INTRODUCTION St. Petersburg College Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences Principles of Macroeconomics Fall ECO2013 Instructor: Patrick Luce E-mail: Luce.Patrick@spcollege.edu Classroom: Online Phone: 508.259.0429 Office Hours: By Appointment Course Outline. This is a course in economic principles involving the overall operation of the market economy. Particular attention will be given to the effects of aggregate demand and aggregate supply on the levels of output, employment, and prices. The course will also examine how fiscal and monetary policy may be used in dealing with macroeconomic problems such as unemployment, inflation and economic fluctuations. Course Goals. Economics is primarily a method of reasoning used to form judgments regarding economic issues faced today. At the end of the term you should be able to make logical economic arguments as well as analyze the appropriateness of alternative arguments based on the analysis developed in this course. Specifically you should be able to: Define the terms and concepts economists use to describe macroeconomic phenomena and market economy. Understand the effects of aggregate demand and aggregate supply on the levels of output, employment, and prices. Evaluate the different types of fiscal and monetary policy tools. Demonstrate knowledge of basic theories of macroeconomics. Principles of Macroeconomics -1- P. Luce
KEY INFORMATION Required Software and Recommended Textbook. 1. Foundations of Economics (2014), 7 th edition, by Robin Bade and Michael Parkin, Pearson Education Inc., ISBN 9780133462401 or 9781323002483 for the inclusion of MyEconLab. 2. Supplemental Reading as assigned 3. Wall Street Journal (Optional) For Student Subscription go to: http://www.wsj.com/studentoffer Attendance. As this is an online course, there will be no mandatory face-to-face meetings. However, there will be periodic check-ins via e-mail to record attendance for 1, 2, and the 60% point of the term. These check-ins will help establish the student s intent on participating course and open communication for any thoughts or questions regarding the course. MyCourses. MyCourses will be utilized primarily to provide access to the course materials and class communication. As such, the course web site will include an online gradebook, all course content, and announcements of key dates. In order to better serve our faculty and students the school is asking that both the instructor and student use the logoff button when completing online course work. By logging off, the MyCourses server space is freed, and therefore, optimizing the system. General Suggestions. If you have questions about the material or a specific point, go to the discussion board of the online classroom and post your question in the relevant area. Additionally, you can email me through the course web site or reach out via phone. There are PowerPoint presentations posted to help with your studying for each chapter. For those users who do not own PowerPoint, a free download of the PowerPoint Viewer is available at http://office.microsoft.com/enus/assistance/ha010449811033.aspx. The PowerPoint Viewer will allow users to view the PowerPoint slide show. With the exception of due dates for the Quizzes, midterm exam, final examination and the weekly discussion issues, this course will be largely self-paced. However, in general, students do better when they stay in pace with the schedule. I would advise you to not get behind. As an internet course, there will be no physical orientation or meetings. Everything is done via reading, doing the study guide and on-line quizzes, taking the two exams and participating in the weekly discussions. There is an assignment calculator website at http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/ which may assist you in organizing and completing the assignments for this course. Principles of Macroeconomics -2- P. Luce
Academic Accommodations. St. Petersburg College recognizes the importance of equal access to learning opportunities for all students. Accessibility Services (AS) is the campus office that works with students who have disabilities to provide and/or arrange reasonable accommodations. Students registered with AS, who are requesting accommodations, are encouraged to contact their instructor by the first week of the semester. Students who have, or think they may have, a disability (e.g. learning disability, ADD/ADHD, psychiatric, medical/orthopedic, vision, and/or hearing), are invited to contact the Accessibility Coordinator (AC) that serves your campus for a confidential discussion. To find your AC for your specific campus, please go to the college-wide Accessibility Services website: https://www.spcollege.edu/accessibility Academic Honesty Policy. St. Petersburg College expects students to adhere to its honor code to uphold academic integrity. This policy can be found online at www.spcollege.edu/academichonesty. These rules and procedures will be strictly enforced and any violation may result in academic and disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion from the College. Important Dates. Course Dates: Drop/Add, Withdrawal, Financial Aid See Academic Calendar http://www.spcollege.edu/calendar/ Principles of Macroeconomics -3- P. Luce
