Macroeconomics Project: Country Research on Business Cycles

This project gives students an opportunity to investigate a major economic crises or success story in specific countries within the last few decades. Students work in groups to help investigate the causes (historian), the impacts on people (anthropologist), the economic factors (economist) and policy take-aways (policy expert) of the downturn or success story.

This overview provides a description of the product, a timeline of how to structure the class days, essential questions to research, specialized research topics from each group member, a rubric, and special notes on how students can maximize their grades.

I just used this project in my AP Macroeconomics project as a conclusion to our unit on Macroeconomic Indicators and a preview into Macroeconomic Policy. It is a great way for students to apply their understanding of economic models and vocabulary to real-world events. It also increases their research skills, their creativity skills, and their speaking skills.

My students greatly enjoyed making the product and viewing the presentations. I did 2.5 days of presentations, so the whole project took 2 full weeks.

This project could be used in the middle of an Economics course, or at the end, to help apply all course knowledge to solve global problems.