ECO 306 Project One Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

Your first project for this course is to create an informative presentation. The presentation will analyze how U.S. interest rates behaved during a 10- to 15-year period in the last 50 years. Through your research, you will examine economic trends and risks and the impact of monetary policy on interest rates.

This presentation will help you understand interest rate behavior. By analyzing a sufficient period of time, you will identify trends and changes in interest rates and witness the impact that key economic events have on interest rate determination. In doing this project, you will develop an appreciation for the relationship between policy targets and market factors that impact economic activity. The final product will be submitted in Module Three.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Explain the determinants and behavior of interest rates as they relate to markets
• Analyze the relationship between monetary policy and the economy for informing responsible business decision making

Directions

Suppose while in the pursuit of your business degree at SNHU, you opt to gain some practical experience and take on an internship as a business analyst for a major company. In this role, you need to complete a research project that demonstrates the relationship between business risks (such as geopolitical, economic, climate, and so forth) and interest rates (in other words, the cost of borrowing to finance capital expenditure). The senior management will use this information to make informed business decisions to meet their growth targets. In completing this project, you will present your findings to senior management.

For this project, create a PowerPoint presentation of 8-10 slides. Analyze U.S. interest rate behavior over a 10- to 15-year period during the last 50 years. You will access information in the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED) and create a presentation that includes speaker notes and visual representations of your findings.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Overview: Define the specific interest rates and time period that you are analyzing, and explain why you chose them.
2. Interest Rates
   1. Explain interest rate trends over the time period and whether they have been high or low by historical standards.
   2. Using FRED tools, visually illustrate changes in interest rates during the time period.
   3. Describe economic risk factors that have impacted interest rates in the time period and what kind of impact they had. Consider bankruptcies, financial crises, geopolitical factors, and so on.
   4. Describe underlying economic conditionsthat impacted the activity of these interest rates during the time period.
3. Monetary Policy
   1. Discuss the impact of interest rate changes on general business decision making. Consider expanding or contracting operations, deciding to undertake or postpone additions of capital (in other words, increasing productive capabilities), or increasing or decreasing inventories.
   2. Explain the causal relationship between the federal funds rate and market rates of interest.
   3. Using your analysis of interest rates during the time period as a guide, explain the internal and external impacts on the economy.