This is a research paper. It MUST be analytical, not purely descriptive. Choose ANY product category such as housing, apparel or beef, or smartphones, etc. How narrow your product group will be will depend on data availability. YOUR PAPER MUST INCLUDE ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS.

1. Follow the sales, employment, and prices of your product directly before and throughout the pandemic and to the present. Use actual data. THERE IS NO REASON TO BUY DATA. PUBLIC INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, FREDERAL RESERVE ECONOMIC DATA (FREDFROM THE ST. LOUIS FED), AND OTHER GOVERNMENT SOURCES. ALSO FREE TRIALS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH SUCH SOURCES AS STATISTA. Discuss trends and any notable features of the data. Tables and/or graphs should be included.

2. USING THE CONCEPTS DEVELOPED IN CLASS analyze the performance of your product. Scarcity, opportunity cost, supply/ demand shifters, behavioral economics, theory of the firm including transactions cost, and consumer-choice theory are examples of the types of tools you should use. Analytical graphs might be helpful.

3. Project what might happen to your product in the future BASED ON YOUR ANALYSIS IN (2).

Proper citation methodology is MANDATORY. This includes in-text cites and a reference list. Proper writing structuresubheadingsis required.