Job, Jobs, Jobs and Tax Cuts
Length: 1-3 Hours
Discipline: Economics
Level: Introductory (non-majors)
Author: Long, Terry
From late 2000 to May 2003m the US economy lost almost three million jobs. The unemployment rate that May was six percent, or 8.8 million unemployed workers, and was an eight year high. The problem of job loss/creation is presented in two stages as excerpts from newspaper articles. The first stage outlines the problem, presents policy options, and asks informational questions. The second stage presents the policies implemented and forecasts about the policies’ effectiveness, then asks the students to identify what they already know and what they still need to learn to assess the effectiveness of tax cuts vs. unemployment compensation for job creation. Assessment of the student’s learning requires the student submit a paper supporting his/her decision on the effectiveness of the policies and his/her concurrence with the forecast.