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

We describe our experience with 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 that analyze the current state of the economy, and propose and evaluate policies. The project simulates real-world policy consulting 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 keeping it manageable in larger classes, discuss student learning outcomes, and document course evaluation results. Besides improving the learning experience, this project prepares economics students to contribute their own views to policy debates and buttress them with tight macroeconomic reasoning