Ch14-HW

1) The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a very important organization. One of its responsibilities is to declare the official business cycle dates for the United States.

A) When was the most recent recession? How long did it last?

B) How long did the longest recession last? How long did the longest expansion last?

C) What are the beginning and end dates of the longest post-World War II business cycle? What about the shortest?

2) Using a chart for fictional quarterly data in Recession2.XLS, try to identify the recessionary periods between 1988 and 2006.

3) Assume the US is at potential GDP. Saudi Arabia suddenly floods the market with oil. Using an aggregate supply and demand diagram, illustrate the short run and long run effects of this action (on US GDP and the price level of the economy).

4) A) Why is aggregate supply positively sloped?

B) Why is aggregate demand negatively sloped?