WH II Honors: 7 January 2010

Prayer (alphabetical):

Current Events:

A sound suggestion by several students yesterday related to the Constitutional questions about the Health Bill currently proposed. The following resources present a number of pro- and anti- arguments for review.

Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah told CNSNews.com in November 2009 that forcing people to buy health insurance cannot be justified under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.

“But here would be the first time where our government would demand that people buy something that they may or may not want,” Hatch told CNSNews.com. “And, you know, if that’s the case, then we didn’t need a ‘Cash for Clunkers,’ all we had to do is have the federal government say you all got to buy new cars, no matter how tough it is on you. You know, they could require you to buy anything. And that isn’t America. That’s not freedom. That’s not constitutionally sound. Now, there may be some gimmicky way that they can do this, but I can’t think of a gimmicky way that would be constitutionally justified.”

On the other hand, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs stated in November 2009 that he does not know if White House lawyers have reviewed whether it is constitutional for the federal government to order individuals to buy health insurance. On Wednesday, the White House responded to 13 State Attorney Generals: No 'Legitimate Constitutional Concerns' in Senate Health Care Bill.

Nancy Pelosi was asked if health care is covered in the Constitution. She responded: "Are you serious?"

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said that she would leave it to "constitutional lawyers" to explain where Congress gets the constitutional power to require that Americans buy health insurance from the Federal government.

There is a summary of the issue considering the Founding Fathers on health care as well.

Protester Delays Senate Committee Opening, CSPAN May 05, 2009

Max Baucus, D-MT, "We need more police."

Is Government-Run Health Care Constitutional?

Tim Lynch (CATO Institute) and Jay Sekulow (American Center for Law and Justice) discuss the constitutionality of federal health care programs with Judge Andrew Napolitano.

Or, for another historical perspective, some may entertain the thoughts of Ronald Reagan on Universal Healthcare.

Per our class procedure, a Shanawiki page Ch. 12 Sec. 4 has been posted, and now as listed on our class calender, a Quiz is scheduled for Friday. This is a ten Question, fill-in type of Quiz, similar to the last Quiz.

Ch. 12 Sec. 4 Culture: Romanticism and Realism

Checkpoint

How did romantic writers, musicians, and artists respond to the Enlightenment?

Learn

Focus Question

What artistic movements emerged in reaction to the Industrial Revolution?

Audio

William Wordsworth, along with William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley among others, was part of a cultural movement called romanticism. From about 1750 to 1850, romanticism shaped Western literature and arts.

Reading Check, p. 389

Examining

How did the popularity of Ivanhoe reflect the interests of the nineteenth century?

A New Age of Science
British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough presents his views on Charles Darwin, natural selection, and how the Bible conflicts with Darwin's views of the natural world in an exclusive interview for Nature Video, 4:27.

In addition, to celebrate Darwin's bicentenary Darwin 200 in Nature is also providing selected content free online, including continuously updated news, research and analysis on Darwin's life, his science and his legacy.



Baba Brinkman performs "Natural Selection" from "The Rap Guide to Evolution" at the launch party of the Cambridge Darwin Festival, Cambridge Botanic Gardens, July 5 2009, 3:30.

This video shows results from a research project involving simulated Darwinian evolutions of virtual block creatures. A population of several hundred creatures is created within a supercomputer, and each creature is tested for their ability to perform a given task, such the ability to swim in a simulated water environment. Those that are most successful survive, and their virtual genes containing coded instructions for their growth, are copied, combined, and mutated to make offspring for a new population. The new creatures are again tested, and some may be improvements on their parents. As this cycle of variation and selection continues, creatures with more and more successful behaviors can emerge.

The creatures shown are results from many independent simulations in which they were selected for swimming, walking, jumping, following, and competing for control of a green cube.

A similar experiment in musical evolution has been tried with Darwin Tunes by professors at the Imperial College, London. You can participate and let the organizers know what you think of the evolving music. As they state:

The organic world – animals, plants, viruses – is the product of Darwinian evolution by natural selection. Natural selection expresses the idea that organisms (more accurately their genes) vary and that variability has consequences. Some variants are bad and go extinct; others are good and do exceptionally well. This process, repeated for two billion years, has given us the splendours of life on earth.

It has also given us the splendours of human culture. This may seem like a bold claim, but it is self-evidently true. People copy cultural artefacts – words, songs, images, ideas – all the time from other people. Copying is imperfect: there is "mutation". Some cultural mutants do better than others: most die but some are immensely successful; they catch on; they become hits. This process, repeated for fifty thousand years, has given us all that we make, say and do; it is the process of "cultural evolution".

However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. For example, how important is human creative input compared to audience selection? Is progress smooth and continuous or step-like? We set up DarwinTunes as a test-bed for the evolution of music, the oldest and most widespread form of culture; and, thanks to your participation, these questions will soon be answered.

DarwinTunes: a test-tube for cultural evolution

One of the most important scientific thinkers of our day is Richard Dawkins. Dawkins explains his thoughts on Charles Darwin and Natural Selection.



Reading Check, p. 390

Describing

How did Darwin's theory of natural selection influence the way in which people viewed the world?

Realism
The Call to Realism: Audio

By the mid-1800s, a new artistic movement, realism, took hold in the West. Realism was an attempt to represent the world as it was, without the sentiment associated with romanticism. Realists often focused their work on the harsh side of life in cities or villages. Many writers and artists were committed to improving the lot of the unfortunates whose lives they depicted.

Novels Depict Grim Reality

The English novelist Charles Dickens vividly portrayed the lives of slum dwellers and factory workers, including children. In Oliver Twist, Dickens tells the story of a nine-year-old orphan raised in a grim poorhouse. In response to a request for more food, Oliver is smacked on the head and sent away to work. Later, he runs away to London. There he is taken in by Fagin, a villain who trains homeless children to become pickpockets. The book shocked many middle-class readers with its picture of poverty, mistreatment of children, and urban crime. Yet Dickens’s humor and colorful characters made him one of the most popular novelists in the world.

Oliver! (1968) - Theatrical Trailer - © Columbia Pictures
Starring: Mark Lester as Oliver Twist, an orphan, Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed, Jack Wild. Directed by: Carol Reed. Story written by: Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" (novel). Screenplay & Dialogues written by: Vernon Harris. Distributed by: © Columbia Pictures. Theatrical Release Date: September 26, 1968 (UK).

Synopsis:
"Oliver!" is a 1968 musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris.

