Prompt 1: Question: How well suited is the Eurozone for a uniform monetary policy? Possible data component: You might compare the frequency and timing of recessions in a number of EU countries, determining if the business cycles are synchronized, and if they appear to be becoming more synchronized over time. You may want to look at both core and periphery countries. [You can check fred indicators at eg: France (FRED code: FRAREC). IF you use these explain clearly what they are] Alternatively, you might estimate some simple Taylor rules (see approach in Topic 2) for individual countries and see how those deviate from the ECB policy rate.