Visualize the business cycle showing fluctuations in real GDP over time through four phases: expansion (rising GDP, employment, and income), peak (maximum output), contraction/recession (declining GDP for two consecutive quarters), and trough (lowest point). Understand leading indicators (stock market, consumer confidence), coincident indicators (GDP, employment), and lagging indicators (unemployment rate, inflation) used to track economic conditions and predict turning points.
Master the Inflation-Unemployment tradeoff. Separate short-run movements along the SRPC (Demand Shocks) from catastrophic shifts of the entire curve (Supply Shocks causing Stagflation).
Visualize currency Appreciation and Depreciation on the forex market. Shift Supply and Demand curves for US Dollars relative to the Euro based on dynamic global conditions.
Deconstruct Fractional Reserve Banking. Track an initial deposit dynamically chaining through multiple bank node T-accounts via Excess Reserve lending.
Explore the money market where the supply and demand for money determine the nominal interest rate. Visualize how the Federal Reserve controls money supply through open market operations, reserve requirements, and the discount rate. Understand the inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates, how changes in money supply shift the vertical MS curve, and how the Fed uses monetary policy to influence economic activity, inflation, and employment.