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Shutdown Decisions – The Role of Variable and Fixed Costs part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
Students will discuss full and partial shutdown decisions in a context of a small business (bagel shop) which, with the advent of cold weather, considers closing its patio, keeping it open and putting up heating ...

Smoke and Nicotine in New York – Social Surplus, Taxation, and Consumer Migration to Substitutes part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
Students will examine the effect of a tax increase in a market with negative externalities in the context of the New York City tobacco and e-cigarette market. The exercise offers a more challenging setting than ...

Big Players in a Small Market – Pure and Mixed-Strategy Nash Equilibria in Stylized Market Participation Decisions part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
In the context of an oligopolistic entry game, students will translate a word problem into game theoretic notation and will then examine how changes to the payoff structure changes the Nash equilibria in a game. ...

Location Choice for a Small Business – Recognizing Market Structures and Their Implications for Firm Behavior part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
Students will discuss the location choice of a small business and how this choice determines the market structures in which the business would have to operate. Students will discuss how a profit-maximizing firm ...

Keeping Each Other in Check – Oligopolists' Strategic Interaction part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
Students will examine the behavior of two large oligopolists, deciding on which factors serve as the biggest deterrents to the firms' collusion. The main factor preventing collusion is the temptation to ...

How do we measure the economy? part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
This activity teaches students how to use FRED to collect data and create graphs. It also allows students to go beyond definitions of the major macroeconomic indicators (GDP, Unemployment Rate, and Inflation Rate) ...

How do imports affect GDP? part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
Imports are perhaps the most misunderstood portion of the GDP identity (Y=C+I+G+NX). This exercise uses real data to have students explore this issue and learn the nuance behind the numbers.

Is the Change in Inflation Good or Bad? part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
It is commonly misunderstood how inflation affects the everyday lives of people. Students generally know that inflation means prices are rising, but this exercise makes them go deeper into which specific sectors ...

Does the federal budget deficit matter? part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
This exercise helps students think critically about the budget deficit. A budget deficit is not necessarily bad or good; it depends on other economic factors such as the growth rate, interest rates, etc.

Assessing Changes in the Labor Market part of Teaching Methods:Team-Based Learning:Activities
This exercise allows students to collect real data on a topic that is usually one of the most popular in a Macroeconomics course -- the labor market! Students will go beyond rote calculation and definitions to ...