COURSE SYLLABUS AND INSTRUCTOR PLAN

Transcription

1 WACO, TEXAS COURSE SYLLABUS AND INSTRUCTOR PLAN MACROECONOMICS ECON 2301.M1 BROOKS WILSON AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY INSTITUTION MINIMESTER/2015

2 Course Description: Introduces the principles and policies of macroeconomics to include the practical aspects of economics analysis as it applies to supply and demand, national production, consumption, saving, taxation, inflation, employment, and growth. Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: Students should has passed the reading portion of the TSI Assessment or have credit for READ Course Notes and Instructor Recommendations: If you are having a problem with this course at any time, please feel free to contact me at or bwilson@mclennan.edu. In most cases, I will answer your question within 24 hours unless it is the weekend. In that case, I will answer on the following Monday. Instructor Information: Instructor Name: Brooks Wilson MCC bwilson@mclennan.edu Office Phone Number: Office Location: MAC 211 Office/Teacher Conference Hours: MTWTH from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. Other Instruction Information: Required Text & Materials: Title: Principles of Macroeconomics Author: Mankiw, Aplia version Edition: 7 th Publisher: Cengage ISBN: MCC Bookstore Website 2

3 Methods of Teaching and Learning: Lecture, internet assignments, midterm exams, final exam. Course Objectives and/or Competencies: The primary objective of this course will be to help students develop a thorough understanding of the principles of economics that apply to the economic system as a whole. B. Specific Learning Objectives Successful completion of this course should enable the student to: 1. Learn ten principles of economics that will be used in class and more broadly used to view events in society. 2. Use methods economists employ to aide in critical thinking, including the scientific method. 3. Discuss common problems such as identifying causality and omitted variables that are encountered by economists as they attempt to analyze events. 4. Distinguish between macroeconomic issues, which focus on resource allocation to achieve goals for the overall economy, and microeconomic issues, which focus on resource allocation from the point of view of individual market participants. 5. Distinguish factor markets from product markets in the circular flow model, and trace the flow of goods and services and payments for these goods and services on this model. 6. Understand how limitations on factors of production are the source of society's scarcity and production possibilities, as well as the prices and opportunity costs of goods and services. 7. Define four resources and the payment resource owners receive for their use. 8. Illustrate and distinguish between the concepts of scarcity, law of increasing opportunity cost, inefficiency, unemployment, and growth, using the production possibilities curve. 9. Understand that everyone can benefit from voluntary trade. Develop the twocountry, two good trade models to further explain the benefits of trade. 10. Distinguish between absolute advantage and comparative advantage. 11. Know that comparative advantage is the basis for specialization. 12. Know the definitions of supply and demand and be able to distinguish supply and demand from quantity supplied and quantity demanded. 3

4 13. List and understand the determinants of supply and demand for goods and services. 14. Visualize the shifts of supply and demand when the determinants change. 15. Describe the effects on equilibrium output and prices when determinants change and the curves shift. 16. Define a price ceiling, a binding price ceiling and the resulting shortage. 17. Illustrate a price ceiling with case studies of gasoline and rent control. 18. Define a price floor, a binding price floor and the resulting surplus. 19. Illustrate a price floor with a case study of the minimum wage. 20. Distinguish between the incidence of a tax and the burden of a tax. 21. Discuss the role of accounting systems 22. Define gross domestic product (GDP). 23. Describe problems in measurement of GDP. 24. Define nominal and real GDP. 25. Calculate gross domestic product using the income and expenditure approaches. 26. Calculate the GDP deflator and describe its use. 27. Define inflation, deflation and relative prices. 28. Construct a simple consumer price index (CPI). 29. Compare and contrast the consumer price index, producer price indexes, and the GDP deflator. 30. Compute changes prices over time or across locations using an index such as the CPI. 31. Calculate real GDP using nominal GDP and the GDP deflator. 32. Explain problems with measuring price changes through the CPI such as quality changes and the introduction of new products. 33. Explain the goal of price stability. 34. Use a case study of the informal housing sector in Peru to contrast legal and institutional differences between a developing country such as Peru and a developed country such as the United States. 35. Understand basic characteristics bonds, and bond markets, stock and stock markets, and financial intermediaries. 36. Develop the national saving equation using the GPD equation. 37. Explain how the national saving equation can be divided into private saving and public saving. 38. Explain the elements of the graph of the market for loanable funds. 4

5 39. Show how the equilibrium changes as savers and investors respond to taxes. 40. Demonstrate how the budget deficit changes the equilibrium in the private market for loanable funds. 41. Define the labor force. 42. Learn about the data used to measure the amount of unemployment and measurement problems of discouraged and phantom workers. 43. Calculate the labor-force participation rate and the unemployment rate. 44. Define various types of unemployment. 45. Understand the nature of our fractional reserve banking system, and distinguish between a bank's required reserves, actual reserves, and excess reserves. 46. Explain how banks create money and how the money multiplier works. 47. Identify two essential functions that banks perform for the macroeconomy. 48. Describe the structure and functions of the Federal Reserve System. (Fed) 49. Know the three basic tools the Fed uses to control money supply and be able to make calculations on the impact on potential money supply when the Fed uses these tools. 50. Know that the price level is inversely related to the amount we can buy. 51. Explain the long-run Classical theory of inflation. 52. Explain the classical dichotomy and monetary neutrality. 53. Define the velocity and quantity equations and explain their significance. 54. Define the Fisher equation. 55. Define costs of inflation such as menu costs, shoe leather costs, and the misallocation of resources. 56. Know how net exports measure the international flow of goods and services. 57. Understand how net capital outflow measures the international flow of capital. 58. Know why net exports must always equal net foreign investment. 59. Know the meaning the nominal exchange rate and the real exchange rate. 60. Understand purchasing-power parity as a theory of how exchange rates are determined. 5

