Part 1

1. Real GDP
2. Unemployment rate
3. Inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Using the data links provided at the end of these guidelines, find and summarize national data (data for the U.S. economy) for the three macroeconomic indicators above, and explain their national trends from 2000 - 2021, using your own graphs, derived from the data collected from the following sources: a. Bureau of Economic Analysis b. Bureau of Labor Statistics c. National Bureau of Economic Research RGDP data http://www.bea.gov/Links to an external site. NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee page: http://www.nber.org/cycles/recessions.htmlLinks to an external site. Unemployment data http://www.bls.gov/cps/tables.htmLinks to an external site. Unemployment by state http://www.bls.gov/lau/Links to an external site. CPI data http://www.bls.gov/cpiLinks to an external site.

Part 2 In addition to the three nationwide macroeconomic indicators above, define, collect and summarize the following data, and explain their trends by using your own graphs, forthreeadditional economic indicators, applicable at the individual firm level:

1. Sales
2. Unemployment
3. Interest rate (for example: mortgage rate, prime interest rate, fed funds rate, discount rate, three-month treasury bill, 10 year treasury bond)
4. Housing starts
5. Foreign exchange rate
6. Producer Price Index (PPI)
7. Oil and fuel prices

Part 3

1. Compare and contrast the three nationwide indicators in part 1with three corresponding indicatorsin part 3. For the comparison to make sense, when you choose your indicators in part 3, consider how appropriate/suitable they are for comparison purposes to the indicators in part 3. For example, compare and contrast: 1) RGDP growth rate with the real sales growth rate (or NGDP growth rate with the sales growth rate) , 2) inflation rate at the U.S. economy level with (a) price changes in percentage (the growth rate of prices) at the company level, or (b) inflation rate at the industry level, or inflation rate using CPI with the inflation rate using PPI, and 3) unemployment rate at the national level versus unemployment rate at the industry level (either locally, regionally or nationally).