1. Research an economy that has recently been (or is currently) in a recession.

The United States of America experienced an economic recession recently.

During 2007 and 2009, the  economy declined severely due to housing market bubbles, as well as the financial crisis globally. To relieve the recession, the United States carried out fiscal stimulus plans and implemented various strategies related to federal spending as well as tax policies.

2. Identify the causes of the recession and try to link them with what you have learned about the factors that cause aggregate demand and/or short-run aggregate supply to shift.

As mentioned in question one, the  economy in the United States declined severely during 2007 and 2009 mainly due to housing market bubbles and the financial crisis globally. And from what I have learned about the factors that cause aggregate demand, an increase in consumption spending and investment spending may shift the aggregate demand curve to the right while a decrease in such factors will shift it to the left. Therefore, unrealistic and inflated demand for housing investment and valuation eventually contributed to the housing bubble and affected the economics globally.