How is the U.S. economy doing? Is the growth rate adequate? What do you think are the causes of the current state of the economy? What do the key economic variables, unemployment, inflation, real GDP and income distribution indicate about the business cycle? Does the United States invest enough in the key factors that create long run economic growth? How does the US investment in these factors compare to other countries? What role do financial markets and institutions play in U.S. economic growth? Is GDP per capita a good measure of a country's standard of living and well being? (Listen to Dubner, S. J. (2011, March 18). Freakonomics Radio: The Health of Nations. (Transcript available)