Learning to Argue with Intermediate Macro Theory: A Semester-Long Team Writing Project

We describe experiences from integrating a semester-long economic analysis project into an intermediate macroeconomic theory course. Students work in teams of "economic advisors" to write a series of nested reports for a decision-maker, analyzing the current economic situation, evaluating and proposing policies while responding to events during the semester in real-time. The project simulates real-world policy con- sulting with an emphasis on applying economic theory and models. We describe the project setup and how to tailor its theme to current events, explain methods for keep- ing it manageable in larger classes, and document student learning outcomes by survey results and report summaries. Besides improving the learning experience, this project equips economics students to contribute their own views to policy debates and buttress them with tight macroeconomic reasoning.