AP Macroeconomics Project Ideas: 30 Research Questions by Unit

Below are 30 AP Macroeconomics project ideas, grouped by course unit. Each one is a specific question you can answer with free public data, so you can move straight to analysis.

Use them for a class project, an end-of-year assignment after the exam, or an independent research paper.

Unit 1: Basic economic concepts

1. How did the price of eggs respond to supply shocks in the US between 2021 and 2024? (Data: FRED, BLS average price data)

2. Which countries have the highest opportunity cost of military spending, measured as a share of GDP? (Data: World Bank)

3. How does rent control affect housing supply in one city? Compare two cities with and without it. (Data: local housing reports, Census)

4. What happened to gasoline prices and quantity demanded after a major price spike? (Data: US Energy Information Administration)

5. How do tariffs on one product change its domestic price? Pick one tariff and compare prices before and after. (Data: BLS import price indexes)

Unit 2: Economic indicators and the business cycle

1. How well did the unemployment rate predict the last three US recessions? (Data: FRED, NBER recession dates)

2. How different is CPI inflation from PCE inflation, and why does the Fed prefer PCE? (Data: FRED)

3. Is youth unemployment more sensitive to recessions than overall unemployment? (Data: BLS)

4. How does real GDP per capita growth compare across India, Brazil, and Indonesia since 2000? (Data: World Bank)

5. Does the yield curve inversion reliably signal a recession? (Data: FRED 10-year minus 2-year spread)

Unit 3: National income and price determination

1. Did COVID-era stimulus checks raise consumer spending, and by how much? (Data: FRED personal consumption expenditures)

2. How large is the US government spending multiplier estimated to be? Compare three published estimates.

3. How do energy price shocks show up as cost-push inflation? (Data: FRED oil prices and CPI)

4. How did aggregate demand shift during the 2008 financial crisis? Use GDP components. (Data: BEA)

5. Which components of GDP fell most in each of the last three recessions? (Data: BEA)

Unit 4: The financial sector

1. How quickly do mortgage rates follow changes in the federal funds rate? (Data: FRED)

2. How did the money supply (M2) change during 2020 to 2022, and did inflation follow? (Data: FRED)

3. Why did bank failures cluster in 2023? Compare interest rate exposure of failed and surviving banks.

4. How do savings account rates at large banks compare with the federal funds rate over time? (Data: FDIC national rates)

5. How has the Fed's balance sheet changed since 2008? (Data: Federal Reserve H.4.1 releases)

Unit 5: Long-run consequences of stabilization policies

1. Is the Phillips curve still visible in US data since 2000? (Data: FRED unemployment and inflation)

2. How does government debt as a share of GDP relate to long-term interest rates across countries? (Data: IMF, OECD)

3. Does crowding out show up when government borrowing rises? Compare deficits and private investment. (Data: FRED)

4. Which countries grew fastest in productivity over 20 years, and what did they share? (Data: Penn World Table)

5. How did inflation expectations move during the 2021 to 2023 inflation episode? (Data: University of Michigan survey, FRED)

Unit 6: The open economy and international trade

1. How did the US dollar's strength in 2022 affect emerging-market currencies? (Data: FRED exchange rates)

2. Does a weaker currency improve a country's trade balance? Test one country over 10 years. (Data: World Bank, IMF)

3. How large are remittances relative to GDP in India, the Philippines, and Mexico? (Data: World Bank)

4. How do interest rate differences between the US and another country affect their exchange rate? (Data: FRED, central bank sites)

5. Which countries run the largest current account surpluses and deficits, and why? (Data: IMF)

How to turn an idea into a strong project

1. Narrow it. Pick one country, one time period, and one relationship.

2. State a prediction. Use the AP model: "If the Fed raises rates, mortgage rates should rise within X months."

3. Get the data. FRED lets you chart and download most US series in minutes.

4. Chart it. One clear chart with labeled axes and units is worth more than five cluttered ones.

5. Connect it to the model. Explain what an AD-AS, money market, or loanable funds graph predicts, then compare it with the data.

6. State limitations. Other events in the same period may explain what you see.

Common mistakes

• Topics that are too broad ("inflation in America").

• Data with no link back to a course model.

• Treating correlation as proof of cause.

• Using nominal figures where real figures are needed.

• Charts with no units or source.

What makes a good AP Macro project topic?

A good topic has a clear question, public data you can access in an afternoon, and a direct link to a model from the course. Questions about recent events work well because the data and coverage are easy to find.

Where to find macroeconomic data

• FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis): US and international series with built-in charts

• BEA: US GDP and its components

• BLS: inflation, employment, wages

• World Bank Open Data and IMF: cross-country comparisons

Want to take a macro question further than a class project? GRF's Research Desk is a six-week, finance-only cohort where each Fellow writes an individually authored research report with written mentor feedback on every draft. Apply to the Research Desk

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