ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS:
This assignment challenges you to take a deeper dive in examining the role of the government in economics. You will examine the costs and benefits of government actions, and how these affect consumers, producers, the government budget, and even foreigners.
This project is research-based and involves a fair amount of decision-making on your part. You will choose a piece of US government legislation, research the background of the bill, why it was passed, and what the costs and benefits are for those affected by the law. Once you have done this research, you will present your information in the form of an infographic, brochure, or slide presentation.
Steps 1 through 3 are formative and require feedback from your teacher before you move on to Step 4, which is graded.
Step 1:
Choose a piece of legislation enacted by Congress. The following are some suggestions, but you are welcome to choose something you find yourself, but it must have researchable information and be worthy of this study. Keep the legislation focused on the 1970s or later. If you choose something other than what is suggested here, please get it approved by your teacher.
- Clean Air Act 1970
- Clean Water Act 1972
- National Do Not Call Registry 2003
- Federal Minimum Wage in the Fair Labor Standards Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
- Consumer Protection Act of 2010
- The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
Indicate which piece of legislation you will be researching.
Step 2:
Research the legislation. This step is asking you to answer the basic ‘who”, what’, “where”, “when” and “why” questions:
- Who proposed the legislation?
- What does the legislation say? What is the act or bill about?
- Where is the bill going make a change? What group of people will be affected?
- When was this bill passed? Are there any amendments to the bill?
- Why was this bill passed? Explain the need for this legislation.
Step 3:
Further research and a bit of thinking will help you with this step.
Create a chart like below of costs and benefits.
| Costs | Benefits |
| Costs of enacting and enforcing this legislation: Include dollar amounts, plus intangible costs such as damage to a company’s reputation, loss of productivity, loss of goodwill, drops in morale, etc. Also include opportunity costs—what was given up, what other programs could have been passed? And include the costs of not doing anything. | Include dollar amounts, plus intangible benefits, such as the promotion of an idea, volunteerism, charitable donations, increased productivity, and so on. What are all the benefits that could be reaped from the passing of this bill? |
| Also, include how it affects:
Consumers Producers Foreigners |
Also, include how it affects:
Consumers Producers Foreigners |
Following Step 3, be sure to get formative feedback from your instructor on Steps 1-3.
Step 4:
Your task is to create an informative piece about this legislation. You may create a brochure, an infographic, or a Google Slide/Powerpoint presentation. If you choose the brochure, make sure it is set up visually as a brochure and not just a flat piece of paper. For the infographic, a good free program is Piktochart.
This is the information you need on your presentation:
- Title of the legislation
- Short summary of the legislation
- Costs and benefits presented in a clear manner
- Your evaluation with justifications: Do you think this has been a positive piece of legislation? What is the impact on society? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Why or why not?