Introduction to Macroeconomics
Syllabus
Summer 2010
"The
pessimist curses the direction of the wind; the optimist hopes the direction of
the wind will change; the leader simply adjusts the sails."
READ ME
CAREFULLY
Introduction
Welcome to Introduction to Macroeconomic Principles. It is a wonderful time to be taking a
macroeconomics course and I am confident the course material will
prove to be important far after the course is over. You should think of this
course as I do, An Intelligent Citizen's
Guide to Macroeconomics. At the end of the semester you should have a much
better understanding of many important public policy issues we will face in the
near future plus an insight into the heated debates over the economic stimulus
package and the unprecedented efforts by the Federal Reserve to bail out the
financial system. In fact, at the center of the course is the basic
question: what is the proper role the government can play using monetary and
fiscal policies to manage the economy? The role of the government is also a
central question in microeconomics, but here you will note early on that
macroeconomics, much more so than microeconomics, focuses on concepts that show
up on the nightly news or in the daily papers - inflation and unemployment,
economic growth and recessions, exchange rates, interest rates, budget deficits
and trade deficits.
You also need to know this course is a General Education course
where the three required skills are your ability to Read Complex Texts, Use of
Quantitative Data, and Use of
Information Technology. To succeed you will need to read articles from the
"popular" press and "push" around some numbers - and you
will be using IT to do it.
If you are still with me, than you
should review the course's goals to see what it is that you need to accomplish
in the course, the structure of the course, and the method of evaluation since
these are the "rules" for the semester - rules you need to understand
if the experience is to be a rewarding and successful one.
Before you move on to the content of the course, you should stop
to review the course's Goals to see if they
are consistent with your goals. You should also check out the method of Evaluation
and Texts and a brief overview of the Structure of the web. When you are ready you should check out the
schedule for the course that will link you to the readings and assignments for
each day. And before you get going check out a few tips on How to Succeed
Goals
The goals of the course are specified in terms of what you
should be able to do when the course is over and not what we will do during the
course. The course is designed to help you bridge the gap between
"theory" and "reality," and along the way you should learn
quite a bit about that "real" world into which you will be
graduating. There are a few basic economic principles that will be
valuable to you regardless of your major or career choice, and we'll start with
them. Another feature of the course is its emphasis is on thinking critically
and solving problems rather than memorizing. The good news is these are
THE skills demanded in today's dynamic work force. The bad news is this is
not easy. In fact it is quite difficult so you will need to practice at it,
which is why there are many opportunities during the semester to practice. As
for the goals, when this course is completed, you should be able to:
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effectively use interpret tables, graphs, and some simple
equations |
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identify the 'economic logic' or 'economic principles' useful
in interpreting current or historical events |
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describe the characteristics of alternative economic systems and the broad outlines
of the major ideological views on economic systems |
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explain the "theoretical" justification for
international trade and identify the pros and cons of free
trade |
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demonstrate an understanding of the supply and demand
model of prices |
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define the important macroeconomic variables and describe
their strengths, weaknesses, and track record |
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describe the evolution of economic theory and economic
policy including the key roles played by the Great Depression, the Great
Stagflation, and the Great Recession |
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utilize the AS-AD model to explain changes in macroeconomic
performance and the impact of policy decisions |
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explain the role of a monetary system in a modern economy
including the role of the Federal Reserve |
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explain the role of fiscal policy in a modern economy |
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explain the process of economic growth, identify economic
growth successes and failures, and identify policies that could affect growth
rates |
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better contribute to discussions on public policy and election
issues |
This course contains the material of a traditional in-class
macroeconomics course delivered in an on-line format, which means you will find
is there is considerable flexibility in terms of when you do your work, but
there are deadlines
that are ABSOLUTE and you owe it to
yourself to make sure you are aware of the deadlines. I have talked with too
may instructors who comment on the "missing" students in on-line
courses, the student who disappears or who consistently misses assignments.
Make sure you get all of the dates down on your planners before you begin the
semester.
The course also requires you to use Web CT, an interface
between you and the material. Once you are into Web CT you will find the
following parts to the course that can be accessed from the home page. Each of these links is explained briefly below.
The Schedule page is where you will find the schedule for readings,
exams, quizzes, extra credit opportunities and practice quizzes. This page should
be monitored regularly because
this includes all of the deadlines you need to meet during the semester.
·
Readings links you to the textbook - or the closest you will come to one in
the course. Under
the Readings heading you will find two sets of readings. The first are the equivalent
of the textbook and they are available online. Also included are outside
readings drawn from newspapers, magazine, and academic journals.
·
Practice Questions
page contains questions that have been asked in the past and they provide you
with some idea of what you might expect on your exams. Think of them as
diagnostic tests that let you know before the exams and quizzes what you need
to work on, since it is better to know before you are taking the quizzes and
exams that count towards your grade.
