ECON 201 First Frame Case Essay Wray and Shiller

ECON 201 First Frame Case Essay Wray and Shiller

ECON 201 First Frame Case Essay Wray and Shiller and Q4 and Q5 F19

Please Read the Whole Assignment

Quizzes #1 and #2 (already completed on Shiller).

Quiz #4 Due: Wednesday, September 18th (by the beginning of class). See questions below on Wray, part 1 below.

Quiz #5 Due: Friday, September 20th (by the beginning of class). See questions below on Wray, part 2 below.

Draft Due: Wednesday, October 2nd (by the beginning of class). Please bring a stapled, typed copy to class. Review and draft count as three quiz grades. Review sheet will be given out at the writing workshop.

Final Essay Due: Monday, October 14th (by the beginning of class). Your final essay should be approximately five (full, minimum) to seven pages in length. Double spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman, or similar text. You must turn a hard copy in to me. Stapled. No cover page. Correct and full heading:

Left side, single spaced.

David Plante (Your name, not mine)

ECON 201, 9:00 am or 10:00 am (class and TIME)

14 October 2019 (Date assignment is DUE)

First Frame Case Essay (Name of assignment)

Engaging Title

Abstract (single-spaced, indented on both sides)

Important! Also submit an electronic form to Safeassign in Blackboard by 6 pm on October 14, 2019. You must turn in an electronic copy to receive credit for the essay. Label your final essay with your last name and class (9 or 10) and title. If you have any issues, you can email me a copy until you see computer services and fix the problem. But you will not receive credit until it is submitted.

Submitting papers to SafeAssign

1)Log into Blackboard account https://blackboard.western.edu

2) Go to Course Content for the Class

3) Go to Frame Case Essay I (with red check mark icon)

4) Upload your paper.

5) Click submit.

6) You can click on view/complete to see if your paper is uploaded. You can also check for plagiarism.

You are done.

Readings:

Robert J. Shiller. Irrational Exuberance, 3d. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 70-97.

2012. Randall Wray. “Global Financial Crisis: A Minskyan Interpretation of the Causes, the Fed’s Bailout, and the Future. Working Paper No. 7111 (March 2012). Annandale on the Hudson, NY: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, 2012. http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_711.pdf

(Optional, if you want to know where Wray thinks the economy is as of 2018)

1. Randall Wray. “Does the United States Face Another Minsky Moment?” Policy Note 2018/1 (2018). The Levy Economic Institute of Bard College, Annandale on the Hudson, New York. http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/pn_18_1.pdf. (Wray, Part 2)

And here is a short video on what he thinks should have been done (also optional): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h_o8lTOQ5I.

A Reader’s Guide:

There are a lot of acronyms. Circle or highlight definitions of acronyms as you go making reference back to them easier as you work through the essay. You will need to look up several definitions when you encounter words you do not know in Wray’s article. The Wikipedia entries for CDOs, CDSs, MBSs, and synthetic CDO are pretty good. They also have a decent entry on Hyman Minsky, from whom Wray is drawing. Minsky was Wray’s dissertation chair and died in 1996. For more, see Minsky’s article where he lays out his theory: http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp74.pdf.

Securitization. See International Monetary Fund handout: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2008/09/pdf/basics.pdf. It is the pooling of various financial debt obligations (mortgages, credit card debt) into a bond that is paid based on the payment of the underlying forms of debt. In theory, this could be less risky since the payment is based on an array of debtors rather than a single debtor as in a traditional mortgage.

“Fisher-type debt deflation.” Irving Fisher had argued that one of the main causes of the Great Depression was the lethal combination of high personal debt in the presence of deflation. Deflation, falling prices, makes the real value of this debt rise as real interest rates rise. This produces a feedback loop as households default producing more deflation.

“Commercial bank.” A bank whose primary function is to take deposits and turn these into business loans, mortgages, and other basic investment products.

“Investment Bank (aka Shadow Bank).” Not really a bank at all but an investment firm. It does not take deposits and is heavily involved in complex financial instruments and operations (currencies, mergers, derivatives).

