The Covid-19 outbreak was the largest macroeconomic shock that economies experienced since the Global Financial Crisis in 2007/2008. The pandemic resulted in many Governments imposing lockdowns in order to protect the health of their citizens and mitigate the spread of the disease. The pandemic also caused Governments to implement a wide variety of economic stimulus and support packages. Your task in this essay is to: 

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• (1) Describe the macroeconomic impacts of Covid-19. For instance, this could include an analysis of how unemployment rate was affected, the underemployment rate, prices (i.e. inflation rates), real GDP etc. In answering this question, you can choose to include an analysis of how macroeconomic variables were impacted in several nations, or in just the one nation. 
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• (2) Explain the various ways in which a particular country of your choice (just one country) implemented stimulatory fiscal and monetary policies, and why they enacted these policies (i.e. what was the point of these Government interventions?). 
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 In your essay, you can use graphs, figures and/or tables to show/summarise both the impacts of Covid-19 on macroeconomic outcomes and the response of Governments through fiscal and monetary policies in your chosen country. In approaching the essay, think about what you have learned in the course. For example, since one persons spending is someone's income, what effect did lockdowns have on overall economic activity? What were the flow on effects on the unemployment rate, real GDP etc? Spend some time thinking about how to relate the impact of lockdowns on the economy (in other words, try and think like a macroeconomist would). You then need to think about the types of policies that both Treasury departments and central banks took to stimulate their respective economies. What sort of policies were they? How does for instance a decrease interest rates influence peoples expectations and hence economy activity? As you can see, you need to have some sort of understanding about how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. A few suggestions: Structure: Think about how to structure your essay. It should include an: 

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• Introduction  where you introduce the topic, what your essay will be about and what is included in the relevant sections in your essay.
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• Body  here you can be creative. However, the body of the essay should include for instance a section on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on macroeconomic outcomes (i.e. real GDP, unemployment etc.), and what sort of policies were implemented by Governments. You can include graphs, Figures, tables etc. to explain both the effects of Covid-19 and the response of Governments.
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• Conclusion  this is where you sum up what has been done in your essay  you do not include any new ideas/arguments in the conclusion.
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 Sources: you can utilise sources from the internet, books, journal articles, newspaper articles. You will need to spend some time doing research. All articles need to be properly referenced. A reference guide is provided by the University: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/library/referencing Google scholar is also a good way to find academic articles and is a way to generate references (just google google scholar). A note on paraphrasing. Paraphrasing means that you take the ideas/arguments of others and put them in your own words (whilst still referencing the original source). Paraphrasing does not mean that you copy/paste and change two/three words. A note of writing: Start writing early  even if it is just a few dot points. It is part of the writing process that you put some ideas down on paper, leave it, then come back to it. Similarly, after writing the first draft of your essay, leave it for a few days, then come back to it and re-read it carefully. Every new idea/argument should have a new paragraph. Moreover, keep the sentences short. If you are reading your work, and have to take multiple breaths when reading a single sentence, this means that the sentence is too long.