Introduction to Macroeconomics Economics 201G Fall, 2012 Course Syllabus

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1 Introduction to Macroeconomics Economics 201G Fall, 2012 Course Syllabus Sept. 24, 2012-Dec. 7, 2012 MW 1:30-3:20pm MUE 155 Office Hours: MW 10-11am and by appointment Finals week: December Holidays: Nov. 12, Kaihua Deng SAV 319C Department of Economics University of Washington This is an introductory course in macroeconomics. The course is focused on the elements and operation of the aggregate economy as well as the development of rudimentary understanding of economic policy. From a methodological perspective, the overarching purpose of this course is to teach students how to evaluate critically and give wellrounded answers to real-world economic problems. REQUIRED TEXT: Charles Nelson, Macroeconomics: An Introduction. A free online copy and updates can be reached at: Online practice questions, answers to end of chapter questions and other useful resources can be found at: SUGGESTED REGULAR READING: The Wall Street Journal, The Economists, The New York Times, and/or other business and economics news press. I will keep track of news articles throughout the quarter. Selected articles relevant to the course will be discussed in lectures from time to time. It is your responsibility to read some of them after class. On occasion, articles will be distributed in class. (Equipment allowed, highly informative and interesting videos will be shown.) Essay-type homework assignments will be required for this class and these will be based on online articles in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, etc. Articles will be ed to you. To gain access to the full contents of WSJ, a 10 week student subscription is optional and can be reached at: Problems with online registration for the WSJ shall be directed to or or education@wsj.com. RECOMMENDED READING: 1

2 Robert L. Heilbroner, The Wordly Philosophers; Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward; Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. COURSE POLICIES: Economics is not a discipline that can be mastered the night/week before an exam. As a student, reading articles and working on the questions as you come to them are an indispensable part of the learning process. The purpose of practice is to provide you feedback and help you develop your own way of thinking through relevant concepts. 1. In all respects, students are expected to adhere to the code of conduct of the University and the Economics Department such as academic integrity, attendance, giving credit to cited sources in any work you submit, and so forth. Academic dishonesty will result in a failure of the course and other sanctions that may be authorized by the University. Thanks to the self-police of our student body, the overwhelming majority of them do not engage in any form of dishonesty. 2. It is strongly advised that you attend each lecture. Reading assignments will be made for each class meeting. Our discussions in class will be most productive if relevant materials are read, notes from previous class are reviewed, and problems worked before class in a sentence, if you are well prepared. You will be expected to participate in and contribute to class discussion. Feel free to show off your ideas in class. 3. The grades are not curved and a preliminary grade scale is attached to this syllabus. The Department has adopted a set of grading guidelines for teaching ECON 201. The upper median grade should be no higher than 3.1. A normal class will receive a median grade of 2.8, or 2.9 or 3.0. A very good class, where students work hard, are engaged in the course and do well on their tests, may receive a median grade of 3.1. All final grades are rounded up. 4. Exams, quizzes, and take-home write-ups All tests are held in class. Midterm exam: 100 min, 30% Final exam: 100 min, 40% Quiz: 25 min, 20% Homework: must be submitted on time, 10% A. There will be a total of 4 quizzes, and only the best three quiz scores are counted towards your final grades. If you have to miss one quiz, that one automatically becomes the dropped one. Quizzes consist of multiple-choice/true-or-false questions and are not held during the weeks when midterm and final exams are held. Make-up quizzes are not available unless the student has a verifiable emergency. 2

