### Writing Assignments

##### Graduate and Undergraduate Triumph of the City Essays

To provide an incentive to read Glaeser’s “Triumph,” short essays are assigned. The point of these essays is to motivate reading of the chapters and so grading will depend on the variety of chapters you include in your discussion.

##### Essay 1, Due Jan. 25. 2-3 pages.

“Three important benefits that cities provide society and the economy include \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, and \_\_\_\_\_\_\_. And of these, the most important is \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” The essay should include a short description of the three most important benefits of cities and an argument as to which is most important (there is no right answer to what goes in the blanks). For these, do not include publicly provided goods like libraries, roads, schools, parks, etc. Instead, look for what cities do for people and their productivity.

##### Essay 2, Due Feb. 1. 2-3 pages.

“For a city to be successful, local governments must ensure or provide the following: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, and \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. Of these, the most important is \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” The essay should include a short description of the three most important functions of government in cities and an argument as to which is most important (there is no right answer to what goes in the blanks). Think conceptually here. Yes, roads and police are important, but what are the conceptual things that cities need to provide for people.

##### Undergraduate Color of Law Project (start working on this mid-March – maybe read the book over spring break!)

Economists are always promoting and extolling the virtues of free markets. Some economists focus on the efficiency gains that result from markets while others go further and believe the liberty facilitated by free markets is, in itself, one of their greatest benefits. In “The Color of Law”, Rothstein describes that in the most fundamental markets, the market for where people live, governments at the local, state, and federal level severely limited options based on race.

Everyone must read chapter 1. While I encourage you to read the entire book, once we get past the second mid-term exam I am going to have you form groups of two students. Together, I would like you to tell the story of one of the chapters (chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8. 9 – but not chapter 6, it’s too short) in two forms. First, write an essay that basically restates the chapter as an economic history lecture. For each chapter, the basics are that elements of society worked to maintain or create segregation and governments at some level were either directly or indirectly involved. Rothstein likes to move the narrative forward through personal stories. For this, I’d like you to focus on the policy and government involvement in constraining markets. You should decide on a main theme of the chapter as a way to motivate the essay, but then use the paragraphs to reorganize the material and on the topic at hand. The essay should be 4-5 pages long (double-spaced, 12 point Calibri font with 1” margins). Second, I’d like you to build a 6-8 slide Powerpoint presentation that would form a lecture based on your essay. At the end, each member of each group will grade their team members (we all know what it is like to have a team member that was as useful as food poisoning).