EVALUTATION A. Exams. The midterm and final exam will be given online and consist of 50 multiple choice questions. Please look for more instructions posted in the syllabus, on the class course site and on emails that I send as the dates for these exams get closer. You will have only one chance to take each 90 minute exam. Most of the questions for the quizzes, midterm, and final from the book. See the syllabus for the chapters covered on the midterm and the final exam. I will email a study guide for the midterm and for the final a few weeks before the exam. B. Quizzes. For each of the 15 chapters, a quiz will be given online that consists of 10 multiple choice questions. I will allow you to take the 10 highest quiz scores toward this portion of your grade. In other words, I will throw out the lowest five quiz scores. See the detailed weekly schedule for the availability of the quizzes. Once you have reviewed both the reading and feel that you are ready to test your knowledge with a multiple choice/true or false quiz, log on and click on the week to locate the quiz. You will have only one chance to take each 20 minute timed quiz. C. Class Participation. There will be discussion questions posted for each of the chapters in this course. You are expected to post a response to at least one classmate s discussion posts within each chapter discussion forum. D. Discussion s. You are expected to choose two of the discussion questions to submit for a grade. I will only grade your performance on the two that you designate to me through email. Each discussion issue has a posted due date to send me the notification (email). You will have one week from that date to submit your discussion post. Your first post must be submitted before the midterm exam within the following chapters: 21 27. Your second post must be completed before the final exam within the following chapters: 28 34. When you submit a post for a grade, your response should consist of an initial post of approximately150-200 words (consisting of your research and answer to the discussion issue). Note that 150-200 words is a guideline and that it is more important to meet the criteria of the grading matrix than to have a certain number of words. The post must be submitted by 11:59 PM on the Sunday one week after the due date of your intent to cover the discussion topic. Additionally, you are expected to interact with your classmates within your thread or outside your thread using at least 5 replies the week of your discussion. Lastly, all discussion posts and assignments are graded for original thought and must be in your own words. However, it is expected that you research the discussion issue using at least one academic journal or scholarly website in addition to the course textbook as you respond to the question. Each source that you use as research Principles of Macroeconomics -4- P. Luce
including the textbook must be cited with proper citations and references using the MLA or APA format. Below is a grading matrix I will use to determine your point assignment for each of the two discussion posts. Discussion Grading Matrix Quality of post overall accuracy, use of economic concepts and written within 150-200 words References (MLA or APA) 1 5 Connected Interaction ed early in the week and posted regularly during the week Interacted with classmates with at least 5 to 10 replies 2 4 E. Student Survey of Instruction. Completed course perception survey is due to me prior the completion of the course. This will become available online during 11. Your student survey of instruction is due to me, by email, by Friday December 1 st. F. Calculation of Final Grade. Final grades will be calculated as follows. Percent Mid-Term Exam 25 Final Exam 25 Quizzes 20 Class Participation 10 Discussion s 20 Complete Course Perception Survey 1 Grading Scale. POINT RANGE FINAL COURSE GRADE 90-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D <60 F Principles of Macroeconomics -5- P. Luce
WEEK 1 2 3 Course Outline. Monday, August 14, - Sunday, August 20, TOPIC RELATED READING ASSIGNMENT DUE Getting Started Chapter 1 Ch. 1 Quiz GDP: A Measure of Total Production and Income Chapter 21 Monday, August 21, - Sunday, August 27, Jobs and Unemployment Chapter 22 Monday, August 28, - Sunday, September 03, The CPI and the Cost of Living Chapter 23 4 Monday, September 04, 5 Monday, September 11, 6 Monday, September 18, 7 Monday, September 25, 8 Monday, October 02, 9 Monday, October 09, - Sunday, September 10, Potential GDP and the Natural Unemployment Rate Chapter 24 - Sunday, September 17, Economic Growth Chapter 25 - Sunday, September 24, Finance, Saving, and Investment Chapter 26 - Sunday, October 01, Monetary System Chapter 27 - Sunday, October 08, Money, Interest, and Inflation Chapter 28 Ch. 21 Quiz Ch. 21 Discussion Ch. 22 Quiz Ch. 22 Discussion Ch. 23 Quiz Ch. 23 Discussion Ch. 24 Quiz Ch. 24 Discussion Ch. 25 Quiz Ch. 25 Discussion Ch. 26 Quiz Ch. 26 Discussion Ch. 27 Quiz Ch. 27 Discussion Ch. 28 Quiz Ch. 28 Discussion ADDITIONAL NOTES Last day to Drop is 8/18/ E-mail for Discussion due to me by 8/20/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 8/27/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 9/03/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 9/10/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 9/17/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 9/24/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 10/01/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 10/08/17 - Sunday, October 15, MIDTERM Chapters 21-27 10 Monday, October 16, - Sunday, October 22, Aggregate Supply and Demand Chapter 29 Ch. 29 Quiz Ch. 29 Discussion E-mail for Discussion due to me by 10/22/17 Principles of Macroeconomics -6- P. Luce
11 Monday, October 23, 12 Monday, October 30, 13 Monday, November 06, 14 Monday, November 13, 15 Monday, November 20, - Sunday, October 29, Aggregate Expenditure Multiplier Chapter 30 - Sunday, November 05, The Short Run Policy Tradeoff Chapter 31 - Sunday, November 12, Fiscal Policy Chapter 32 - Sunday, November 19, Monetary Policy Chapter 33 - Sunday, November 26, Thanksgiving Ch. 30 Quiz Ch. 30 Discussion Ch. 31 Quiz Ch. 31 Discussion Ch. 32 Quiz Ch. 32 Discussion Ch. 33 Quiz Ch. 33 Discussion E-mail for Discussion due to me by 10/29/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 11/05/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 11/12/17 E-mail for Discussion due to me by 11/19/17 16 Monday, November 27, 17 Friday, December 01, - Sunday, December 03, International Finance Chapter 34 - Sunday, December 03, Final Exam Ch. 34 Quiz Ch. 34 Discussion E-mail for Discussion due to me by 11/19/17 Chapters 28-34 Principles of Macroeconomics -7- P. Luce