3 B. Exams will be worth 100 points each. If a student improves his/her performance on the final examination by more than 15 full points above what he/she earned on the midterm, I will change the weights to midterm 20% and final exam 50%. C. The final exam is held during the finals week not on the last day of instruction. No make-up exams will be given unless the student has a verifiable emergency. Always confer with me in advance and we shall arrange an equivalent test before your classmates. Exceptions may only be granted for serious cases clearly beyond a student s control, i.e., injuries, illnesses, etc. D. Homework assignments take the form of short essay questions or papers (generally 1-2 page) e.g., a summary of main points and your thoughts on an article. These will be assigned during weeks when quizzes and exams are not scheduled. Topics will be announced the week before the due dates. I am OK with font 11 or 12, single-spaced to save trees. Homeworks must be printed out and submitted on time in class. 5. You are encouraged to form study groups of 2-3 people. Homework assignments should be paper-clipped or stapled together and submitted in groups with group members names signed on the top. If you are working alone, that s fine. 6. Please have your cell phones turned off or silenced while in lecture. Texting is not recommended while in class. (When I walk in, it would be truly supportive for me to see that you are reviewing the notes, or discussing the material with classmates instead of using your cell phones.) 7. Office hours are yours. So please come and discuss any parts of the course with me. 8. Review sessions will be held in class. To get the most out of it, bring with you questions. 9. There are no separate quiz sections for this class. We will periodically review hard materials and exercise problem-solving methods in class. 10. Last but not least, please check your s on a daily basis for latest course updates, guidelines, and attachments. The provisions of these policies and the course objectives are subject to testing. These policies are also subject to minor changes at the discretion of the instructor. COURSE OBJECTIVES: Built on Econ 200, this course is an introduction to an economic way of thinking and analysis, the problems of economic growth, business fluctuations, unemployment, inflation, and the tools of monetary and fiscal policy. The practical goal of the course is to enable you to read articles in daily newspapers and business publications and view television and radio news programs from a trained perspective. Frequently, students are 3

4 also enriched in various other ways depending on their motivations. Always remember: interest is the best teacher. With a refined academic capacity and enlarged vocabulary, you will be able to vastly improve upon your understanding of the content and accuracy of economic analyses. By the end of the course you should have developed the knowledge of major economic institutions, the functioning of markets, and the challenges faced in using policy to influence the levels of unemployment, inflation, and economic growth. There will be just a few definitions and concepts to memorize. The vast majority of the course deals with interactions of various components of an economy and thus requires you to think through relationships and use the concepts to analyze problems, offer solutions, and explain exactly how they might work. We will be doing simple algebra and using graphing techniques to summarize and facilitate the understanding of major concepts and relationships. Having said this, you should not take it mechanically and the most important emphasis on the exams will be for you to explain economic analyses carefully and in a manner understandable to someone who has not had an economics course. Even though there are no grades assigned for class participation, students are encouraged to participate in classroom discussions. The opportunity to have open discourse, to debate, to disagree is critical to your learning experience; particularly if you are to develop the ability to critically evaluate economic ideas. TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE: Minimum Reading Topics Week 1 Nelson, Chapter 1 and 2 (including the supplement to Chapter 1) Overview of economics; review of micro; intro to macroeconomics, economic policy, and the course; national income accounting Week 2 Nelson, Chapter 2 and 3 More on national income accounting and the circular flow; intro to investment and savings Wed, October 3 rd quiz 1 Week 3 Nelson, Chapter 3 and 4 Investment and savings; inflation, real and nominal income Week 4 Nelson, Chapter 4 and 5 Real and nominal interest rate; the Fisher hypothesis; 4

5 intro to business fluctuations Wed, October 17 th quiz 2 Week 5 Nelson, Chapter 5 and 6 Long-run growth and shortrun fluctuations; money and banking Mon, October 29 th midterm exam Week 6 Nelson, Chapter 6 and 7 More on money and banking; intro to money demand Mon, November 12 th holiday Week 7 Nelson, Chapter 7 Determinants of money demand Wed, November 14 th quiz 3 Week 8 Nelson, Chapter 8 and 9 Aggregate supply and demand; inflation, unemployment, and interest rate; monetary policy Thu.-Fri., November 22 nd -23 rd holiday Week 9 Nelson, Chapter 10 and 11 Equilibrium in a Keynesian model and fiscal policy; government spending and tax multipliers Wed, November 28 th quiz 4 Week 10 Nelson, Chapter 11 and 12 More on fiscal policy; intro to international macroeconomics Mon, December 10 th final exam One last thought: To see how professors should love their students but not indulge them and what mental pressure professors are bearing, you may want to read A Tough-Love Manifesto for Professors written by Thomas Benton. Just Google it. Copyright Material This file is made available for your own educational use. It is not to be shared with people outside the class. 5

6 Practice makes perfect and good luck with your introductory macroeconomics! Appendix: A preliminary grade scale Score Score % of 100 Grade % of 100 Grade less than

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