Economics 102
Assignment 5
Due March 28, 2022


In trying to decide how to address the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, policy
makers turned to the experience of the recent Great Recession as well as to the Great
Depression for insights. In a blog in the spring of 2021 (link below), Gita Gopinath,
then chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), drew several
comparisons.
A difference between the Great Recession and COVID-19 recession is the
development of inflation. In this writing assignment of 500 words, we would like you
to discuss the different inflation experiences between the two recessions.
In your essay use the following four sources, where the first source is a more
general comparison and the other three are focused on inflation. Make sure to discuss
whether current inflation is a result of government policies or something else. You
don’t have to, but if you use sources in addition to these four, make sure to cite using
the (author, year) method and mention them in a literature list at the end.


1. https://blogs.imf.org/2020/04/14/the-great-lockdown-worst-economic-
downturn-since-the-great-depression/

2. https://blogs.imf.org/2021/12/03/addressing-inflation-pressures-amid-an-
enduring-pandemic/

3. https://blogs.imf.org/2021/10/06/inflation-scares-in-an-uncharted-
recovery/

4. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/opinion/inflation-federal-
reserve.html

For the submission: Your review is limited to 500 words and is due March 28, 2022.
Put the word count at the bottom of the essay. The assignment should be written in
one document and submitted in two ways: through the Crowdmark link that was sent
to the student AND through Quercus assignments for the plagiarism check. The
document has to be in a .pdf or .jpeg format to be submitted; thus if it is written in
Word, please convert it into one of these two formats.