Mankiw simulation assignment: Due April 22 in email to econ124@gmail.com – discuss April 23 in class.
The Mankiw simulation
can be found at
http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/mankiw5/pages/bcs-main.asp?v=category&s=00070&n=98000&i=98070.01
In the simulation you adjust government expenditures, taxes and monetary growth. The goal is to keep the economy growing without inflation which will keep your administration in power.
The problem with the simulation is that it is hard to record your actions except by a screen shot. Another problem is that the economy always starts in a different situation.
You must take a picture of every year, showing the Detailed Economic Report, and your new Policies before you enact them and below that screen shot a description of why you think your policies will help the economy.
See below for a simple screen shooter for the PC.
Example:
An
increase in money demand will increase interest rates, slowing the
economy. My approval is low,
unemployment is high and growth is low.
I increase money growth (to offset the increase in money demand) and
lower taxes.
My
policies have worked. The news does
not affect the economy. I return to
the prior 2008 policies worrying about inflation.
I am
doing well but output growth slowed.
I increase government expenditures to try for more output growth and
lower unemployment.
I did
really well – unemployment is now 4.51%. But actual output is above 'natural'
output which may increase inflation.
I lower monetary growth and G – this should reduce the pressure on
inflation.
When the game ends, you must click on standings, shoot the screen, and then click on 'more' and shoot that screen to show your standings.
RESULTS
Screen shooters:
Snapit is a screen shooter. I like to run it, then
get something I want on the screen, press CTRL-SHFT-F12 (you may have to assign
a different key in XP), get the cursor to the top left, click and hold and go
to the bottom right, and release. Then Edit Copy and paste it into word. Other
people like shift print screen but they you get the hole
screen rather than just the rectangle.
You can get snapit.zip and unzip it to your disk. You can also unzip it to a flash drive. If you choose your hard disk, I strongly suggest using C:\snapit or c:\Programs\snapit
snapit.zip snap32.exe snap32.hlp readme.txt register.exe register.hlp
For you smart MAC users, see http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/screencapturemac/ht/macscreenshot.htm which I have not tested. It shows how to 'shoot' the WHOLE screen.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/sitesearch.htm?TopNode=99&SUName=graphicssoft&terms=mac%20screenshots may have software programs like snapit which allow you to capture a rectangle.
Mac users please help Mac users.