Econ 1010: Special Assignment

Your task is to find a news article from a reputable source (The Wall Street Journal or The Economist, for example) that describes a change in price or quantity (or both) in the product market of your choice, and then to explain the reason for the change, in terms of demand and supply. Do not look at financial markets (the stock market or currency markets); they are very difficult to understand. Any other product market is fair game.

Specifically, you should:

1. Find an article that describes a change in price or a change in quantity (or both) in a  product market.

2. Describe whether the change resulted from a change in demand or a change in supply (or both).

3. Draw a graph to illustrate your answer.

4. Explain why demand or supply (or both) changed, with reference to the factors that shift demand and/or supply curves.

5. Provide evidence to support your explanation. The evidence can be in the form of a quotation from the original article, a quotation from another article, or something else you believe to be convincing.

Your analysis should be typed and double-spaced (not including the graph, which may be hand-drawn). Any articles you reference must be attached to your answer. You will lose points if you fail to do either of these things. The weight of this assignment will be equivalent to two in-class quizzes. The deadline for this assignment is March 31 by midnight. You should submit your answer through email.