EC140 Introduction to Macroeconomics Winter 2018 Course Description EC140 examines the working of the economy with an emphasis on the measurement and determination of national income in the short and long run. The role of the government in influencing national income, both directly and through the financial sector is considered. The course closes with a more detailed discussion of domestic policy and international issues. To learn effectively, my experience is that students must interact with the content repeatedly over the term. For each lecture, there will be required content to complete before the lecture, during class, in the week after class and in the period leading up to tests and the final exam. Students are expected to remain engaged with the course material throughout the term. Instructor and Student Support There are two sections of EC140 this Winter, and students enrolled in both sections will be assessed identically, with common quizzes, tests and the final exam. The specific content and examples covered in lectures and the clicker questions used may vary across sections. If you are unable to come to your regularly scheduled section, you may attend the alternate section and complete the Clicker questions, as long as there is space in the classroom. Section Day and Time Room Instructor E-mail Phone A M/W 11:30am LH1001 Ken Jackson kjackson@wlu.ca x.2316 B M/W 2:30pm LH1001 Ken Jackson kjackson@wlu.ca x.2316 Course Website Announcements, lecture slides, and grading will all be posted to My Learning Space, http://mylearningspace.wlu.ca. You are expected to regularly log-in to My Learning Space to access course material, complete quizzes, and check for announcements. As noted below, a number of required items of assessment are offered through the textbook publisher s system (Pearson). Students will need to access the Pearson system through the widget in MyLearningSpace. If you need assistance with My Learning Space, please send an e-mail to myls@wlu.ca. 1
Additional Support As we will discuss this term, specialization according to comparative advantage can significantly increase efficiency. With that in mind, there is a wide range of resources to assist you with specific issues throughout the term. Instructor Dr. Ken Jackson Office, LH3081 E-mail: kjackson@wlu.ca Your instructor is your primary point of contact for most course related issues, including questions about content. Office hours will be posted to MyLS at the start of the term outside of office hours, you may make an appointment or just drop in to see me. Questions regarding assessment and course policies should be directed to your instructor, with the exception of checking the grading of multiple choice Scantron cards. Undergraduate Program Office Office: Lazaridis Hall, LH2058; E-mail: econadvising@wlu.ca Please see an academic advisor with questions regarding the economics program, including progression and transfer requirements in Economics. Please see the Petitions Coordinator, Eileen Morouney, if you have questions about a petition, such as a deferral of the final exam. Administrative Assistance, Economics: Helen Kaluzny Office: Lazaridis Hall, LH3009 (Economics department office) Please see Ms. Kaluzny for administrative issues, most notably if you have grading inquiries on the midterm tests or final exam. Teaching Assistants: TBA Office: Lazaridis Hall, LH2065 TA s hold office hours in LH2065 throughout the term to answer student questions regarding course material. The TA s may be busy leading up to exams, so you are encouraged to see them early in the term for help with content. The office hours schedule will be posted to MyLearningSpace during the second week of classes. Accessible Learning Students with disabilities or other special needs are advised to contact Laurier's Accessible Learning Centre for information regarding its services and resources. Students are encouraged to review the Calendar for information regarding all services available on campus. 2
Course Textbook and Assessment Required Textbook The required textbook for the course is Microeconomics, 15 th Canadian Edition (2016), by Christopher Ragan. The textbook may be purchased through the WLU bookstore bundled with Pearson access. Please note that, due to Canadian tax policy, it is cheaper to buy the physical textbook with the e-text, than to just buy the e-text on its own. Assessment Assessment Schedule (tentative) Grading Dynamic Study Modules Due Mondays and Wednesdays, 8 am In-class clickers Homework Assignments Review Quizzes Completed in lectures Due Saturdays by 5pm Due by Jan.27 th, Mar.10 th, Apr. 5th Best 75 out of 90+ total items counts for 20% of final grade. Midterm Test 1 Saturday, Jan. 27th, 7:00pm 15% Midterm Test 2 Saturday, Mar. 10 th, 7:00pm 25% Final Exam April Exam Period 40% MyEconLab - Dynamic Study Modules and Homework Assignments We will be using MyEconLab throughout the term, for Dynamic Study Modules completed before each class, and for Homework Assignments completed after each class. To register for MyEconLab, please follow the MyLab link on the EC140 MyLearningSpace page. You will need an access code that you can purchase with your textbook or that you can purchase directly within the MyLab system. You will need to register for MyEconLab using either your own computer or a university computer, and with a browser that will allow pop-up windows. I recommend registering as soon as possible to ensure that you have full access. For most lectures during the term, there is a Dynamic Study Module to help students prepare for class. Modules are due by 8am on the day of the lecture, and graded as completed or not completed. The modules for the first few have extended deadlines to accommodate students adding the course late, so the first one is due for lecture 4, by 8am on January 15 th. 3