Both the film and play are based on the famous Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. The musical includes several musical standards, including "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself", "As Long as He Needs Me", "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two", "Oom-Pah-Pah" and "Where is Love?".

The film version was a Romulus Films production and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. It was filmed in Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey and various other locations in England.

In 1968 Oliver! won Six Academy Awards, including awards for Best Picture, Carol Reed Best Director.

Plot:
Oliver Twist is sold to a Dunstable undertaker after asking for more dinner at the orphanage. Escaping to London he is taken in by Fagin to join his gang of child pickpockets. Wrongly accused of a theft he meets a more kindly gentleman who takes him in, to the concern of one of Fagin's old pupils, the violent Bill Sykes. In the middle is Nancy, Sykes' girl whom Oliver has come to trust.

French novelists also portrayed the ills of their time. Victor Hugo, who moved from romantic to realistic novels, revealed how hunger drove a good man to crime and how the law hounded him ever after in Les Misérables (lay miz ehr ahb). The novels of Émile Zola painted an even grimmer picture. In Germinal, Zola exposed class warfare in the French mining industry. To Zola’s characters, neither the Enlightenment’s faith in reason nor the romantic movement’s feelings mattered at all.

Realism in Drama

Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen brought realism to the stage. His plays attacked the hypocrisy he observed around him. A Doll’s House show a woman caught in a straitjacket of social rules. In "An Enemy of the People," a doctor discovers that the water in a local spa is polluted. Because the town’s economy depends on its spa, the citizens denounce the doctor and suppress the truth. Ibsen’s realistic dramas had a wide influence in Europe and the United States.

Part 1 of 12. Arthur Miller's adaptation of Ibsen's "An Enemy Of the People," which first aired in 1966 on "NET Playhouse." Stars Emmy-award winner James Daly, Kate Reid, George Voskovec, James Olson, William Prince, Philip Bosco and Ken Kercheval. All copyrights acknowledged. For research and commentary purposes only.

Arts Reject Romantic Ideas

Painters also represented the realities of their time. Rejecting the romantic emphasis on imagination, they focused on ordinary subjects, especially working-class men and women. “I cannot paint an angel,” said the French realist Gustave Courbet (koor bay) “because I have never seen one.” Instead, he painted works such as The Stone Breakers, which shows two rough laborers on a country road.

The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet, 1849, this is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

A slide collection of Courbet's paintings, 5:08.

This is a "mockumentary" about Courbet, the French realist painter. You can see puppets bring to life the intriguing story of the man brave enough to use a pallette knife and stand against the wave of current trends.

Later in the century, The Gross Clinic, by Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins, shocked viewers with its realistic depiction of an autopsy conducted in a medical classroom.

The Gross Clinic, Thomas Eakins, 1875, this is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Gross Clinic Bounce: Excerpt, :40, a clip from the 2009 Penn Reading Project music video by The Indoorfins.

David Fox, the Director of New Student Orientation, introduces the 2009 Penn Reading Project: Thomas Eakins' "The Gross Clinic," 4:15.

Dr. David B. Brownlee discusses ways of looking at art more deeply, Penn Reading Project: Learning to Look, 11:57.

Dr. Kathleen Howard and Dr. David B. Brownlee discuss 19th-century Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins to help prepare the discussion leaders for the 2009 Penn Reading Project, 1:14:48.

Vocabulary Builder

emphasis—(em fuh sis) n. special attention given to something to make it stand out

Checkpoint

How did the realism movement differ from the romantic movement?

Reading Check, p. 391

Evaluating

What factors helped to produce the movement known as realism?

Resources:

HW email to gmsmith@shanahan.org

1. As listed on our class calender, a Quiz is scheduled for Friday. This is a ten Question, fill-in type of Quiz, similar to the last Quiz.

AP Economics: 7 January 2010

Prayer (alphabetical):

Current Events:

Dr. Nariman Behravesh is an Iranian-American economist, and the Chief Economist and Executive Vice President of Global Insight: Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2010

We will pick up where we left off: Ch. 16, PowerPoint presentation and Handout Ch. 16 question.

Chapter 16

Measuring Inflation and Unemployment

Chapter Overview

In this chapter students will learn how to define and measure both inflation and
unemployment. Some cautions about evaluating the statistics are also presented, in
particular the issue of discouraged workers.

Chapter Outline

Personal Consumption Expenditures Index (PCE, p. 432)

The Producer Price Index (PPI), (p. 432).

The Producer Price Index, during the December 2009 holiday season, was fairly positive, according to a video report by Reuters, 1:43.

On August 18, 2009, the US Producer Price Index came out worse than expected. The 0.9% monthly declines translates into a year-on-year decline of 6.8%. This together with the decline in the core PPI shows that the US is still deflating, 1:42.

What is PPI as opposed to CPI? Dr. Thomas Scheiding, Professor of Economics in the Business Department of Elizabethtown College in PA, explains what is the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI), 7:28.

The GDP Deflator (p. 433)

The GDP deflator shown in Figure 2 on p. 434 is our broadest measure of inflation. On p. 434, inflation from 1930 to Today--GDP Deflator is explained under Figure 2.

Adjusting for Inflation: Escalation and Deflation (p. 434)

Escalator Clauses (p. 434)

Many contracts, including commercial rental agreements, labor union contracts, and Social Security payments are subject to escalator clauses (p. 434).

Labor union contracts rose steadily over the years and wages were priced too highly in comparison with foreign competition with lower wages. For example, in 1967, the auto worker's union agreed to a cap on its COLA (cost-of-living adjustment or escalator clause), apparently not anticipating the inflation that would occur. By 1970, auto unions struck for higher wages which rose considerably higher than comparable wages for foreign auto workers.

Deflating Series: Nominal versus Real Values (p. 435)
The Consequences of Inflation (p. 435)

Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch, of marketplace.org, explains inflation, hyperinflation, and the CPI, 8:12.

Chris Martenson's excellent inflation summary, 6:54.

The National Inflation Association has video published the consequences of inflation on Detroit. The 2nd Part visually is a powerful example of how inflation has harmed one of America's formerly productive cities: Detroit.

Part 1, Intro:

Part 2/4, is a good summary of the entire series, 6:18.

Hyperinflation (p. 436)

Peter Schiff Discusses Hyperinflation On Fast Money 12/22/09, 4:36.

Hyperinflation in Germany 1923 (during the Weimar Republic is one of the classic examples of hyperinflation, 3:25.

