Apply your reasoning to a separate case
These versioned cases add distinct evidence to the portfolio. Earlier drafts and local submissions remain intact. Write your explanation before revealing review notes when you want to retain a pre-feedback attempt.
NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Choose output when private and external costs differ
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record market
Citation ID: social:independent:microeconomics:v1-market
Fictional independent unit trades: buyer values are 16,13,9,6 credits. Corresponding marginal production costs are 4,7,10,13. Trades occur in that order when buyer value is at least production cost. There is no strategic price-setting in this rule.
Record external
Citation ID: social:independent:microeconomics:v1-external
Each traded unit causes 5 credits of uncompensated harm to others. The private trade rule ignores it. Treat harms as additive and certain for this exercise.
Record revision
Citation ID: social:independent:microeconomics:v1-revision
A revised estimate makes external harm 10 per unit. The production and value schedules do not change. No tax or enforcement mechanism has been implemented.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Reconcile output and labor headlines
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record output
Citation ID: social:independent:macroeconomics:v1-output
Fictional economy: nominal output rises from 200 to 242 units while a compatible output price index rises from 100 to 110. Use this one-index simplification; it is not an official chain-weighted calculation.
Record labor
Citation ID: social:independent:macroeconomics:v1-labor
Initially 90 employed and 10 unemployed people form a labor force of 100 in a relevant adult population 125. Later 5 job seekers stop searching; employment and population remain unchanged.
Record headline
Citation ID: social:independent:macroeconomics:v1-headline
A report says output grew 21% in real terms and five people found work because unemployment fell. It gives no distributional or wellbeing measures.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Audit a bank operation and two interest-market claims
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record operation
Citation ID: social:independent:financial-sector:v1-operation
Fictional opening accounts, credits: central bank securities 150, reserve liabilities 90, public currency 60, equity 0. Commercial banking sector reserves 90, securities 30, loans 180, customer deposits 270, equity 30. A nonbank holds securities 60 and the listed deposits. The central bank buys 12 of securities from that nonbank and settles through its bank deposit. No new commercial loan, repayment, valuation change or currency withdrawal occurs. Nonbank holdings are a partial portfolio, not a complete balance sheet.
Record money-market
Citation ID: social:independent:financial-sector:v1-money-market
Separate fictional classroom scenario, not a calibrated consequence of operation: nominal annual interest i is in percentage-point numbers. Desired money balances Md=150-15i; initial fixed supply 90; later fixed supply 105. Hold demand fixed. Quantities are stocks in teaching units.
Record financing-market
Citation ID: social:independent:financial-sector:v1-financing-market
Another independent fictional scenario: real annual interest r is in percentage-point numbers; private saving S=12+3r and private investment demand I=48-3r, in credits per year. Initial public borrowing is zero; later add government borrowing 12 to total financing demand. Hold these private schedules fixed.
Record expectations
Citation ID: social:independent:financial-sector:v1-expectations
Separate transmission counterexample: a nominal borrowing rate falls from 6% to 4%, while expected inflation falls from 2% to 0%. Use the additive expected-real-rate approximation. Investment schedule I=50-3r, in annual teaching expenditure units. A briefing claims every nominal-rate cut necessarily increases investment.
Record claim
Citation ID: social:independent:financial-sector:v1-claim
A fictional briefing says: The central-bank purchase immediately creates 120 of new bank loans because the multiplier is ten; both interest-market graphs use real rates and money stocks; public borrowing 12 displaces exactly 12 of private investment; and the nominal-rate cut proves investment rose. No reserve requirement, lending-response estimate, observed market-rate series or output-response evidence is supplied.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Reconcile external accounts and challenge a currency-policy briefing
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record accounts
Citation ID: social:independent:open-economy:v1-accounts
Fictional annual flows in common domestic accounting credits: goods exports90, goods imports120, net services receipts20, net primary income-2, net current transfers-3. Net capital transfers received2. Residents acquire foreign financial assets12 and incur liabilities to nonresidents25. No derivatives, valuation changes or statistical discrepancy. Use financial inflow-positive balance=liabilities incurred minus assets acquired; also translate to net-lending-positive presentation. These aggregate records describe a different scenario from the market below.
Record currency-market
Citation ID: social:independent:open-economy:v1-currency-market
Separate fictional market: e is foreign units per domestic unit; Q is domestic currency units per period. Original demand Qd=110-10e; supply Qs=30+10e. An independently stipulated increase in foreign demand for domestic assets raises demand to130-10e. Supply stays fixed. Calculate clearing before/after and the imbalance at the old quote after the shift. No allocation rule, adjustment timing or reserve stock is supplied.
