Question 1: Go to the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom at. Click on "Ranking" or "View the full list" to see the ranking of all of the countries in the world. Find the United States on the list and click to see more details. Click on "Government Spending" to answer the questions below.

a. Has government spending increased or decreased from the previous year?

b. How has that affected the overall "score" that the United States receives in the Index of Economic Freedom? Why do you think this is? Is increased government spending good or bad for the economy?

c. Draw a production possibilities curve with "Government Output" on one axis and "Consumer Goods" on the other axis, show the change you discuss above. Use one point on the curve to represent the current year (or the most recent year of the index if it hasn't been updated yet) and another point to represent the previous year. (Assume that the production possibilities did not shift from the previous year.)