1. Use panel data to study the effects of various economic policies on regional economic growth. Studying the effects of taxes and spending is natural, but other policies may be of interest. For...

1.
Use panel data to study the effects of various economic policies on regional economic growth. Studying the effects of taxes and spending is natural, but other policies may be of interest. For example, Craig, Jackson, and Thomson (2007) study the effects of Small Business Association Loan Guarantee programs on per capita income growth.

2.
Blinder and Watson (2014) have recently studied explanations for systematic differences in economic variables, particularly growth in real GDP, in the United States based on the political party of the sitting president. One might update the data to the most recent quarters and also study variables other

than GDP, such as unemployment.