There are also 20 Homework Assignments (one per lecture) assigned through MyEconLab. Questions on these assignments may be completed as often as you like. The homework assignments are intended to be completed shortly after the lecture to ensure that you have mastered the course material. The assignments for the first 3 lectures in the course are due on January 19 th, with the assignments for lectures 4 6 are due on January 26 th. Clicker questions during lectures Starting on Monday, January 8 th, we will make use of iclickers an electronic response system that allows you to register an answer to questions asked in class. There will be up to 23 clicker sessions recorded during the term. Clickers may be purchased through the bookstore and registered through MyLearningSpace. Clicker Registration You are responsible for purchasing your clicker from the Laurier Bookstore. You are required to register your clicker online via MyLearningSpace (https://mylearningspace.wlu.ca). When you login you will see a course called Clicker Registration Fall 2017. To register your clicker, follow these steps: 1. Enter the Clicker Registration Winter 2018 course by clicking on the title 2. From the homepage, click on the Click here to register your clicker link 3. Enter your clicker serial Remote ID in the box provided. 4. Click on the Register button. Please note: Failure to register your clicker in this way may result in loss of clicker marks. You MUST complete the registration to have your clicker marks assigned to you. If you registered your clicker in Fall 2017, you may not need to register again, but please CONFIRM that your clicker is registered in the registration area in MyLearningSpace. If you registered your clicker in previous years, you MUST register it again for this term. Please direct any questions about this process or about clickers in general to clickers@wlu.ca. A clicker troubleshooting station is available at the help desk in the concourse. MyLearningSpace - Review Quizzes For each lecture there will be a review quiz on MyLearningSpace. These quizzes are a selection of 12 multiple choice questions. Students may repeat the quizzes as often as they would like, with some variation in questions each time. The intent is that students will use the quizzes to help prepare for the midterms and the final exam. The first 7 quizzes are due by 5pm on Saturday, January 27 th, the next 10 are due by 5pm on Saturday, March 10 th and the final 7 are due by Friday, April 6th. 4
Mid-term Test There are two midterm tests in EC140. Each midterm is 90 minutes long, and consists of approximately 50 multiple choice questions. The first midterm is on Saturday, January 27 th at 7:00pm and counts for 15% of your mark. If you miss it, the weight from the test will be shifted, with 5% added to midterm 2, and 10% added to the final exam. Midterm 2 is on Saturday, March 10th, and counts for 25% of your mark. Students that miss Midterm 2 will be required to complete the makeup midterm, scheduled on Friday, March 16 th at 1:30pm. Final Exam The final exam is scheduled by the registrar during the final exam period that runs from April 7 th to 25 th. Students are reminded to not make any vacation plans during the exam period. The final exam will be 2 and a ½ hours, and consist of approximately 80 multiple choice questions. It is worth 40% of your overall grade (or more if you missed midterm 1). Course Policies and Procedures Missing Minor Assessments Due to the timely nature of the minor items of assessment, late submissions will not be accepted for any reason. As a variety of issues can come up over the term, only your best 75 assessment items will count towards your grade. Missed Tests Students that will miss a midterm due to a religious commitment may submit a petition to the Lazaridis School Petitions Office, LH2058, to write the midterm at an alternate time. To be eligible to write the midterm at an alternate time, this petition must be submitted within a week of the start of the term. Students that will miss a midterm test due to their participation in varsity sports must contact their coach, who will arrange proctoring of the test at an alternate time. Varsity athletes at the University of Waterloo should have their coach contact Helen Kaluzny in the Economics Office at WLU. To be eligible to write a deferred exam, this request must be submitted within a week of the start of the term, or as soon as practical given schedule changes. Students that miss a midterm test for any other reason, must complete the Missed Midterm form on MyLearningSpace. As noted previously, students that miss the first midterm will have the weight shifted to the second midterm and the final exam. Students that miss the second midterm are required to complete the makeup midterm. A student that misses the makeup midterm will be required to write the midterm by the end of the term, or earn a zero. 5
