Final Project Video

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Transcript

Hi, this is Jim Lacey, and want to share some ideas about the final project.

Underneath the monetary or financial layer of an economy, we have the real economy, where we examine issues like health and well being, and possible means for improvement.

Economists can often suggest policies that address these issues, not driven by politics, but by finding solutions to actual problems.

If we sort the US into Red and Blue states, as Paul Krugman points out in his article, we find economic divergence with respect to productivity, income, and education, particularly over the past 20 to 30 years.

My own personal view is that the Blue states tend to reflect 21st century economies, the Red states not so much. So in a Blue state like Massachusetts, we make robots and computer vision systems, and develop cures for cancers, but don't have coal mines or steel mills.

But what is really really shocking to me is the increased death rates among people in midlife, ages 25-to-64, especially in the Red States, as explained by Professor Krugman. In an advanced economy, like the US, we should expect to have ever increasing life expectancy, and lower mortality rates for children, midlife adults, and older people. If or when that is not happening, that's a signal for economists to investigate the specifics, and propose targeted countermeasures.

Thus your assignment is to propose a set of policies and proposals to a Red State senator, based on the assumption that because the death rate is worse in the Red States, we would hope or expect a Red State politician to champion possible ways to address the problem. And because the problem affects many states -- both Red and some Blue as well -- national-level interventions would be in order.

As a reminder, the hard deadline for the final project is Monday, January 27.