During the semester I have assigned eight discussion assignments covering real world economic issues. The first four assignments are assigned here in Module 1 and the remaining assignments are assigned in the Module containing the final exam.

This assignment requires you to read and discuss the article “Bar Stool Economics” How_tax_cuts_work.doc). I expect you to discuss your thoughts, agreements, disagreements, questions, etc. for this and the remaining assignments. I am not looking for a specific length, rather an intelligent discussion of the material.

The only requirement is for you to post as described above, you are not required to respond to anyone’s post. However, the idea is to discuss these topics as a group – therefore, responding to posts of others is encouraged.

Assignments 2-8 are video based discussion assignments. Each of these assignments requires you to watch and discuss the video linked in header of each discussion board. Videos relate real world economic issues. Assignments 2-7 are based on a series of lectures by Nobel price winning economist Milton Friedman. The lecture series is titled – “Free to Choose.” Please note that these lectures were originally done during the 1970s with the original video format in 1980. Some of the videos were updated in 1990. Although the videos are a little dated, the content of the videos is as important today as in the 1970s. The final video – for assignment 8 – offers an economics based discussion of globalization and is much newer than the other videos.

Topic #2 – The Power of the Market