MacroJournal: Turning students into practitioners

Incorporating currents events into an economics curriculum is a goal of many dedicated instructors. The benefits of doing so are obvious. Unfortunately, the costs associated with implementation are nontrivial. In the following, the authors introduce an experiential writing assignment, called the MacroJournal, which streamlines the process of incorporating current events into a macroeconomics course. The costs for the instructor are mitigated by a repeated structure of questioning and a well-defined grading rubric. By completing the assignment, students have an opportunity to become practitioners and link current events to classroom theory.