6 Course Outline or Schedule: Tentative MM Schedule Week 1: Orientation, Ch. 1, Ch. 2A, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Exam 1, Ch.4, Ch. 6, Exam 2 Week 2: Ch. 10, Ch. 11, Ch. 11, Exam 3, Ch. 12, Ch. 13, Ch. 15, Exam 4, Ch. 16, Ch. 17, Ch. 18, Exam 5 May 29: Final Exam Course Grading Information: Your grade will be earned based on scores on problems sets, the best two of three midterm exams exam, and a comprehensive final. The contribution of these components to your grade is as follows: I will evaluate your performance in class using the following metric. Testing Tool Percent of Grade Aplia graded problem sets 20% Best midterms 13% each) 65% Final exam* 15% Bonus points 1.5% *If your final is two standard deviations below your average grades on midterms, a penalty will be applied to your grade by changing the grading weights on the midterms and final. The midterms become a smaller weight in your grade by subtracting two times your standard deviation to the 20% weight on the final. I will provide the t-test to date beginning with the second exam as part of the grade book in Blackboard. Late Work, Attendance, and Make Up Work Policies: Late assignments can be completed for 90% of full credit. 6

7 Student Behavioral Expectations or Conduct Policy: Students are expected to maintain classroom decorum that includes respect for other students and the instructor, prompt and regular attendance, and an attitude that seeks to take full advantage of the education opportunity. MCC Academic Integrity Statement: The Center for Academic Integrity, of which McLennan Community College is a member, defines academic integrity as a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behavior that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action. Individual faculty members determine their class policies and behavioral expectations for students. Students who commit violations of academic integrity should expect serious consequences. For further information about student responsibilities and rights, please consult the McLennan website and your Highlander Student Guide. What is cheating? Cheating is any activity that allows a student to improve an exam score without learning the material. You can work with other students completing Aplia assignments. In fact, I encourage you to study in groups. You can learn by asking questions of students who understand the material better than you. Likewise, if you know the material better than another student, you can improve your understanding by explaining the economic way of thinking and modeling to them. However, you are not allowed to study from a databank of questions taken from past exams, take the exam with other students, friends or family. Cheating Policy Cheating lowers the value of the MCC degree. As a word of warning to students who earn their degrees by cheating, you will not be able to fool future employers. Your degree will be valuable only if you learn useful skills. Honesty is important because I grade on a curve, and cheating lowers the grades of all students who behave honestly. Because cheating in an Internet classes is easy, I will take prudent steps to guard against it. I require that every student take one of the first two exams at the MCC Student Testing Center. Your score will act as a marker. If another exam has a significantly higher score, you must prove that you have acquired the knowledge by retesting at the MCC Student Testing Center. The requirement is not an accusation of cheating. While not all students that earn a higher grade on unsupervised exams cheated, virtually all who cheat earn higher scores on unsupervised exams. I will inform you if you need to retake an exam and you will have one week after notification to take it. If the exam score taken at the Testing Center is higher than the online exam, it will be averaged with the first to establish a new marker. 7

8 Exam Rules As mentioned, students must take one of their first two exams online through Blackboard or Aplia. The other exams will be taken online unless you are required to retake an exam because of a dramatic improvement in a test score. The average student needs.8 seconds to answer a question. I will give you 1.2 minutes. The time limitation is designed to stop students from looking up answers on the Internet or consulting friends. Do not ask for additional time unless you have a documented disability which I will accommodate. If you wish to have more time and you don t have a disability, you may take the exam at the MCC Testing Center or under the supervision of a proctor that I approve. The Testing Center is in room 301 of the Student Center. You must call to make an appointment for your exam. The number is You must also have a picture ID, a Scantron 882-E or 882-ES, and a pencil. You may use a simple calculator that the Testing Center provides, and blank paper that will be left with the exam. I reserve the option to make additional rules. MCC Attendance Policy: Regular and punctual attendance is expected of all students, and each instructor will maintain a complete record of attendance for the entire length of each course, including online and hybrid courses. Students will be counted absent from class meetings missed, beginning with the first official day of classes. Students, whether present or absent, are responsible for all material presented or assigned for a course and will be held accountable for such materials in the determination of course grades. Please refer to the Highlander Guide for the complete policy. ADA Statement: In accordance with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the regulations published by the United States Department of Justice 28 C.F.R (a), MCC s designated ADA coordinators, Dr. Drew Canham Vice President, Student Success and Mr. Gene Gooch - Vice President, Finance and Administration shall be responsible for coordinating the College s efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under ADA. Students with disabilities requiring physical, classroom, or testing accommodations should contact Ms. Renee Jacinto, Disabilities Specialist, Student Services Center, Student Development Department, Room 211 or at or disabilities@mclennan.edu. 8

9 TITLE IX No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. Legal Citation: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and its implementing regulation at 34 C. F. R. Part 106 (Title IX) In accordance with the requirements of the Title IX Education Amendments of 1972 MCC s designated Title IX Coordinator, Al Pollard Vice President, Program Development/EEO Officer and Deputy Coordinator, Brett Bunce Director of Human Resources shall be responsible for coordinating the College s effort to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under Title IX. Contact information Al Pollard, Title IX Coordinator Brett Bunce, Title IX Deputy Coordinator Vice President, Program Development Director, Human Resources McLennan Community College McLennan Community College Administration Building, Room 417 Administration Building, Room College Drive 1400 College Drive FAX FAX apollard@mclennan.edu bbunce@mclennan.edu 9