In Lecture 10, you learned all about the Phillips curve. The relationship between inflation and unemployment (or output) is a key relationship to be included in any economic model, so Phillips' astute observation leading to the discovery of the empirical relationship between the two variables is a great contribution to macroeconomics. What we did not have time to cover in class is the fascinating personal story of Bill Phillips. So that is the topic for this macro cafe discussion.

Please read the article from Economica titled "Man, Money, and Machinese: The Contributions of A. W. Phillips." (Can be found in Week 7 Mon folder).

To see a video of the amazing MONIAC machine Phillips built, you can check out the Youtube video produced by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAZavOcEnLg

Initial Post

In your initial post, share your thoughts on the personal history of A. W. Phillips. What is most striking to you about Phillips' background? Is there another person (famous economist or otherwise) that you know of who also had a surprising back story that you would like to share?

Also, comment on the MONIAC machine Phillips built. If you can design a machine to represent an economic relationship or theory that you have learned, which theory would it be? What would the machine look like? The sky's the limit here :)

Your initial post should be between 100 to 400 words in length. This discussion forum is "post-first," meaning that you will need to submit your initial post before you can view and respond to the posts from your classmates.