DRAFT 3/16/2017 GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF POLICY, GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS MASTER S PROGRAM

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1 DRAFT 3/16/2017 GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF POLICY, GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS MASTER S PROGRAM ITRN: MACROECONOMICS in the GLOBAL ECONOMY (HYBRID COURSE) Summer 2017 (B Session) Instructor: Mark Keightley, Ph.D. Class: Monday 7:20pm-10:00pm, Founders Hall 467 Office: Hours: 6:30pm-7:15pm Course Site: Blackboard mkeightl@gmu.edu Direct Phone: * Please review this syllabus thoroughly before registering for this class. ** You will need the textbook on the first day of class *** Review the dates for the midterm and final these dates will not change. If you have a conflict, you should not take this course. Course Overview and Learning Objectives This class is intended to provide you with a general background of the fields of macroeconomics (domestically and internationally) and investment. The course will take more of a bird s eye view of multiple issues. We are not going to get bogged down in the weeds of every macroeconomic and investment theory or issue. Rather, we will look at a range of different issues and understand how economists apply various economic tools to those issues. At the end of this class you should be able to participate in debates over, and ask informed questions about, major macroeconomics issues like the state of the U.S. and EU economies, current fiscal and monetary policy, the stock market, as well as be able to understand and read critically articles about the economy. While we will take more of a practitioner s approach to studying the economy, the first handful or so of chapters will be spent building the economic foundation from which we can study real world issues. There is a tendency in a class like this for students to want to just dive head first into policy issues. This is dangerous because without a strong foundation, one has no framework within which various policies can evaluated according to economic and quantitative criteria. Simply put, without building a reasonably strong economic foundation, everything becomes a matter of opinion, and while there is plenty of what look like just opinions among economists, they are actually debates within an accepted economic framework.

2 Hybrid Nature of This Course This course is being taught on a compressed scheduled. Thus, we will move at a very quick pace and cover a lot of material. Consider this pace when registering for this course. Specifically, we will only have eight in-person lectures. The rest of the material will be presented via online discussion groups, and online assignments posted on Blackboard. The online discussion sessions and assignments will put the majority of burden on you to learn the material. I will be moderating the online sessions to keep the class on track and pointed in the right direction. The first evening, we will discuss what the online sessions will involve in greater detail. You will see on the course calendar sessions marked with an (*). These lectures will have a corresponding online component. Expectations Basic competence in arithmetic, algebra, and graphing is expected. In order to study many economic phenomena we must build models, and the language in which economic models are written is mathematics. With that said, I must emphasize only the need for basic competence in the above mathematical topics. We will not use calculus. Since this is a graduate-level course with only one lecture per week a significant degree of self-study, reading, and initiative is expected. The course is fairly intensive and students are expected to have fully read the assigned readings. It is expected that students ask questions when there is confusion or when clarification is needed. Professional and respectful discussions, debates, and questions are encouraged in class. Lastly, attendance is expected. I understand that occasionally unforeseen events occur that is normal and I have accounted for the occasional absence already (see the Grading section). However, if you foresee yourself having regular conflicts with the scheduled class time, you should not take this course. I am happy to help you learn the material, but only if there is an effort made on your part. Attendance demonstrates your effort and seriousness about your grade. Grading Your course grade will be determined by regular online discussions (10%), regularly administered in-class quizzes and at home assignments (10%), a midterm (40%) and a final (40%). The quizzes/at home assignments are intended to provide you with an incentive to participate in and pay attention to class, as well as to actually complete the required assignments. There will be no make-up quizzes, online assignments, or exams. I will drop your lowest in-class quiz grade at the end of the semester to accommodate the unforeseen missed class. No late at-home assignments will be accepted, and no athome assignments may be dropped. A missed at-home assignment will result in a 1 percentage point decrease in your final course grade. Note, consistently missing or doing poorly on the class quizzes will result in having your grade reduced to a C. If you expect to miss an inordinate amount of classes/quizzes you should not take this course.

3 Discussion grading: You will be expected to make your first initial discussion post by Thursday of the relevant week. Your initial posting should contain your response to the discussion topic presented that week. You are then to provide at least three substantive responses on at least two different days by Sunday at midnight. Responses such as I agree and Good point are not substantive and will lower your grade. Your three responses may be to the same classmate (i.e., you are having a back and forth conversation), or to three seperate students. Additionally, I may prompt you with a follow-up. Your response to my follow-up prompt would count (and would be expected). To summarize, you should have a total of four postings throughout the week one initial posting and three other postings while you interact with your classmates or respond to a follow-up prompt from me. Grading Distribution Grades of an A will be reserved for students with consistent outstanding performance. Generally, it can be expected that 1/3 of the class will earn an A. Students earning a B demonstrate mastery of all aspects of the class, and may have an outstanding performance on one or two elements. A grade of a C indicates that the student failed to meet graduate level standards on a number of assignments. Your grade will be determined by the (weighted) average of the three course components: A = 90 to 100 B+ = 87.5 to 89.9 B = 80 to 87.4 C = 70 to 79.9 F < 70 Electronic Devices Policy Please do not use laptops, tablets, or phones during class. They tend to be more of a distraction than a benefit. I encourage students to take notes with pen and paper. Lectures will be PowerPoint based and I will make PowerPoint notes available for you to print before class and follow along. Communications This is a graduate-level course. As such, your communications with me should be professional and well-polished. Typos happen with everyone, but I will not respond to unclear s or s written using text/internet slang. I suggest you get in the habit of formatting your s in a consistent way. Begin with a salutation (i.e., Good evening), followed by the body of your message, and finally a closing statement (i.e., Thank you). This structure will serve you well in the work place; this is the time to practice this skill.