Checkpoint: Inflation

Unemployment, p. 437

Unemployment, 2:50

The Historical Record, p. 437

2009 vs 1887: A Grim Look at History of Unemployment, 5:24

The Household Survey, p. 440

Defining and Measuring Unemployment, p. 440

Employed

Unemployed

Labor Force

Problems with Unemployment Statistics

Underemployment and Discouraged Workers

Checkpoint: Unemployment

Unemployment and the Economy

Types of Unemployment

Frictional Unemployment, p. 443

Structural Unemployment, p. 443

Cyclical Unemployment, p. 443

Summary of all: Types of Unemployment, 4:19

Defining Full Employment

The Natural Rate of Unemployment

NAIRU or Natural Rate of Unemployment, 2:58 (Micro video but applies to Macro as well).

History of the Natural Rate of Unemployment (a Micro video but it relates to Macro issues as well), 1:21

Checkpoint: Unemployment and the Economy

Job Gains and Losses: Establishment (or Payroll) Survey versus Household
Survey

Ideas for Classroom Discussion:
■ Illustrate the changing purchasing power of a dollar by using the CPI calculator
on the Web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis at http://www.
minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/.
The site enables you to enter an amount of money in a particular year and see
what it would be worth in another time period. You may want to prepare for this
by having students gather “data” in the form of prices their parents or grandparents remember; the “when I was a youngster I could go to the movies for 5 cents!” data. See what that would be worth today.
■ Illustrate a hyperinflation. Screen the PBS video “Commanding Heights” or look
at the page on the PBS Web site at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/
shared/minitext/ess_germanhyperinflation.html.

Particular points of interest: there was a 1,000-billion German mark note in circulationand few people bothered to take the change when they spent it! Also note the mention of people buying real assets—including pianos—because of the
depreciating value of the currency.

Chapter Checkpoints

Inflation
Question: If you lived in a country where you saw the signs of a government beginning to spend excessively relative to its tax base and was funding this immense spending by printing new money, what would you do to protect yourself and your monetary assets?

The point is to check that students can: point out the link between hyperinflation
and excessive money creation.

Unemployment
Question: Does it seem reasonable to require that to be counted as unemployed, a
person must be actively seeking work? Why not simply count those who do not
have a job but indicate they would like to work?

The point is to check that students can: understand statistics are based on assumptions and methodologies. Also, this question serves to reinforce the definition of unemployment as currently used.

Unemployment and the Economy
Question: After the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union split into several countries, the defense industry in the United States underwent a serious decline as part of the “peace dividend.” Many high-skilled engineers and other workers became unemployed as the industry retrenched. For many, their skills were so specialized that they were unable to find new jobs at their old salaries. Were these people frictionally, structurally, or cyclically unemployed? What policies might the government implement to reduce the impact of this type of unemployment?

The point is to check that students can: apply the definitions of the different types of unemployment to this specific scenario.

Extended Examples in the Chapter
Job Gains and Losses: Establishment (or Payroll) Survey versus Household
Survey

The term “jobless recovery” came into common use around 2004, and referred to
continuing job loss even after the economy moved from a recession into a recovery
(you’d expect job gains in such circumstances). There is a measurement problem in
assessing this situation. The Labor Department tries to assess the labor market by
surveying businesses (the demand for labor, in theory) and by surveying households
(the supply of labor). In recent years the two measures have not been tracking in
the same way. It is suggested that the Establishment Survey overstates job loss, particularly since people who lose a job but start their own businesses may not be
counted. However, self-employment may be a low-paying alternative to a person’s
previous occupation, leading some to suggest that the Household Survey overstates
how well the economy is doing.

The sources cited for this section are “Two Measures of Employment: How
Different Are They?” by Tao Wu (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic
Letter, August 27, 2004) and Edmund L. Andrews, “Two Tales of American Jobs”
(The New York Times, February 22, 2004, page BU-6). The first source is available
on the Web at http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2004/el2004-23.html.

Examples Used in the End-of-Chapter Questions

Question 10 references how the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures unemployment.
For more detail, see the Web site at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm.

For Further Analysis

Calculating a Very Simple Inflation Measure

This example (in the student handout at the end of this chapter) can be used as a
small group exercise or as an individual exercise. It is designed to complement the text’s material on how to measure inflation by giving students a hands-on opportunity to see how an index is constructed. This exercise uses no weighting but it can easily be expanded to allow you to explore the meaning of a weighted average. By asking students to research prices of goods they will also get a feel for the data collection performed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Web-Based Exercise

This example below requires students to find current data on the inflation rate and the unemployment rate. You may wish to combine this exercise with a current
events article to add more of a research and analytical component. Points for possible discussion to extend the material in the text would include: different measures of the CPI (for urban consumers, etc.); seasonal adjustment; core inflation measures; state and regional unemployment numbers. You may also wish to discuss whether the two measures move together or inversely to each other.

How Is the Economy Doing?

Two of the most important measures of how well the economy is doing are the inflation rate and the unemployment rate. Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site at http://www.bls.gov/bls/whatsnew.htm to answer the following:

1) What is the current inflation rate? Put it in the context of previous period’s
data.

2) What is the current unemployment rate? Compare that to the last period’s
data.

Answer: Student responses will vary depending on when this assignment is
given.
1) As of the middle of June 2007, the Consumer Price Index showed an
increase of 0.6% in May, which made it 2.7% higher than it was in May
2006. For data see the Web site at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.
toc.htm.

2) As of the middle of June 2007 the unemployment rate was 4.5%,
unchanged since May. For data see the Web site at http://www.bls.gov/
news.release/laus.toc.htm.

Tips

Current events are often the best way to motivate students with regard to the material in this chapter. Consider reading an article about current inflation and/or unemployment (even take a short “quiz” on it) and then repeat the activity
after covering the course material. Students may enjoy feeling that they can read
a business story and understand the statistics being discussed.

Handout 16.1

Calculating a Very Simple Inflation Measure

Resources

Dr. Marc Faber on CNBC on 30 December 2009, 10:38.

The American Revolution and Hyperinflation by a young American, 6:17.

Project for AP Economics 2009 (the class or school that made this video is not identified; I do not know where it is from):

Lyrics:

The productivity, is the GDP
Take the sum up of the C I G
There's no X in a closed economy
Open it up and free trade is what you'll see
The CPI is your price index
Shows you what you pay for a bottle of windex
Compared to the price level of last year
We should keep it at 100, now y'hear?

**Macroeconomics, study as a whole,
The wealth of a nation, or so I'm told
A one letter change and we're looking at a firm
But macro's what we're here for, sit back and learn.

A phillips curve, shows you the tradeoffs
'tween inflation/unemployment, yeah those layoffs.
Take the two rates, do not perplex,
The sum is known as the misery index
Did you know that money has speed?
Actually, it's called, velocity
P Q over M, that's what V
is equal to in, this economy

**

Something that's important yeah to me
is known to you as the MPC
It is the Marginal Propensity
to consume and shop and spend money
If aggregate demand, and aggregate supply
shift to the right, then GDP's up high
Don't know bout chu, but more output is fly
That's the way it is so don't ask me why

**

Say's law says supply creates demand
It's something that you should probably understand
Gave classical theory the the upper hand
'Til Keynes came along, what a man
Short run was the game of his theory
Didn't think that the world's economy
Functioned at its full capacity
Pessimistic Negativity?

Break it down...

Inflation the nation
cuz theres a justification
Of its short term relation
Between unemployment otherwise
Oh, dont get a bruther-wise
When rational expectation-wise
The sacrifice ratio-nality
Due to contractionary policy
Is smaller than expected in the theory
Of rational expectation, oh
Just ask my man Volcker,
Who went up to that suckah
Stagflation and smackd hah [her],
Like Alan Greenspan,
Who went up to tha man,
Inflation, and he demanded
Some respect, or lest
He get charged of vehicular manslaughter
Of inflations mother and daughter.
To OPEC he said, who's your father, boy?

Email HW to gmsmith@shanahan.org.

1. Review the AP Economics Ch. 15 Short Answer Quiz Prep Page on Shanawiki; the page has been locked for the review; the Quiz is on Friday.

WH II Honors: 6 January 2010

Prayer (alphabetical):

Current Events:

The Pledge:

Basically the same: a series of clips with the pledge included.

C-SPAN Opens Channel for Obama to Make Good on Campaign Pledge to Televise Health Care Talks on C-SPAN:

Per our class procedure, a Shanawiki page Ch. 12 Sec. 4 has been posted, and now as listed on our class calender, a Quiz is scheduled for Friday. This is a ten Question, fill-in type of Quiz, similar to the last Quiz.

Ch. 12 Sec. 4 Culture: Romanticism and Realism

Alexandre Dumas (doo mah) re-created France’s past in a novel like The Three Musketeers. The romantic adventure between D'Artangnan and Lady de Winter ends in a disaster. Milady tries to kill the Musketeer after he discovered her bad secret: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly star, 5:45.



Victor Hugo re-created France’s past in his novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame: here is an excerpt from Disney's version, "Heaven's Light" - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), 1:31.



Architects, too, were inspired by old styles and forms. Churches and other buildings, including the British Parliament, were modeled on medieval Gothic styles. To people living in the 1800s, medieval towers and lacy stonework conjured up images of a glorious past.

Music Stirs Emotions

Romantic composers also tried to stir deep emotions. Audiences were moved to laughter or tears at Hungarian Franz Liszt’s piano playing.

Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher. Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer; during the 1800s many considered him to be the greatest pianist in history. He was also an important and influential composer, a notable piano teacher, a conductor who contributed significantly to the modern development of the art, and a benefactor to other composers and performers, notably Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the "Neudeutsche Schule" ("New German School"). He left behind a huge and diverse body of work, in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form and making radical departures in harmony.

Victor Borge - Franz Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody #2, 2:48. This is a humorous clip from a typical variety show of the past.



Biography: Audio

Ludwig van Beethoven

An accomplished musician by age 12, composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) agonized over every note of every composition. The result was stunning music that expresses intense emotion. The famous opening of his Fifth Symphony conveys the sense of fate knocking at the door. His Sixth Symphony captures a joyful day in the countryside, interrupted by a violent thunderstorm.

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Yngwie Malmsteen, a Swedish musician, plays here in a 1985 rock version of Beethoven`s 5th symphony, 1:29. Beethoven wrote Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 between 1804 and 1808. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata allegro, an andante, and a fast scherzo which leads attacca to the finale.


Otto Klemperer conducts Beethoven's 6th Symphony "Pastoral" - The Storm, by The New Philharmonia Orchestra, London, Royal Festival Hall, 1970, 3:49.



Beethoven’s career was haunted by perhaps the greatest tragedy a musician can face. In 1798, he began to lose his hearing. Still, he continued to compose music he could hear only in his mind. How did Beethoven’s music reflect romanticism?

Other romantic composers wove traditional folk melodies into their works to glorify their nations’ pasts. In his piano works, Frederic Chopin (shoh pan) used Polish peasant dances to convey the sorrows and joys of people living under foreign occupation.

Prelude for Piano No. 7 in A Major (The Polish Dance), :43.



Romanticism in Art, 6:08.

Painters, too, broke free from the discipline and strict rules of the Enlightenment. Landscape painters like J.M.W. Turner sought to capture the beauty and power of nature. Using bold brush strokes and colors, Turner often showed tiny human figures struggling against sea and storm.

Joseph Mallord William Turner RA (1775-1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style is said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting. [Cf. Wikipedia]

Music: They that go down to the sea in ship, by Herbert Whitton Sumsion (1899-1995)

Sumsion was organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 to 1967.

The cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral are exquisite. They were used in the Harry Potter movies (1, 2, 6).

The music is by: St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, John Scott (conductor), Huw Williams (organ); Worcester Cathedral Choir, Donald Hunt (conductor), Adrian Partington (organ).

The music is from Psalms, 107:23-30 by Henry Purcell.

Purcell also wrote a hymn based on this psalm: "In thankfulness for a providential escape of the King from shipwreck, the Rev John Gostling, who had been of the royal party, put together some verses from the Psalms in the form of an anthem, and requested Purcell to set them to music."

Romantics painted many subjects, from simple peasant life to medieval knights to current events. Bright colors conveyed violent energy and emotion. The French painter Eugène Delacroix (deh luh krwah) filled his canvases with dramatic action. In Liberty Leading the People, the Goddess of Liberty carries the revolutionary tricolor as French citizens rally to the cause.

This was a school task. The topic was to create the paraphrase of a random painting. I chose Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People, which i [sic] reimagined [sic] as a fictional Nintendo game. Not interactive....sadly. :)

Artwork: ‘Viva La Vida’
Here is a little background about this amazing work of art. It’s by Eugène Delacroix (French Romantic Painter) and was painted in 1830 titled “Liberty Leading The People”. Eugene Delacroix is numbered among the greatest and most influential of French painters. He is most often classified as an artist of the Romantic school. His remarkable use of colour was later to influence impressionist painters and even modern artists such as Pablo Picasso.

Liberty Leading The People; Painted on 28 July 1830, to commemorate the July Revolution that had just brought Louis-Philippe to the French throne; Louvre.

This painting, which is a sort of political poster, is meant to celebrate the day of 28 July 1830, when the people rose and dethroned the Bourbon king. Alexandre Dumas tells us that Delacroix’s participation in the rebellious movements of July was mainly of a sentimental nature. Despite this, the painter, who had been a member of the National Guard, took pleasure in portraying himself in the figure on the left wearing the top-hat. Although the painting is filled with rhetoric, Delacroix’s spirit is fully involved in its execution: in the outstretched figure of Liberty, in the bold attitudes of the people following him contrasted with the lifeless figures of the dead heaped up in the foreground, in the heroic poses of the people fighting for liberty, there is without a doubt a sense of full participation on the part of the artist, which led Argan to define this canvas as the first political work of modern painting.

Liberty Leading the People caused a disturbance. It shows the allegorical figure of Liberty as a half-draped woman wearing the traditional Phrygian cap of liberty and holding a gun in one hand and the tricolour in the other. It is strikingly realistic; Delacroix, the young man in the painting wearing the opera hat, was present on the barricades in July 1830. Allegory helps achieve universality in the painting: Liberty is not a woman; she is an abstract force.

Live performance of "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay in pop temple Paradiso, Amsterdam and was a secret gig for only 300 fans.
LYRICS:

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies' eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
"Now the old king is dead, long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castle stands
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells a'ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you'd gone it was never
Never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh...who would ever wanna be king

I hear Jerusalem bells were ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs were singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know St. Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Whoaaa

(Whoa) hear Jerusalem bells were ringing
(Whoa) roman Cavalry choirs were singing
(Whoa) be my mirror, my sword and shield
(Whoa) my missionaries in a foreign field
(Whoa) for some reason I can't explain
(Whoa) I know St. Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Oooh ooooh oooh ooooh.

The lyrics are reproduced here for educational purposes only; the original copyright remains with the lawful owners.

Checkpoint

How did romantic writers, musicians, and artists respond to the Enlightenment?

Learn

Focus Question

What artistic movements emerged in reaction to the Industrial Revolution?

Audio

William Wordsworth, along with William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley among others, was part of a cultural movement called romanticism. From about 1750 to 1850, romanticism shaped Western literature and arts.

Reading Check, p. 389

Examining

How did the popularity of Ivanhoe reflect the interests of the nineteenth century?

A New Age of Science
British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough presents his views on Charles Darwin, natural selection, and how the Bible conflicts with Darwin's views of the natural world in an exclusive interview for Nature Video, 4:27.

In addition, to celebrate Darwin's bicentenary Darwin 200 in Nature is also providing selected content free online, including continuously updated news, research and analysis on Darwin's life, his science and his legacy.



Baba Brinkman performs "Natural Selection" from "The Rap Guide to Evolution" at the launch party of the Cambridge Darwin Festival, Cambridge Botanic Gardens, July 5 2009, 3:30.

This video shows results from a research project involving simulated Darwinian evolutions of virtual block creatures. A population of several hundred creatures is created within a supercomputer, and each creature is tested for their ability to perform a given task, such the ability to swim in a simulated water environment. Those that are most successful survive, and their virtual genes containing coded instructions for their growth, are copied, combined, and mutated to make offspring for a new population. The new creatures are again tested, and some may be improvements on their parents. As this cycle of variation and selection continues, creatures with more and more successful behaviors can emerge.

The creatures shown are results from many independent simulations in which they were selected for swimming, walking, jumping, following, and competing for control of a green cube.

A similar experiment in musical evolution has been tried with Darwin Tunes by professors at the Imperial College, London. You can participate and let the organizers know what you think of the evolving music. As they state:

The organic world – animals, plants, viruses – is the product of Darwinian evolution by natural selection. Natural selection expresses the idea that organisms (more accurately their genes) vary and that variability has consequences. Some variants are bad and go extinct; others are good and do exceptionally well. This process, repeated for two billion years, has given us the splendours of life on earth.

It has also given us the splendours of human culture. This may seem like a bold claim, but it is self-evidently true. People copy cultural artefacts – words, songs, images, ideas – all the time from other people. Copying is imperfect: there is "mutation". Some cultural mutants do better than others: most die but some are immensely successful; they catch on; they become hits. This process, repeated for fifty thousand years, has given us all that we make, say and do; it is the process of "cultural evolution".

However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. For example, how important is human creative input compared to audience selection? Is progress smooth and continuous or step-like? We set up DarwinTunes as a test-bed for the evolution of music, the oldest and most widespread form of culture; and, thanks to your participation, these questions will soon be answered.

DarwinTunes: a test-tube for cultural evolution

One of the most important scientific thinkers of our day is Richard Dawkins. Dawkins explains his thoughts on Charles Darwin and Natural Selection.



Reading Check, p. 390

Describing

How did Darwin's theory of natural selection influence the way in which people viewed the world?

Realism
The Call to Realism: Audio

By the mid-1800s, a new artistic movement, realism, took hold in the West. Realism was an attempt to represent the world as it was, without the sentiment associated with romanticism. Realists often focused their work on the harsh side of life in cities or villages. Many writers and artists were committed to improving the lot of the unfortunates whose lives they depicted.

Novels Depict Grim Reality

The English novelist Charles Dickens vividly portrayed the lives of slum dwellers and factory workers, including children. In Oliver Twist, Dickens tells the story of a nine-year-old orphan raised in a grim poorhouse. In response to a request for more food, Oliver is smacked on the head and sent away to work. Later, he runs away to London. There he is taken in by Fagin, a villain who trains homeless children to become pickpockets. The book shocked many middle-class readers with its picture of poverty, mistreatment of children, and urban crime. Yet Dickens’s humor and colorful characters made him one of the most popular novelists in the world.

Oliver! (1968) - Theatrical Trailer - © Columbia Pictures
Starring: Mark Lester as Oliver Twist, an orphan, Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed, Jack Wild. Directed by: Carol Reed. Story written by: Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" (novel). Screenplay & Dialogues written by: Vernon Harris. Distributed by: © Columbia Pictures. Theatrical Release Date: September 26, 1968 (UK).

Synopsis:
"Oliver!" is a 1968 musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris.

Both the film and play are based on the famous Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. The musical includes several musical standards, including "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself", "As Long as He Needs Me", "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two", "Oom-Pah-Pah" and "Where is Love?".

The film version was a Romulus Films production and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. It was filmed in Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey and various other locations in England.

In 1968 Oliver! won Six Academy Awards, including awards for Best Picture, Carol Reed Best Director.

Plot:
Oliver Twist is sold to a Dunstable undertaker after asking for more dinner at the orphanage. Escaping to London he is taken in by Fagin to join his gang of child pickpockets. Wrongly accused of a theft he meets a more kindly gentleman who takes him in, to the concern of one of Fagin's old pupils, the violent Bill Sykes. In the middle is Nancy, Sykes' girl whom Oliver has come to trust.

French novelists also portrayed the ills of their time. Victor Hugo, who moved from romantic to realistic novels, revealed how hunger drove a good man to crime and how the law hounded him ever after in Les Misérables (lay miz ehr ahb). The novels of Émile Zola painted an even grimmer picture. In Germinal, Zola exposed class warfare in the French mining industry. To Zola’s characters, neither the Enlightenment’s faith in reason nor the romantic movement’s feelings mattered at all.

Realism in Drama

Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen brought realism to the stage. His plays attacked the hypocrisy he observed around him. A Doll’s House show a woman caught in a straitjacket of social rules. In "An Enemy of the People," a doctor discovers that the water in a local spa is polluted. Because the town’s economy depends on its spa, the citizens denounce the doctor and suppress the truth. Ibsen’s realistic dramas had a wide influence in Europe and the United States.

Part 1 of 12. Arthur Miller's adaptation of Ibsen's "An Enemy Of the People," which first aired in 1966 on "NET Playhouse." Stars Emmy-award winner James Daly, Kate Reid, George Voskovec, James Olson, William Prince, Philip Bosco and Ken Kercheval. All copyrights acknowledged. For research and commentary purposes only.

Arts Reject Romantic Ideas

Painters also represented the realities of their time. Rejecting the romantic emphasis on imagination, they focused on ordinary subjects, especially working-class men and women. “I cannot paint an angel,” said the French realist Gustave Courbet (koor bay) “because I have never seen one.” Instead, he painted works such as The Stone Breakers, which shows two rough laborers on a country road.

The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet, 1849, this is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

A slide collection of Courbet's paintings, 5:08.

This is a "mockumentary" about Courbet, the French realist painter. You can see puppets bring to life the intriguing story of the man brave enough to use a pallette knife and stand against the wave of current trends.

Later in the century, The Gross Clinic, by Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins, shocked viewers with its realistic depiction of an autopsy conducted in a medical classroom.

The Gross Clinic, Thomas Eakins, 1875, this is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Gross Clinic Bounce: Excerpt, :40, a clip from the 2009 Penn Reading Project music video by The Indoorfins.

David Fox, the Director of New Student Orientation, introduces the 2009 Penn Reading Project: Thomas Eakins' "The Gross Clinic," 4:15.

Dr. David B. Brownlee discusses ways of looking at art more deeply, Penn Reading Project: Learning to Look, 11:57.

Dr. Kathleen Howard and Dr. David B. Brownlee discuss 19th-century Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins to help prepare the discussion leaders for the 2009 Penn Reading Project, 1:14:48.

Vocabulary Builder

emphasis—(em fuh sis) n. special attention given to something to make it stand out

Checkpoint

How did the realism movement differ from the romantic movement?

Reading Check, p. 391

Evaluating

What factors helped to produce the movement known as realism?

Resources:
Beethoven 5th Symphony 5 (7:38, graphical score animation):

Wikipedia on the composer Beethoven is instructive.



Chuck Berry - "Roll over Beethoven," 3:32, 1972 live on the Beat Club (German TV):

Lyrics:

I'm gonna write a little letter,
Gonna mail it to my local dj.
Its a rockin' rhythm record
I want my jockey to play.
Roll over Beethoven, I gotta hear it again today.

You know, my temperatures risin
And the jukebox blows a fuse.
You know, my hearts beatin rhythm
And my soul keeps on singin the blues.
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tschaikowsky the news.

Well if you reel and rock it,
Go get your lover, reel and rock it
Roll it over and move on up just
A trifle further and reel and rock it,
one another
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tschaikowsky the news.

Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tschaikowsky the news.

(Instrumental)

Well, well,Well, early in the mornin Im a-givin you a warnin
Dont you step on my blue suede shoes.
Hey diddle diddle, I am playin my fiddle,
Aint got nothin to lose.
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tschaikowsky the news.

Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven,
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tschaikowsky the news.

Electric Light Orchestra - "Roll Over Beethoven," 4:37

ELO performing on the Midnight Special in 1973.



The Romantics - "What I Like About You"

William Wordsworth updated in hip-hop style, 2:02.



Die Leiden des jungen Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Frederic Chopin - Nocturne In E Flat Major, Op.9 No. 2, 4:09.

Warning: rated PG-13 for language and simulated medical procedures. The full clip will not be shown in class. Penn celebrates Thomas Eakins' masterpiece "The Gross Clinic" with a music video featuring The Indoorfins. Created for the Penn Reading Project 2009 at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Indoorfins: www.myspace.com/theindoorfins


Sources on Darwin.

Sources on Dawkins.

History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century by G. P. Gooch.

Modern European Intellectual History: Reappraisals and New Perspectives by Dominick LaCapra.

Music in the 20th Century, from Debussy Through Stravinsky by William W. Austin.

Exploring Music
by Robert Hickok.

The Understanding of Music by Charles R. Hoffer.

HW email to gmsmith@shanahan.org

1. p. 391, answer #6-7 (you can simply list the "Scientist" and the "Discovery").

AP Economics: 6 January 2010

Prayer (alphabetical):

Current Events:

David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, talks with Bloomberg's Betty Liu about the outlook for the U.S. recovery in 2010. Wyss also discusses the implications of Federal Reserve monetary policy, the potential impact of energy prices on consumers and the prospects for the housing market. (Source: Bloomberg)

Wyss Says Housing, Consumers Suggest `Sluggish' Recovery

We will pick up where we left off: Ch. 16, PowerPoint presentation and Handout Ch. 16 question.

Chapter 16

Measuring Inflation and Unemployment

Chapter Overview

In this chapter students will learn how to define and measure both inflation and
unemployment. Some cautions about evaluating the statistics are also presented, in
particular the issue of discouraged workers.

Chapter Outline

An additional explanation covering:

Hyperinflation, 9:03 (p. 429)

Measuring Inflation

The Consumer Price Index (CPI, p. 430).

11/24/08: A two-minute crash course on the consumer price index with NEWSWEEK's Daniel Gross (Video: Lee Wang, Sarah Frank), 2:19.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), 5:38, a lesson on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for active traders and investors in the stock, futures and forex markets.

The following is from a project for an Economics class in the Philippines, 6:25. It is a mini-documentary that describes the different spending patterns of people and its relation to the concept of the CPI or the Consumer Price Index.

Written, Licensed, Edited, Narrated and Directed by Carlo Chong

The CPI is often referred to as a "cost-of-living" index, but the current CPI differs from a true cost-of-living measure. For example, in the Fall an economist from the Open University (London) was interviewed. OU economist Alan Shipman finds that for students in higher education inflation is nearer 7% than the government's consumer price index of 3.8%. There are differences then between the CPI and a true cost-of-living index.

Problems in Measuring Consumer Prices (p. 431)

The CPI is a conditional cost-of-goods index in that it measures only private goods and services; public goods and services are excluded, i.e., it does not take into account such issues as homeland security, product substitution, products disappear off the market, new products (cell phones or the introduction of technology), or today, perhaps most importantly, health care costs (pp. 431-432).

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland publishes an indicator called the "Median CPI," which differs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index in significant ways. What makes the Median CPI a better indicator of inflation trends than the CPI?

Personal Consumption Expenditures Index (PCE, p. 432)

The CPI does a good job of measuring inflation for urban consumers and is the most widley reported inflation measure. Policymakers, however, especially the Federal Reserve, have been focusing its attention on the personal consumption expenditures index (PCE, p. 432).

By January 31 2008, when the following video aired, it was apparent that the American economy faced extreme difficulties. The personal consumption expenditure price index, excluding food and energy, rose 2.2 per cent during this period, providing evidence that inflation could remain a concern for US policymakers. The housing meltdown and a financial crisis resulted: Robert Schiller, Yale University Economics Professor, 7:40. At the time, BusinessWeek predicted that Why home prices could drop 25% more on average before the market finally hits bottom.

The Producer Price Index (PPI), (p. 432).

The Producer Price Index, during the December 2009 holiday season, was fairly positive, according to a video report by Reuters, 1:43.

On August 18, 2009, the US Producer Price Index came out worse than expected. The 0.9% monthly declines translates into a year-on-year decline of 6.8%. This together with the decline in the core PPI shows that the US is still deflating, 1:42.

What is PPI as opposed to CPI? Dr. Thomas Scheiding, Professor of Economics in the Business Department of Elizabethtown College in PA, explains what is the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI), 7:28.

The GDP Deflator (p. 433)

The GDP deflator shown in Figure 2 on p. 434 is our broadest measure of inflation. On p. 434, inflation from 1930 to Today--GDP Deflator is explained under Figure 2.

Adjusting for Inflation: Escalation and Deflation (p. 434)

Escalator Clauses (p. 434)

Many contracts, including commercial rental agreements, labor union contracts, and Social Security payments are subject to escalator clauses (p. 434).

Labor union contracts rose steadily over the years and wages were priced too highly in comparison with foreign competition with lower wages. For example, in 1967, the auto worker's union agreed to a cap on its COLA (cost-of-living adjustment or escalator clause), apparently not anticipating the inflation that would occur. By 1970, auto unions struck for higher wages which rose considerably higher than comparable wages for foreign auto workers.

Deflating Series: Nominal versus Real Values (p. 435)
The Consequences of Inflation (p. 435)

Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch, of marketplace.org, explains inflation, hyperinflation, and the CPI, 8:12.

Chris Martenson's excellent inflation summary, 6:54.

The National Inflation Association has video published the consequences of inflation on Detroit. The 2nd Part visually is a powerful example of how inflation has harmed one of America's formerly productive cities: Detroit.

Part 1, Intro:

Part 2/4, is a good summary of the entire series, 6:18.

Hyperinflation (p. 436)

Peter Schiff Discusses Hyperinflation On Fast Money 12/22/09, 4:36.

Hyperinflation in Germany 1923 (during the Weimar Republic is one of the classic examples of hyperinflation, 3:25.

Checkpoint: Inflation

Unemployment, p. 437

Unemployment, 2:50

The Historical Record, p. 437

2009 vs 1887: A Grim Look at History of Unemployment, 5:24

The Household Survey, p. 440

Defining and Measuring Unemployment, p. 440

Employed

Unemployed

Labor Force

Problems with Unemployment Statistics

Underemployment and Discouraged Workers

Checkpoint: Unemployment

Unemployment and the Economy

Types of Unemployment

Frictional Unemployment, p. 443

Structural Unemployment, p. 443

Cyclical Unemployment, p. 443

Summary of all: Types of Unemployment, 4:19

Defining Full Employment

The Natural Rate of Unemployment

NAIRU or Natural Rate of Unemployment, 2:58 (Micro video but applies to Macro as well).

History of the Natural Rate of Unemployment (a Micro video but it relates to Macro issues as well), 1:21

Checkpoint: Unemployment and the Economy

Job Gains and Losses: Establishment (or Payroll) Survey versus Household
Survey

Ideas for Classroom Discussion:
■ Illustrate the changing purchasing power of a dollar by using the CPI calculator
on the Web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis at http://www.
minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/.
The site enables you to enter an amount of money in a particular year and see
what it would be worth in another time period. You may want to prepare for this
by having students gather “data” in the form of prices their parents or grandparents remember; the “when I was a youngster I could go to the movies for 5 cents!” data. See what that would be worth today.
■ Illustrate a hyperinflation. Screen the PBS video “Commanding Heights” or look
at the page on the PBS Web site at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/
shared/minitext/ess_germanhyperinflation.html.

Particular points of interest: there was a 1,000-billion German mark note in circulationand few people bothered to take the change when they spent it! Also note the mention of people buying real assets—including pianos—because of the
depreciating value of the currency.

Chapter Checkpoints

Inflation
Question: If you lived in a country where you saw the signs of a government beginning to spend excessively relative to its tax base and was funding this immense spending by printing new money, what would you do to protect yourself and your monetary assets?

The point is to check that students can: point out the link between hyperinflation
and excessive money creation.

Unemployment
Question: Does it seem reasonable to require that to be counted as unemployed, a
person must be actively seeking work? Why not simply count those who do not
have a job but indicate they would like to work?

The point is to check that students can: understand statistics are based on assumptions and methodologies. Also, this question serves to reinforce the definition of unemployment as currently used.

Unemployment and the Economy
Question: After the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union split into several countries, the defense industry in the United States underwent a serious decline as part of the “peace dividend.” Many high-skilled engineers and other workers became unemployed as the industry retrenched. For many, their skills were so specialized that they were unable to find new jobs at their old salaries. Were these people frictionally, structurally, or cyclically unemployed? What policies might the government implement to reduce the impact of this type of unemployment?

The point is to check that students can: apply the definitions of the different types of unemployment to this specific scenario.

Extended Examples in the Chapter
Job Gains and Losses: Establishment (or Payroll) Survey versus Household
Survey

The term “jobless recovery” came into common use around 2004, and referred to
continuing job loss even after the economy moved from a recession into a recovery
(you’d expect job gains in such circumstances). There is a measurement problem in
assessing this situation. The Labor Department tries to assess the labor market by
surveying businesses (the demand for labor, in theory) and by surveying households
(the supply of labor). In recent years the two measures have not been tracking in
the same way. It is suggested that the Establishment Survey overstates job loss, particularly since people who lose a job but start their own businesses may not be
counted. However, self-employment may be a low-paying alternative to a person’s
previous occupation, leading some to suggest that the Household Survey overstates
how well the economy is doing.

The sources cited for this section are “Two Measures of Employment: How
Different Are They?” by Tao Wu (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic
Letter, August 27, 2004) and Edmund L. Andrews, “Two Tales of American Jobs”
(The New York Times, February 22, 2004, page BU-6). The first source is available
on the Web at http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2004/el2004-23.html.

Examples Used in the End-of-Chapter Questions

Question 10 references how the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures unemployment.
For more detail, see the Web site at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm.

For Further Analysis

Calculating a Very Simple Inflation Measure

This example (in the student handout at the end of this chapter) can be used as a
small group exercise or as an individual exercise. It is designed to complement the text’s material on how to measure inflation by giving students a hands-on opportunity to see how an index is constructed. This exercise uses no weighting but it can easily be expanded to allow you to explore the meaning of a weighted average. By asking students to research prices of goods they will also get a feel for the data collection performed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Web-Based Exercise

This example below requires students to find current data on the inflation rate and the unemployment rate. You may wish to combine this exercise with a current
events article to add more of a research and analytical component. Points for possible discussion to extend the material in the text would include: different measures of the CPI (for urban consumers, etc.); seasonal adjustment; core inflation measures; state and regional unemployment numbers. You may also wish to discuss whether the two measures move together or inversely to each other.

How Is the Economy Doing?

Two of the most important measures of how well the economy is doing are the inflation rate and the unemployment rate. Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site at http://www.bls.gov/bls/whatsnew.htm to answer the following:

1) What is the current inflation rate? Put it in the context of previous period’s
data.

2) What is the current unemployment rate? Compare that to the last period’s
data.

Answer: Student responses will vary depending on when this assignment is
given.
1) As of the middle of June 2007, the Consumer Price Index showed an
increase of 0.6% in May, which made it 2.7% higher than it was in May
2006. For data see the Web site at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.
toc.htm.

2) As of the middle of June 2007 the unemployment rate was 4.5%,
unchanged since May. For data see the Web site at http://www.bls.gov/
news.release/laus.toc.htm.

Tips

Current events are often the best way to motivate students with regard to the material in this chapter. Consider reading an article about current inflation and/or unemployment (even take a short “quiz” on it) and then repeat the activity
after covering the course material. Students may enjoy feeling that they can read
a business story and understand the statistics being discussed.

Handout 16.1

Calculating a Very Simple Inflation Measure

Resources

Dr. Marc Faber on CNBC on 30 December 2009, 10:38.

The American Revolution and Hyperinflation by a young American, 6:17.

Project for AP Economics 2009 (the class or school that made this video is not identified; I do not know where it is from):

Lyrics:

The productivity, is the GDP
Take the sum up of the C I G
There's no X in a closed economy
Open it up and free trade is what you'll see
The CPI is your price index
Shows you what you pay for a bottle of windex
Compared to the price level of last year
We should keep it at 100, now y'hear?

**Macroeconomics, study as a whole,
The wealth of a nation, or so I'm told
A one letter change and we're looking at a firm
But macro's what we're here for, sit back and learn.

A phillips curve, shows you the tradeoffs
'tween inflation/unemployment, yeah those layoffs.
Take the two rates, do not perplex,
The sum is known as the misery index
Did you know that money has speed?
Actually, it's called, velocity
P Q over M, that's what V
is equal to in, this economy

**

Something that's important yeah to me
is known to you as the MPC
It is the Marginal Propensity
to consume and shop and spend money
If aggregate demand, and aggregate supply
shift to the right, then GDP's up high
Don't know bout chu, but more output is fly
That's the way it is so don't ask me why

**

Say's law says supply creates demand
It's something that you should probably understand
Gave classical theory the the upper hand
'Til Keynes came along, what a man
Short run was the game of his theory
Didn't think that the world's economy
Functioned at its full capacity
Pessimistic Negativity?

Break it down...

Inflation the nation
cuz theres a justification
Of its short term relation
Between unemployment otherwise
Oh, dont get a bruther-wise
When rational expectation-wise
The sacrifice ratio-nality
Due to contractionary policy
Is smaller than expected in the theory
Of rational expectation, oh
Just ask my man Volcker,
Who went up to that suckah
Stagflation and smackd hah [her],
Like Alan Greenspan,
Who went up to tha man,
Inflation, and he demanded
Some respect, or lest
He get charged of vehicular manslaughter
Of inflations mother and daughter.
To OPEC he said, who's your father, boy?

Email HW to gmsmith@shanahan.org.

1. Review the AP Economics Ch. 15 Short Answer Quiz Prep Page on Shanawiki; the page has been locked for the review; the Quiz is on Friday.

2. Answer #6-10, Questions and Problems, p. 450.