The Fed Conquers Inflation: In the late 70s/early 80s, the Federal Reserve embarked upon a massive effort to substantially reduce inflation expectations in our economy through raising short-term interest rates dramatically. The economy collapsed into a deep recession, but the Fed was largely successful and the economy recovered while taxes were substantially cut. To get some idea of of how bad it got and how rapid the recovery was, please review some core statistics and compare them to our most recent 2008 recession: 1. Which was the worst week for unemployment claims and how high were the claims (back then as well as for the worst week for the recent recession)? 2. What were they 52 weeks after the peak (then and for the recent recession)? 3. How big was the labor force (then and in the recent recession)? (Pick the appropriate months that contain the worst week you selected in querstion 1). 4. Compare GDP for that quarter [the quarter(s) containing the worst week(s)] and the same quarter(s) five years later. What is the percentage growth? (not annual growth–calculate the total percentage increase) Web sources: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/ICSA?rid=180 http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CLF16OV http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/GDPC1 I would like your numerical analyses, comments and observations (short). If you wish to simplify, use Excel for all of it unless you really wish to expand on a particular point. I see twofold benefits to this assignment: A. Financial and other media repeatedly told us that the 2008 recession was the worst since the Great Depression (in the 1930s). Some even refer to 2008-2009 as “The Great Recession”). Feel freee to agree or disagree based on your analyses above (how severe do you think the “Great Recession of 2008 was compared to the recession in the early 1980s?) The key is that you form your own conclusion(s) based on your own research and fact gathering. B. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is a part of the Federal Reserve System and is a big promoter of quantitative analysis. It maintains the FRED database where it collects economic releases from many different sources and is one of the most convenient places to start any data search in our related field(s). Please click around and become familiar with it (and learn how to download data to Excel for your assignment and look at the graphs as well). There is also a mobile app available with charting capabilities which will give you a quick way to stay current on how things are going in the economy (and usually impress your boss…).
So, this paper should not be about Eggertson. It is about using the FRED database and some specific numbers (unemployment, labor force and gdp growth in the recovery phase) covering two recessions. Please write a one page paper using FRED database and some specific numbers (unemployment, labor force and gdp growth in the recovery phase) covering two recessions.