You must choose one of the articles listed below to read and critique:

(1) Facts and Challenges from the Great Recession for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Modeling Author(s): Serena Ng and Jonathan H. Wright Source: Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 51, No. 4 (DECEMBER 2013), pp. 1120-1154

(2) A Model of U.S. Monetary Policy Before and After the Great Recession Author(s): David Andolfatto Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis REVIEW, Vol. 97, No. 3 (Third Quarter 2015), pp. 233-56

(3) A New Keynesian Perspective on the Great Recession Author(s): Peter N. Ireland Source: Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 43, No. 1 (February 2011), pp. 31-54

Your written critique should be no more than three pages long (typed, double-spaced, one-inch

margins, 12-point Times New Roman font). Please include a complete APA-formatted citation for the paper you are critiquing: title, author, journal, and publication date. The citation may be included as a footnote.

Typically, 1.5 – 2 pages of the journal article critique will summarize the article. In writing the summary, bear in mind that an empirical research paper usually has four parts:

(1) Definition of the topic, review of work by others on the topic, description of the distinctive aspects of the research;

(2) Specification of the theoretical and/or methodological framework;

(3) Estimation of parameters and testing of hypotheses; and

(4) Discussion of results.

It will usually be appropriate to summarize each of these four parts. To fit your summary in 1.5 – 2 pages, you will have to be concise.

The 1.5 – 2 pages of summary will be followed by 1 – 1.5 pages of critique. Questions you must answer include: (1) Is the title of the article appropriate and clear?

(2) Is the abstract specific, representative of the article, and in the correct form?

(3) Is the purpose of the article made clear in the introduction?

(4) Has the author been objective in his or her discussion of the topic?

(5) Is the objective of the experiment or of the observations important for the field? How so?

(6) How does this article relate to the content in the textbook?

Professional articles will often involve statistical techniques or mathematical manipulations that may be difficult for undergraduate students to follow. I do not expect you to understand every single technical detail. I do, however expect you to understand the purpose and contribution of all major aspects of the article.