Question A: International Finance

1. Using the following website (https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/), pick a currency not listed in the "top 5" on the home page
2. Using the converter, how much is the currency you picked worth in terms of gold (XAU)? (e.g. 1 euro = 0.000585 oz gold, but you can't pick euros)
3. After doing the conversion, look at the currency conversion chart for the previous year. Has your currency been getting more or less valuable in terms of gold?

Question B: Recessions

1. Using the following website (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP), adjust the slider on the bottom to "zoom in" on 1970 to the present (i.e. "the last 50 years")
2. During this time span, which recessions (gray bars) look like the "worst" ones?
3. Now "zoom out" to the whole graph. Do those recessions look "better", "worse", or the same? Using what you know about long-run macro, why might that be the case?