4 Text and Materials There is a required text for this class: Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel, and Macpherson. Macroeconomics: Private and Public Choice. The latest edition of this book is the 16 th edition. You do not need to buy the latest version; any edition from the 11 th /12 th on should be just fine. It is a good background reference, particularly if you have never taken economics and written assignments will be based on this text. Note: I do not teach directly off the textbook directly at all times. It is meant as a background guide to assist those that prefer a book. In addition, we will also rely on outside readings with a policy flavor (government reports, think tank papers, academic analysis, newspapers articles, etc.). This is particularly true as we move further into the semester. I will make all readings available on Blackboard. Class discussions have a tendency to evolve, and have been known to go on some (related) tangents as students inquire about particular topics. All class discussions are testable. Below are several texts and additional resources that may prove useful: (1) Mankiw. Principles of Macroeconomics. (2) Frank and Bernanke. Principles of Macroeconomics. (3) Krugman and Wells. Macroeconomics. (4) Bade and Parken. Foundations of Macroeconomics. (5) Heilbroner and Thurow. Economics Explained: Everything You Need to Know About How the Economy Works and Where It s Going. (6) Swanenberg. Macroeconomics Demystified. A final comment about textbooks and learning the world does not follow a textbook and this is very true in economics. There are so many economic variables changing at any one time that you have to develop a sort of economic intuition (based on fundamentals). The goal of this course is to help you develop this intuition. You can speed the process along by reading as much as you can. There are many useful free resources out there. Detach yourself from the idea that a textbook is the only way to learn. You can learn much of what you will ever need on your own, for free at that! Class Schedule Date Lecture 1* Lecture 2 Topics (Gwartney Chapter Titles) Introduction and Measurement (The Economic Approach; Some Tools of the Economist; Taking the Nation s Economic Pulse; Economic Fluctuations, Unemployment, and Inflation) Savings, Investment and Economic Growth (Economic Growth and the Wealth of Nations)

5 Lecture 3 Business Cycles (An Intro to Basic Macro Markets; Working with Our Basic Agg Demand and Agg Supply Model) Lecture 4 Business Cycles (An Intro to Basic Macro Markets; Working with Our Basic Agg Demand and Agg Supply Model) Lecture 5* Fiscal Policy: Keynes and New Classical (Keynes and the Evolution of Macroeconomics; Fiscal Policy) Lecture 6* The Federal Reserve (Money and the Banking System) Exam 1 July 6 (online, at-home exam) Lecture 7 Monetary Policy (Modern Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy) Lecture 8* The 2008 Economic Crisis (The Crisis of 2008: Causes and Lessons for the Future Lecture 9 Financial Markets and Asset Pricing (The Stock Market: Its Function, Performance, and Potential as an Investment Opportunity) Lecture 10* The Individual Tax System and Tax Reform Lecture 11* The Corporate Tax System and Tax Reform Lecture 12 Government Spending and Financing (Government Spending and Taxation; The Federal Budget and The National Debt) Lecture 13 Balance of Payments (Int l Finance and the Forex Market) Final Exam July 28 7:00 (online, at-home exam) Lectures marked with a (*) will likely have an online/at-home component(s) to them. Above is a preliminary course schedule. Expect the topics of the schedule to be preserved, but the timing to be more variable. I am not in a rush to get through all topics listed nor is it required. Rather, we will move at a comfortable pace. If a particular topic generates more interest we will slow down or comeback to it. If a topic is raised in class that would make for a nice lecture, we will augment the schedule. Exam dates will not change (unless the University changes the final exam date) and exams must be taken on time, no exceptions. Recommendation Letters It is not uncommon for several students a semester to ask for a recommendation letter for a job. If you expect that you may request a recommendation from me you need to be proactive and reach out to me early in the semester so I can get to know you to some degree what is your background, what are your career interest, etc. and so that I may keep an eye on your in-class participation and progress. It is difficult to draft a recommendation for a student who I know only through the grade book. In cases like this, I can only state what you earned for the course, which does not look good to an employer my advisor once told me it s not what you say in a recommendation letter, but what you don t say that matters. SPP Policy on Plagiarism

6 Any plagiarized assignment will receive an automatic grade of "F." This may lead to failure for the course, resulting in dismissal from the university. This dismissal will be noted on the student's transcript. For foreign students who are on a universitysponsored visa (e.g. F-1, J-1 or J-2), dismissal also results in the revocation of their visa. To help enforce the SPP policy on plagiarism, all written work submitted in partial fulfillment of course or degree requirements must be available in electronic form so that it can be compared with electronic databases, as well as submitted to commercial services to which the School subscribes. Faculty may at any time submit a student's work without prior permission from the student. Individual instructors may require that written work be submitted in electronic as well as printed form. The SPP policy on plagiarism is supplementary to the George Mason University Honor Code; it is not intended to replace it or substitute for it. The full honor code may be found at the link below: micpoliciesforms/honorcode/tabid/229/default.aspx Statement on special needs of students If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC.