ECON1110 - In-The-News Assignment # 1

Assignment Description

Put your name on the front page of the submitted assignment.

This assignment is a test of the student's ability to understand and explain typical economic concepts we find in our everyday life, viz., in our daily world outside of textbooks. Student submissions should be presented in a professional-looking, formal format.

This first In-The-News assignment has two parts: i) topic A, and ii) topic B. Students are required to complete each part using the [not necessarily all] assigned articles, the course textbook where helpful, and any other optional or supplementary material of the student's choosing.

Topic A

The topic is straight forward: describe the trends in the labour force participation rate in Canada and the US since the end of WWII until today, and explain the factors behind those trends. Students wanting more specifics to focus on might consider the following items.

• Define the labour force participation rate (LFPR). [What is the formula for it?]
• Look at the long-term charts for the LFPR in Canada and the US.
• In both countries, what factors account for the large increase in the overall LFPR from around the end of WWII until the early 2000s?
• In both countries, for the above time period, what accounts for the different LFPR trends for men and women?
• In both countries, what factors account for the gradual decline in the overall LFPR from around the turn of the century until today?
• In both countries, what factors account for the large, temporary, downward blip in the LFPR in early 2020?
• Since the large, downward blip in the LFPR in early 2020, the LFPR in the US has not yet recovered as much as it has in Canada. Why is this?

Resources

1. Canada Labor Force Participation Rate, Trading Economics
2. United States Labor Force Participation Rate, Trading Economics
3. Staff Pick: The Labor Force Participation Rate, Explained; Kaitlyn Hoevelmann, Federal Reserve Bank
4. Labour Force Participation: A Comparison of the United States and Canada, Bank of Canada
5. The Canadian Labour Market: Beyond the Pandemic, Adecco
6. Where Are All the U.S. Workers?, James Marple, TD Economics

Topic B

Ch. 3 talks about economic growth. Interrelated with the concept of economic growth is a notorious feature of capitalism - its creative destructiveness.

What is this thing called "creative destruction" that characterizes capitalism? From what does it originate? What are its positive aspects? What are its downsides?

When we look about the world around us, we see seemingly endless examples of new industries based on, or old industries adopting, new technology upon which capitalism's creative destructiveness is commonly based; pick an industry - practically any industry: retail, entertainment, manufacturing, electricity generation and storage, transportation, medicine, etc. Pick a few examples of economics' creative destructiveness from near or distant past and profile them. Then, pick and profile a few instances of what appears to you to be examples of current, economic, creative destructiveness, "new" technology, or industry, and profile its current, or anticipated future, impact on our economy and society. Who are apt to be "the winners", and who are apt to be "the losers"?

Resources

1. Creative Destruction, Michael Cox and Richard Alm, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
2. The real long-term threat to American jobs is tech, not trade deals, John F. Delaney, MarketWatch, Jan 31, 2017
3. All Jobs Are at Risk, Thomas G. Donlan, Barrons, December 24, 2016
4. Creative Destruction in the Rubber Industry, John Steele Gordon, Barrons, November 19, 2016
5. The Robots Are Coming.Prepare for Trouble. January 30, 2020
6. Creative Destruction - The Best Game in Town, Robert Higgs, Mises Institute, August 29, 2013
7. Capitalism, Socialism, & Democracy, Joseph A. Schumpeter, Ch. VII, The Process of Creative Destruction
8. Disruptive Innovation, Clayton Christensen; article and short video