Record invoices
Citation ID: social:independent:open-economy:v1-invoices
For the currency-market quotes, a foreign seller fixes a machine price at50 foreign units and a domestic seller fixes an export price at8 domestic credits. No fees or price changes. Quantities purchased are not supplied.
Record policy
Citation ID: social:independent:open-economy:v1-policy
Another separate record: nominal domestic borrowing rate falls from5% to3%, expected inflation from2% to0%. Use the additive expected-real-rate approximation and investment schedule I=60-4r. Foreign rates, risk, actual capital flows and observed trade quantities are unavailable.
Record briefing
Citation ID: social:independent:open-economy:v1-briefing
An analyst claims: The goods balance is the complete current account; negative net-lending financial transactions prove an outflow. The currency-market shift makes domestic currency depreciate by the same percentage as the reciprocal quote rises. It proves net exports and total output fall by the same percentage. The nominal-rate cut guarantees higher investment and caused the separately stipulated asset-demand shift.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Audit a growth claim and compare a delayed capacity policy
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record production
Citation ID: social:independent:growth-policy:v1-production
Fictional comparable annual records. Year A: real output 2400 units, residents 120, employed workers 60, total hours 120000. Year B: output 2640, residents 132, workers 66, total hours 132000. Year C: output 2772, residents 132, workers 66, total hours 126000. Output quality and measurement definitions are fixed. No information identifies training, equipment, worker composition or technology changes.
Record capital
Citation ID: social:independent:growth-policy:v1-capital
Separate prospective two-year equipment ledger. Opening stock 150 units; retire 10% of each year's opening stock; install gross investment at year end. Baseline investment 20 each year. Policy scenario investment 12 each year. Ignore other stock changes. An alternative public asset installs 10 units at the end of year one, then depreciates 10% in year two with no new additions. Private and public units are physical counts; their productive services need not be equivalent.
Record demand
Citation ID: social:independent:growth-policy:v1-demand
Separate teaching economy: AD P=A-Y, SRAS P=30+Y, potential output 90. Initially A=190. A package adds 20 to A when delivered; no extra multiplier. Before delivery, private recovery raises non-policy A to210. All values are teaching units. At delivery, supply and potential are unchanged.
Record capacity
Citation ID: social:independent:growth-policy:v1-capacity
Later success scenario: the package raises potential output to100 and changes SRAS to P=10+Y. AD remains P=230-Y. Failure scenario: no productive-capacity improvement. No longer-run wage/price adjustment rule, probabilities, policy costs or distributional effects are supplied. These are stipulated scenarios, not observed impacts of the equipment ledger.
Record memo
Citation ID: social:independent:growth-policy:v1-memo
An adviser claims: Year B proves workers became10% more productive and everyone became better off. Year C proves training caused a10% hourly productivity gain. Any positive gross investment grows the capital stock; public units replace private productive services one for one. The package closes the original output gap even if private recovery occurs before delivery, and the later success scenario proves the policy is worth its cost.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Reconcile inflation, expectations and a changing debt ratio
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record quantity
Citation ID: social:independent:inflation-debt:v1-quantity
Separate fictional annual records, consistent definitions. Year 0: money stock100 credits, velocity4 per year, real output200 units. Year 1: money110, velocity4, real output220. Year 2: money121, velocity3.8, real output220. Year 3: money133.1, velocity3.8, real output242. Use MV=PY; P is credits per output unit. These observations do not supply a behavioral model or an identified monetary intervention.
Record expectations
Citation ID: social:independent:inflation-debt:v1-expectations
Separate one-period teaching model: inflation pi=e-(u-5)+s, with all rates in percentage-point numbers. Expected inflation e initially2, natural unemployment5, disturbance s initially0. An observed point has unemployment6 and inflation4. Compare two proposed explanations: e remains2 while s becomes3; or e becomes5 while s stays0. Do not assume either explanation is observed. The vertical natural-rate benchmark is u=5; a stationary expectations-consistent point additionally requires no disturbance and actual inflation equal to expected inflation.
Record budget
Citation ID: social:independent:inflation-debt:v1-budget
Separate fictional government, credits. Opening gross debt200; prior annual nominal GDP400. Interest is5% of each year's opening debt, paid in that year. Year 1: purchases60, transfers15, revenues80, nominal GDP440; acquire a financial asset for6 using new debt outside this exercise's deficit measure. Year 2: purchases62, transfers16, revenues92, nominal GDP420; no asset acquisition. Overall deficit = purchases + transfers + interest - revenues; negative means surplus. End debt = opening debt + overall deficit + debt-financed asset acquisition. No other adjustments; retain unrounded intermediate values. Asset quality, real output, price breakdown, maturity and refinancing conditions are unknown.