The Message link is for on-to-one communications and it is the email you
should use to contact me about course related material. You should check it on
a regular basis.
The Discussion and Private
Message link is for one-to-many
communications. This link you should check on a regular basis since this will
be used as a means of getting information to the class regarding the course plus it is a great place to post
questions that you should post under the Class Info link. The FYI is for info
that is interesting but not directly related to macro. This is also the online
version of class participation. You will not be expected to contribute to all
discussions, but you are expected to make a meaningful contribution to the
discussions during the course.
You will be asked to demonstrate your command of the course
material in online online exams, and discussions. There are (4) four semester
exams and a final exam that will contain questions based on the required
readings. The exams in this course will focus primarily on your skill at
applying the principles and concepts discussed in the course rather than on
your recall skills. For many, maybe most of you,
recall questions are what you have become accustomed to in your travels through
the education system, but here you will see few of them. Furthermore, each
exam is constructed based upon the assumption it is an open-book open-note exam
- which is what it is in an online course. Economics will matter to you because
it helps you understand your world, because you can relate it to your work as a
pharmacist, an accountant, or a retail buyer and no instructor can anticipate
where it will come into play in your world. This means that the
exams will tend to be difficult and the scores somewhat lower than if the
questions had been recall questions.
THE EXAMS HAVE VERY SPECIFIC DATES AND TIMES THAT THEY ARE OPEN FOR
YOU TO TAKE AND YOU SHOULD MAKE SURE YOU REVIEW THE DATES AND WORK YOUR
SCHEDULE AROUND SO YOU CAN MEET THEM. THERE ARE NO ALLOWANCES FOR MISSED EXAMS,
SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT DATES AND TIMES. I MEAN IT, CHECK OUT THE
DATES AND TIMES.
There will also be some discussions regarding current policy
issues or questions on the course readings that you will be expected to
contribute to during the semester. During the course I will post
questions on the week's reading or an article from the news to a discussion
list and you will be required to participate in 4 of the discussions during the
semester. The grades in the course will be based upon the following
weighting scheme.
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Discussions |
15 |
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Exams |
60 |
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worst semester exam |
10 |
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other semester exams |
50 |
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Final
exam |
25 |
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Total |
100 |
So, as you begin to make your choices, keep in mind the fact
your success in the future is likely to depend less on your major or your first
employer and more on the skills you acquire, more on your creativity,
originality and ability to think critically than on your ability to store and
recall information. With a positive attitude and good choices, you can position
yourself well for entry into the new "real world" and even have some
fun in ECN 202.
How to Succeed
If you got this far, you have already demonstrated an
interest in doing well, so think about the following "Tips for
Success" that I have learned from talking with students about their
successes and failures in the course. Isaac Newton once explained his
greatness by noting that "I stand
upon the shoulders of the giants of the past," and you will have the
chance to learn from those who came before you. As a starter, I would
suggest you read
1.
show up: what do you say to a student
who writes you a letter describing the problems they had with the class and you
see he/she has missed half the classes. I am more inclined to give the F
they "earned" rather than the sympathy they seek. Also, there is a
statistical relationship between attendance and grades, so keep this in mind as
you think about not showing up.
2.
read: imagine my surprise when I
asked a failing student if they had done the readings and the response was
"some of them." The exams are built on the readings and the
class discussions, so I would expect the non reading student "earned"
that F.
3.
practice: Every exam question is a word
problem, so you need to get good at identifying problems - and solving them -
and you get good with practice. So look at the previous exams to get
yourself ready for the real exam. [Be careful,
however, when studying past questions since I will seldom ask the same question
and you will be penalized if you take the approach "this looks like that
earlier questions where the answer was___." You can count on me
having changed something from the original even if it looks similar so try to
reason through the question rather than recall an earlier answer.]
4.
manage your time: What do you tell
a flunking student who works 40+ hours a week and takes a full-time load?
I tend toward telling them that Superman and Superwoman were only imaginary
superheroes. While I know school is not cheap, this is a recipe for
disaster for the overwhelming majority of students. You need to manage
your time, and why not start where most of your instructors did when they were
in college. You have 8 hours of classes each week, and each hour of class
"comes with" three hours outside of class - so now we are talking 32
hours per week devoted to the course. Add on to that those 40 hours of
work and you are at 72 hours - and you only have 168 hours in a week.
This gives you about 14 hours for sleeping, eating, and .... You get the
picture.
5.
turn off those cell phones: While time is
scarce and must be managed, you can also do things that help you get more out
of your time. As a starter, turn off those cell phones. How can you
really study if the cell phone is continuously interrupting you? You
can't, so take some time during the day where your friends and family know you
are "off line It will not take long for "the world" to realize
you are busy and they must work around your work schedule.
So now let's get to the course, and take the first step toward a
successful semester.