increasing capital (remember that capital does not mean money in economics ); and second - geared to the purchase or building of the most productive capital - or that which will be then able to produce the most goods and services.
The biggest stimulus package of both my and your lifetimes was almost $790B, authorized by Pres. Obama in response to the great recession.   Click through this website and see what it was spent on.   Which category, if any, would you consider capital?
http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-stimulus-spending-2010-9
Also, you now know the difference between discretionary spending and entitlement spending, and the military is  a large and sometimes controversial part of discretionary spending.    Below is a set of maps and information on worldwide military spending.
http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/75

Look over maps - debt and deficit
This map shows the U.S. historical deficit in absolute values and also as a percent of GDP. The percent map is most helpful in getting a historical perspective. It also has many other maps of economic interest you can select.
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_deficit_chart.html

View Graphics - The Financial Systemand the Fed
During the last financial crisis - in spite of the fact it was caused in part by banks being too large and inter-related, banks consolidated even more.  This occurred as the Fed worked to find solvent banks to buy out failing banks.    The term "too big to fail" became widely know then, with the sentiment that being too big to fail was a dangerous thing for an economy.   But take a look now!
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-banking-oligopoly-in-one-chart/
For some information on interest rates, click on a date before the crisis and compare it to today.   It also would be interesting to see what happened to rates as we lead up to October 16, 2013 and the impending bump-up against the debt ceiling.
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/Historic-Yield-Data-Visualization.aspx
 

Look over map - Economic Systems and Taxes
Below are some comparisons of marginal tax rates (the rate paid on your highest level of income):
http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2011/04/14/top-marginal-tax-rates-1916-2010 (be sure to read the information below the graphic)
We can see that the top bracket is very low by historical standards, but that is not the whole story.   If you click on the link below you see how many tax brackets there are each year; the more there are, the less people affected by the top rate.  Look at the brackets for 1960 as a comparison.
http://taxfoundation.org/article/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2013-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets
CNN Money has some great comparisions with other countries:
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/pf/taxes/income-tax-rates/?iid=EL
And you might be surprised at how different the state income taxes are in different states.
http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-individual-income-tax-rates-and-brackets-2015
Finally - just look at how tax burden differs in different locations around our counrty:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/21/pf/taxes/same-income-different-tax-bills

View Graphics and Information - Economic Indicators
This graphic is a one-stop shop for many of the economic indicators discussed in your textbook.  See all the options on the right hand side for bar charts which give historical references.  Access it at:
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/indicators
And here's one that gives you and idea of just how many indicators there are every week.  This one also gives the latest and the predicted, which is interesting. Scroll to the bottom to see last week's.  Choose one you don't recognize and do a search to find out what it is.
http://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/calendars/economic?link=MW_Nav_EP
If you'd like to see some state-by-state comparisons of some of the indicators, go to

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/multimedia/data-visualizations/2014/fiscal-50#ind1

Exchange rate and Purchasing Power Parity Graphics
it's interesting to see how exchange rates fluctuate.  This website can show you today's or give you historical graphics.   Why don't you see what happened to the Great Britian Pound after they voted to leave the European Union?   That was June 23, 2016.
http://www.xe.com/
Read the section in your book on PPP and then check out the "Big Mac Index".
http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index
After you've looked at that, take a look at this graphic, which shows the actual PPP, as well as a lot of other interesting information.
https://knoema.com/sijweyg/gdp-per-capita-ranking-2016-data-and-charts