Deferred Final Examinations Students who miss the final exam for an acceptable reason may apply to write a deferred exam (normally in late January). Petitions, accompanied by supporting written documentation, should be submitted to Ms. Eileen Morouney, in the Lazaridis School Petitions Office (LH2058). If you miss the exam due to illness, you will need medical documentation on the date of the exam, or as close to that date as possible. Students are strongly urged not to make any commitments (ie. vacation) during the examination period. Students are required to be available for examinations during the examination periods of all terms in which they register. Academic Misconduct You are reminded that the University will levy sanctions on students who are found to have committed, or have attempted to commit, acts of academic or research misconduct. You are expected to know what constitutes an academic offense, to avoid committing such offenses, and to take responsibility for your academic actions. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalty, please consult the relevant section of the Undergraduate Academic Calendar. If you need clarification of aspects of University policy on Academic and Research Misconduct, please consult your instructor. Policy on Technology Use Students may use computers and other devices during class as long as they are using them for courserelated reasons. Everyone is expected to be considerate of those around them, and students with larger devices are asked to sit at the sides or back of the room where you will not block other students. Students that are disruptive to others may be asked to either put their device away, or leave the classroom. Intellectual Property The educational materials developed for this course, including, but not limited to, lecture notes and slides, handout materials, examinations and assignments, and any materials posted to MyLearningSpace, are the intellectual property of the course instructor. These materials have been developed for student use only and they are not intended for wider dissemination and/or communication outside of a given course. Posting or providing unauthorized audio, video, or textual material of lecture content to third-party websites violates an instructor s intellectual property rights, and the Canadian Copyright Act. Recording lectures in any way is prohibited in this course unless specific permission has been granted by the instructor. Failure to follow these instructions may be in contravention of the university s Code of Student Conduct and/or Code of Academic Conduct, and will result in appropriate penalties. Participation in this course constitutes an agreement by all parties to abide by the relevant University Policies, and to respect the intellectual property of others during and after their association with Wilfrid Laurier University. 6
Student Learning Outcomes 1. Understand how key macroeconomic variables are defined and calculated. 2. Use a macroeconomic model to explain how changes in policy, preferences or events in other countries will affect equilibrium income. 3. Calculate the effects of such macroeconomic changes on equilibrium income. 4. Extend the analysis of macroeconomic models to consider changes in both aggregate demand and aggregate supply. 5. Understand how medium and longer-run price adjustment affects equilibrium income, and distinguish between short-run and long-run macroeconomic effects. 6. Assess the determinants of long-run economic growth. 7. Examine the role of money in the economy, and understand the effects of changes in monetary policy on the economy. 8. Understand how macroeconomic shocks affect inflation and unemployment. 9. Assess the role of government debt and deficits in our analysis of the economy. 10. Understand at a deeper level the measurement of international economic relationships, the determination of the exchange rate and difference between fixed and flexible exchange rates. Detailed Course Schedule There are three parts of the course, with either a midterm test or a final exam at the conclusion of each section. The material is cumulative, and each part builds from the previous material. Please note that the following schedule is just a guideline, and subject to change both generally, and for lectures in specific sections. For each lecture there will generally be one or more Dynamic Study Modules on MyEconLab, a Homework Assignment on MyEconLab and a Review Quiz on MyLearningSpace. Part A Introduction to Macroeconomic Analysis Lecture Date Topic Chapter 1 January 3 Intro to Macroeconomics 1, 2, 19 2 January 8 Key Macroeconomic Variables 19 3 January 10 Measuring National Income 20 4 January 15 The Simplest Short-Run Macro Model 21 5 January 17 Adding Government and Trade 22.1 22.3 6 January 22 The Simple Macro Model 22.4 22.5 7 January 24 Review Saturday, January 27th (7:00pm) Midterm Test #1 19 22 7
Part B A Macroeconomic Model Lecture Date Topic Chapter 8 January 29 Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply 23.1, 23.2 9 January 31 Macroeconomic Equilibrium 23.3 10 February 5 Adjustment of Factor Prices 24.1 24.3 11 February 7 Fiscal Policy and Capital Markets 24.4, 25.2 12 February 12 Long-Run Economic Growth 25 13 February 14 Money and Banking 26 February 19 23 Family Day and Reading Week, no classes 14 February 26 Money, Interest Rates and Economic Activity 27.1-27.3 15 February 28 Monetary Policy in Canada 27.4, 28.1 16 March 5 Monetary Policy in Canada 28.2 28.4 17 March 7 Review Saturday, March 10 (7:00pm) Midterm Test #2 19 28 Part C Macroeconomics Problems and Policies Lecture Date Topic Chapter 18 March 12 Inflation and Disinflation 29 19 March 14 Unemployment 30 20 March 19 Government Debt and Deficits 31 21 March 21 Macroeconomic Policy Review/ Federal Budget TBD 22 March 26 The Balance of Payments and Foreign Exchange 34.1 34.2 23 March 28 Exchange Rates 34.3 34.4 24 April 2 Review April 6 27 Final Exam Period 19-31, 34 8