The capstone for this course is a TEAM PROJECT.

One of the themes of ECO 320 is impact of government policy on business transactions and how these policies affect limited resources. The position paper will look at the impact of government policy on economic activity in a specific arena.

Please check various government and public policy think-tank Web sites depending upon the topic chosen.

Some Web sites include (not an exhaustive list):

US Department of Justice – http://www.usdoj.gov
The Heritage Foundation – http://www.heritage.org
The Rand Corporation – http://www.rand.org
US Department of Health and Human Services – http://www.hhs.gov
US Social Security Administration – http://www.ssa.gov
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – http://www.ahrq.gov

Team Composition and Policy Issue

In teams of two to four students, select a topic and prepare a 20-25 page position paper that demonstrates an understanding of the economic impact of ONE of the following public policy issues:

Global Warming: Is it an issue or non-issue?
Social Security: Keep and modify, or eliminate and start over?
Illegal Drugs: Keep illegal drugs illegal, or modify laws?
Public Education: Keep as is, modify, or privatize?
Defense Spending: Reduce, maintain, or increase?
Health Care: Government oversight, socialized medicine, or completely separate and keep government out?
OSHA Safety Regulations: Too many or too few?
Capstone Content and Organization

The sections of the position paper are:

Title Page
Table of Contents
Executive Summary (1 – 2 pages)
The Problem Definition Discussion – (5-7 pages) Support your discussion with secondary research that augments the research. Include an historical background of both sides of the issue. How has the problem developed and what past investigations have been conducted on the topic?
Economic implications of the current policy – (5-7 pages). Approach as if performing an informal economic impact analysis as measured in terms of employment; wages; tax revenue needed to support; portion of the state or federal budget; level of economic activity given time with the policy occurring; and calculating the difference from what would otherwise be expected if the policy did not occur or was altered from the current state.
Describe your group’s position in light of the following three standards (Dolan and Goodman, 1995) (5-7 pages):
Efficiency – Does the policy help maximize the benefits that can be obtained from given resources or minimize the costs of obtaining given goals?
Equality – is the policy fair to all members of the society? Keep in mind that the corporation is also a member of society!
Liberty – Does the policy give the individual the right to choice, free from force, threat, or coercion by others?
Recommendations to include options and their hypothetical probability of success. Numerically list and provide detailed narrative explanation. (5 pages+)
References
Capstone Mechanics

Your grade will depend on the language, presentation, clarity of arguments, your ability to apply theory from text, and research to argue your case.
No more than 25 pages, excluding the title page and references page
APA formatting standards apply: title page, reference page, 1? margins, double spacing. Remember that only parenthetical citations in the body of your paper are included in your reference list.
Please use reliable resources (e.g., NOT Wikipedia). Consider using NoodleTools to format your references. If you have forgotten or lost your NoodleTools ID/password, please contact the librarian.
Your designated recorder should upload. Your final capstone should be in one tone – it should not be apparent that this is team effort.