In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, US legislators and President Trump worked together to pass the
CARES Act—an emergency economic stimulus meant to brunt the economic fallout from the shutdowns that
were implemented throughout the nation. Among other provisions, the CARES Act supplemented
unemployment programs at the state level by offering an additional $600/week, to be funded by the federal
government. Many commentators, in both the media and policy outlets, quickly noted that this level of benefits
was likely to exceed the wages of the lowest paid workers in many states. They worried that the program was
thus encouraging laid off workers to stay laid off (or even quit existing jobs) in order to take advantage of more
lucrative wages. The level of concern over this possibility varies by news outlet and policy outlet. Write an
essay about this situation that does the following:
1) BRIEFLY describe the unemployment program in the CARES legislation, and describe the debate over the
level and duration of its benefits
**It is absolutely critical that you do enough background reading to describe the program accurately. It is, for
example, NOT TRUE that a worker could simply quit a job for no reason other than to claim benefits. So be
sure to do your reading—the links above should suffice—and do not make false statements about the benefits.
2) Describe how different social science traditions tend to understand the role of economic incentives in driving
behavior. How have economists tended to understand such incentives? Sociologists? Is there reason to think
that a desire to collect more money might NOT be the primary reason why workers would decide to stay home
or return to work? What other considerations may they have? Tie this all together to compose a complete
essay about assumptions about human nature, public policy in times of crisis, and the various needs that
workers and families are balancing.
**To do so, you are REQUIRED to draw upon the article by Duflo and Banarjee (“Economic Incentives Don’t
Always Do What we Want Them To”). This is the link to the Duflo and Banarjee (“Economic Incentives Don’t Always Do What we Want Them To”) article to draw from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/opinion/sunday/duflo-banerjee-economic-incentives.html . You must also identify and make use of at least 2 other sources to make your argument: the articles Carcasson (carcasson article provided in files attached), Basu (basu article provided in files attached) seem especially useful! As always, there are numerous ways to go about this essay.
In grading your essay(s), I will also use the following criteria:
Does your paper have a clear focus and central thesis that can be summarized in 1-2 sentences and that
answers an implied question or questions?
(D-F=no central claim; A=focused around central thesis)
Is it effectively organized, leading to a clear conclusion?
(D-F=confusing disorganized; A= clear, logical)
Does your paper SUPPORT claims with evidence, including reasoning, examples, analogies, and
findings/ideas of authorities? (In this case, does it apply clearly understood theories to the evidence found in
news sources?) Does it appropriately and accurately quote, paraphrase, and summarize articles and attribute
those ideas to their authors? Only include 1-2 direct quotes throughout the whole paper, the rest should be
paraphrasing or summarizing the articles or ideas from the authors.
(D-F=examples missing or inappropriate, inaccurate representation of others’ ideas; A=appropriate examples,
quotations well-chosen and accurate).
Is it edited for CLARITY: accurate and error-free sentences clearly communicate unambiguous meaning?
(D-F=incorrect, interferes with communication; A=correct, contributes to communication).
Welcome to Legit Writing