“Basis point.” One one-hundredth of an interest rate percentage (i.e., 450 = 4.5).

“Leverage.” The amount of debt used to finance a firm’s assets.

You can also see the short paragraph on this in the Wikipedia entry on Minsky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_Minsky.

Quiz #4: Must be typed, and stapled if more than one page, you may work with one other student and turn in a single copy. Refer to Wray, Part 1, pp. 1-16.

1. What were the conclusions of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report? How does Wray critique the study?
2. As best as you can, explain Hyman Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis, the origins of “fragility” and how and why crises occur.
3. According to Wray, what systemic changes occurred as a result of the New Deal regime? How and why did this system begin to unravel by the 1970s?
4. According to Wray, what are the main factors that led to the rise of “Money Manager Capitalism”? What was the shift in power that occurred under this new regime?
5. Despite the mind-numbing complexity of Wray’s foray into the alphabet soup of structured finance, his overall argument vis-à-vis the real estate bubble is straightforward. What is it?
6. What is financial layering? What does Wray argue with respect to debt levels and distribution leading into the Global Financial Crisis? What role does this play in the crisis?

Quiz #5: Must be typed, and stapled if more than one page, you may work with one other student and turn in a single copy. Refer to Wray, Part 2, pp. 16-27 (a couple of questions refer to the beginning of the essay as well).

1. As best as you can follow it (I will go over this a bit on Weds.) why does Wray argue that this was a “solvency crisis” rather than a “liquidity crisis”? What does this imply, according to Wray, about how the government should have handled the banking crisis?
2. Note three (there are many) criticisms levied by Wray regarding the handling of the financial bailout. According to Felkerson and Mathews, how big was the Federal Reserve’s bailout of the financial sector? Ultimately, what is Wray’s overall argument regarding the bailout (stated throughout but recapped on p. 26)?
3. One of Wray’s colleagues at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, William Black, played an intricate role in the handling of the Savings and Loan Crisis. How does Wray contrast the handling of this crisis with the current one?
4. What is a NINJA loan?
5. According to Wray, why did the crisis occur (i.e., summarize his position)? Will it happen again?

Paper Assignment:

Examine and fully explain Randall Wray’s structural/Minskyan analysis of structured finance, financialization, shadow banks, financial fragility, fraud, bailouts, and money manager capitalism. Also analyze Shiller’s concepts of speculative behavior, investor over-confidence, public attention cycles, feedbacks, natural Ponzi processes, and generally the social psychology of economic “bubbles,” using several of the terms, arguments, and examples from the text. What does Wray’s analysis ( the frame ) tell us or uncover about Shiller’s ( the case ) concepts? Your final thesis should use Wray’s concepts to extend, critique, synthesize, or clarify Shiller’s concepts. You may also draw from the cases we have covered for additional evidence. It should not be compare and contrast or simply say they are the same or different. It should clearly outline why your findings are significant.

You must use the texts listed on this assignment as your primary sources for the essay.

This assignment builds on what you learned in ENG 102 utilizing the frame/case methodology. You will use one text, the frame (Wray), to analyze another text, the case (Shiller), to learn something new about Shiller and perhaps (in the best papers) about Wray. As with ENG 102, do not slip into compare and contrast papers. Instead, use Wray to diagnose and analyze Shiller, as a doctor would use an MRI to diagnose your condition or an economist would use a model to understand the financial crisis. The result is not simply a cataloguing but rather a path to understanding with the possibility of deeper understanding.

Compare and contrast papers are boring and represent a lower level of analysis and your grade will reflect this. I do not want you to tell me they are the same or different unless you can clearly tell me why this is significant—even then I am skeptical.

Your thesis statement should be revised AFTER you have written your draft, so you can easily see what you have proven. What can you tell the reader that isn’t obvious? You must have a problem to solve, distinct controversial idea to prove, or a unique idea that analyzes the topic. You ARE NOT comparing essays. You ARE NOT summarizing essays. Your essay must include a thesis statement that will state your position, conflict, and intent.

Your audience: another student in this class, one who knows some basic conceptual elements from the course but needs to be reminded of terminology and how it all fits together. This means an excellent strategy is to have someone else from the class read your paper!

To write a successful essay, you need to:

• define the terms that you use in each paragraph;
• include a thesis that explains what you are arguing;
• take intellectual risks and pursue a deeper understanding of the period;
• include an engaging title reflective of your argument;
• include a clearly stated thesis that explains what you are arguing and relates to both the frame and the case;
• use and explain multiple extended quotations from both the frame and the case;
• include proper (correct!) citation (either MLA and Chicago Style or permission for another);
• explain connections between the texts;
• a conclusion that reviews your thesis and how you supported it; and
• be relatively free of grammatical and syntax errors.

PARAGRAPHING FORMULA FOR MAKING CONNECTIONS (Modified) an exercise for developing excellent essays. by Barclay Barrios with Christy Jespersen

1. Type your preliminary thesis below. You will probably change it after you finish this exercise. (Your thesis should make an argument that answers the essay prompt. You will use evidence to prove your argument. A good thesis both explains what you are arguing and why it is significant. You may use more than one sentence).

*Hint: When discussing the two texts, avoid compare/contrast words such as “similar to,” “different from,” “in contrast,” “in comparison” etc. Instead use words such as “explains,” “elucidates,” “shows how,” “avoids,” “illuminates assumptions” etc.

Take one of the connections that you made in Assignment 1 or a better connection.

TYPE directly below the numbers.

1. Write a provisional topic sentence. (Your topic sentence should explain what your paragraph will argue. You may change it, after you have written the body of the paragraph.)
2. Introduce the quotation from framing text. (Your introduction to the quotation should give the context of the quotation and explain who wrote it. A very good quotation also leads into the argument. For example: Bartholomae and Petrosky employ sexist language when they write, “….” (page number) or Bartholomae and Petrosky provide a new way of reading, when they suggest “….” (page number).
3. Quotation from framing text:
4. Explanation about what the quotation means to your argument and transition to the next quotation from the case text. (This may be one or more sentences).
5. Introduction to quotation from case text. (See #2 for how to write a good introduction to a quotation):
6. Quotation from case text:
7. Connection: How are the two quotations connected? How do they prove your point in your topic sentence? Usually you will write three or four sentences.

Part II. Make another connection with different quotations.

8. Write a provisional topic sentence. (Your topic sentence should explain what your paragraph will argue. You may change it, after you have written the body of the paragraph.)
9. Introduce the quotation from framing text. (Your introduction to the quotation should give the context of the quotation and explain who wrote it. A very good quotation also leads into the argument. For example: Bartholomae and Petrosky employ sexist language when they write, “….” (page number) or Bartholomae and Petrosky provide a new way of reading, when they suggest “….” (page number).
10. Quotation from framing text:
11. Explanation about what the quotation means to your argument and transition to the next quotation from the case text. (This may be one or more sentences).
12. Introduction to quotation from case text. (See #2 for how to write a good introduction to a quotation):
13. Quotation from case text:
14. Connection: How are the two quotations connected? How do they prove your point in your topic sentence? Usually you will write three or four sentences.

Part III. Make another connection with different quotations.

15. Write a provisional topic sentence. (Your topic sentence should explain what your paragraph will argue. You may change it, after you have written the body of the paragraph.)
16. Introduce the quotation from framing text. (Your introduction to the quotation should give the context of the quotation and explain who wrote it. A very good quotation also leads into the argument. For example: Bartholomae and Petrosky employ sexist language when they write, “….” (page number) or Bartholomae and Petrosky provide a new way of reading, when they suggest “….” (page number).
17. Quotation from framing text:
18. Explanation about what the quotation means to your argument and transition to the next quotation from the case text. (This may be one or more sentences).
19. Introduction to quotation from case text. (See #2 for how to write a good introduction to a quotation):
20. Quotation from case text:
21. Connection: How are the two quotations connected? How do they prove your point in your topic sentence? Usually you will write three or four sentences.

Part IV. Make another connection with different quotations.

22. Write a provisional topic sentence. (Your topic sentence should explain what your paragraph will argue. You may change it, after you have written the body of the paragraph.)
23. Introduce the quotation from framing text. (Your introduction to the quotation should give the context of the quotation and explain who wrote it. A very good quotation also leads into the argument. For example: Bartholomae and Petrosky employ sexist language when they write, “….” (page number) or Bartholomae and Petrosky provide a new way of reading, when they suggest “….” (page number).
24. Quotation from framing text:
25. Explanation about what the quotation means to your argument and transition to the next quotation from the case text. (This may be one or more sentences).
26. Introduction to quotation from case text. (See #2 for how to write a good introduction to a quotation):
27. Quotation from case text:
28. Connection: How are the two quotations connected? How do they prove your point in your topic sentence? Usually you will write three or four sentences.

Part V

29. Write a provisional topic sentence. (Your topic sentence should explain what your paragraph will argue. You may change it, after you have written the body of the paragraph.)
30. Introduce the quotation from framing text. (Your introduction to the quotation should give the context of the quotation and explain who wrote it. A very good quotation also leads into the argument. For example: Bartholomae and Petrosky employ sexist language when they write, “….” (page number) or Bartholomae and Petrosky provide a new way of reading, when they suggest “….” (page number).
31. Quotation from framing text:
32. Explanation about what the quotation means to your argument and transition to the next quotation from the case text. (This may be one or more sentences).
33. Introduction to quotation from case text. (See #2 for how to write a good introduction to a quotation):
34. Quotation from case text:
35. Connection: How are the two quotations connected? How do they prove your point in your topic sentence? Usually you will write three or four sentences.

Continue this until you have developed a complex, interesting argument.

The Draft

Once you have completed the above assignment, begin with an introduction that summarizes your findings about the relationship between the two texts and provides a clear thesis about the Global Financial Crisis that integrates Wray and Shiller. You should then follow this with paragraphs supporting this argument (not deriving it) that include extended quotations and/or careful analysis of series of shorter quotations. Conclude with a restatement of your thesis and a summary of how you have demonstrated this. Be sure to include proper citation with in-text/Works Cited or footnote/bibliography. The draft should be a full five (that is, you should get onto the sixth page with text) to seven pages double-spaced. Include an engaging title.

Abstract

At the beginning of your final paper (not the draft), you must include an abstract that takes the topic sentence from each of your paragraphs (including your introduction which contains your thesis) and places this in a single paragraph. This should then be read to understand the flow of your argument. If this paragraph jumps around or seems to not link into a logical, linear development then you should work on the organization of your essay.

Barclay’s Connection Supplement, or “Nail That Connection!”

This is a useful exercise to make sure that the CE of your connection, the place at the end where you explain the connection between the two quotations, matches up with the quotations you’ve actually chosen.

1. Select the two quotations you think make a connection (one from the framing text, one from the case text).
2. Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle, from top to bottom.
3. Write each quotation on the paper, on either side of the line, so that you can actually see the two pieces of text next to one another.
4. Underline the phrases in each quotation that you think actually connect and then draw a line connecting them.
5. At the bottom of the sheet, write a sentence in which you explain the connection using each of those phrases.
6. Use this sentence to create your CE.
7. Repeat for the next connection.

The idea is that you not only get to see the pieces of text next to each other, which helps you see the connection, but you also refer directly to the quotations as you explain the connection, and to the exact pieces of the quotation that actually connect.  If you can’t find phrases that connect in each quote, then perhaps you should choose some better quotes.  If you need to explain the quote for a few sentences before you can make the connection, then there’s probably a better quotation you can use.  Go find it.

Things to Remember!

1. Avoid using “I feel,” “I think,” or “it can be argued.” Make bold statements and back them up with textual evidence, the exhibits and theory. No weak, mishmash writing!
2. STAPLE your paper.
3. USE PROPER CITATION!!!!! I will severely lower your grade for a lack of citation. Check the library’s web site NOW! Use the guide you purchased in ENG 102 or purchase this guide if you do not have one. Find out what they use in your discipline or use MLA style (in-text with Works Cited) or Chicago style (footnotes with bibliography).
4. USE evidence.
5. USE evidence.

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