Week 3 — Readings & Resources

Course: Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON 2) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Ashford
Focus: Measuring Inflation & Unemployment · Objective 3

Everything below is a link to a free external resource — nothing is embedded, copied, or downloaded. Links were verified live at build time; if one ever rots, the per-term update re-checks them. (Canvas: a Page of links + ExternalUrl module items.)

📖 Read (≈25 min)

1. OpenStax, Principles of Macroeconomics 3e — Ch. 9, "Introduction to Inflation" (Tracking Inflation; How to Measure Changes in the Cost of Living)
   🔗 https://openstax.org/books/principles-macroeconomics-3e/pages/9-introduction-to-inflation
   CPI construction, the inflation rate, and a hyperinflation case study — the spine of today's CPI material.

2. OpenStax, Principles of Macroeconomics 3e — Ch. 8, "Introduction to Unemployment"
   🔗 https://openstax.org/books/principles-macroeconomics-3e/pages/8-introduction-to-unemployment
   The unemployment rate, the labor-force participation rate, and the types of unemployment — the spine of today's labor-market material.

▶️ Watch (≈10 min)

3. CrashCourse Economics #7 — "Inflation and Bubbles and Tulips." (Adriene Hill & Jacob Clifford)
   🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8-85cZRI9o
   How and why prices rise, plus a look at economic bubbles — a fast, friendly companion to today's CPI lecture.

🛠️ Tools & Data for this week (links only)

4. CPI Home — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
   🔗 https://www.bls.gov/cpi/
   The official source for the real-world CPI — see how a national statistical agency builds and reports the index you computed by hand today.

5. CPS Home (Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
   🔗 https://www.bls.gov/cps/
   The official source for the real-world unemployment rate and labor-force participation rate — the same two numbers you'll compute in this week's Workshop, reported monthly for the actual U.S. economy.

Why these earn the click: OpenStax Ch. 9 and Ch. 8 are the spine of today's CPI and unemployment material; CrashCourse gives the price-level story in voice and motion; the BLS pages show you the exact real-world versions of the CPI and the unemployment rate you're computing by hand this week — the Workshop's data anchor.