Record briefing
Citation ID: social:independent:inflation-debt:v1-briefing
An analyst argues: Money grows10% each year, so inflation is10% each year. The unemployment/inflation point uniquely proves expectations increased, and the natural-rate intersection is always stationary. A lower debt/GDP ratio proves repayment, while a rising ratio proves a deficit. The asset acquisition must be added to purchases, and these records demonstrate that one policy caused every outcome.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Audit an archive access and fairness brief
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record service
Citation ID: social:independent:archive-access:v1-service
A fictional town proposes a digital historical archive. Once created, anyone can read its openly accessible files; assume spare server capacity, no access restrictions and no reduction in other readers' service from one additional reader. Separately, the town offers four reservable scanning-machine appointments each afternoon. A reservation code can exclude nonholders, and one person using a machine prevents another from using that slot. Public ownership applies to both services.
Record providers
Citation ID: social:independent:archive-access:v1-providers
Five storefronts offer commercial scanning nearby. Three share one owner; each remaining store is independently owned. Prices, location and service quality differ. Customers may use a mail-in service, but switching patterns and entry costs are unknown. A council brief says: "Five stores prove perfect competition, so every supplier must take the same price."
Record funding
Citation ID: social:independent:archive-access:v1-funding
For one period, creating the open archive uses 90 credits of real resources. Three exhaustive, nonoverlapping user groups have aggregate benefits of 45, 35 and 25 credits under the teaching assumptions. These are benefits of the same archive, not competing purchases. A compulsory financing proposal charges the groups 30 each. Collecting these charges uses a further 12 credits of resources, paid from a separate public budget; no other effects are included. A voluntary contribution survey collects pledges totaling only 40. The brief calls the archive worthless because pledges are below its creation cost.
Record survey
Citation ID: social:independent:archive-access:v1-survey
A separate fictional access survey covers four households with sizes 2, 4, 1 and 3 people. Annual incomes are 18, 35, 12 and 30 credits; corresponding teaching poverty cutoffs are 20, 32, 15 and 30. All household members count as poor only when their household income is strictly below its cutoff. Nobody is counted twice. These are not official thresholds. An audit later finds the second household's income unverified; household size remains known. The brief reports that "half the population is poor" and treats the unverified income as zero.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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NEW APPLICATION · VERSION 1Audit a workshop hiring and wage-policy brief
Use this packet for a fresh written application. All records below are original fictional teaching materials. They test reasoning under stated conditions and do not establish actual historical or population facts. Your original course-project draft remains separate.
Record production
Citation ID: social:independent:workshop-hiring:v1-production
A fictional workshop chooses 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 workers for one day. Extra revenue from the first through fourth workers is respectively 14, 12, 10 and 8 credits. These are incremental revenues, not cumulative totals. No fifth worker can be hired in this case. There are no variable costs other than wages.
Record pay
Citation ID: social:independent:workshop-hiring:v1-pay
To attract L workers without a wage floor, the workshop must pay every hired worker the same daily wage: 2 + 2L credits. With a floor F, the common wage is whichever is larger: F or 2 + 2L. The floor does not require any hires. Compare F=0, F=8 and F=12. All hiring choices are feasible if this pay rule is met; no discrimination between workers in pay is allowed.
Record commitment
Citation ID: social:independent:workshop-hiring:v1-commitment
A 9-credit equipment fee is already contractually committed for this day. It is payable even if the workshop hires no workers, and cannot be recovered by closing today. Profit for each choice equals total revenue minus the whole wage bill minus this fee. The owner maximizes this one-day profit. Do not invent a tie-breaking preference. Next month a different equipment contract could be avoidable; that is not the current decision.
Record observation
Citation ID: social:independent:workshop-hiring:v1-observation
Separate fictional observational records report employment across ten tracked businesses in policy district A rising from 40 to 44 workers, and across ten tracked businesses in comparison district B rising from 50 to 60 in the same interval. All twenty businesses are tracked in both periods. A introduced a wage floor; B did not. No prior trends, hours, worker earnings, industry composition, other policy changes or uncertainty estimates are supplied. These district totals are not the single workshop’s model outputs.
Record brief
Citation ID: social:independent:workshop-hiring:v1-brief
A proposed brief states: use the new worker’s wage as the entire incremental hiring cost; at a floor of 12 the workshop must close because every plan loses money; and A’s four added jobs prove the floor created jobs and improved everyone’s welfare. The brief gives no evidence beyond these records.
This case is shared across paths that use it. Revisiting it in another course retains drafts and known review-note exposure; it is not a new unseen assessment.
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Record market
Citation ID:
social:independent:microeconomics:v1-marketFictional independent unit trades: buyer values are 16,13,9,6 credits. Corresponding marginal production costs are 4,7,10,13. Trades occur in that order when buyer value is at least production cost. There is no strategic price-setting in this rule.