ECONOMICS 2210 – DR. HIPPLE

PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS

SPRING 2015 INFORMATION SHEET

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:

Dr. F. Steb Hipple, Professor of Economics

Office -- Room 304, Sam Wilson Hall

Phone/Voicemail -- 423.439.5304

Email -- hipples@etsu.edu

Website -- http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples

Office Hours – after class meetings and by appointment.

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION:

Department of Economics and Finance

Office -- Room 227, Sam Wilson Hall

Phone -- 423.439.4202

CLASS MEETING TIMES:

ECON 2210-002 -- Tuesday-Thursday

11:15am-12:35pm, Sam Wilson Hall 302

PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS:

· Counts toward the social science component of the ETSU General Education Program.

· Is a required course in the business core curriculum of the College of Business and Technology.

TEXTBOOK:

Robin Bade & Michael Parkin, Foundations of Macroeconomics, 6th ed

Pearson Addison Wesley, 2013.

ON-LINE MATERIALS:

MyEconLab (MEL) in “Pearson MyLab/Mastering” to accompany

Robin Bade & Michael Parkin, Foundations of Macroeconomics, 6th ed

COURSE CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

An introduction to macroeconomic analysis which concentrates on economy wide, systematic issues such as inflation, unemployment, and the level of economic activity.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of this course, you will be able to:

· Demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of economics, including the problem of scarcity, the significance of opportunity costs, and the difference between normative and positive economics.

• Use supply & demand analysis to demonstrate the effect of various events on price and quantity traded in product, factor, and financial markets.
• Monitor the functioning of the macroeconomy using business indicators such as gross domestic product, employment, unemployment, and the inflation rate.
• Describe the functioning of the long run real economy, including factors that determine full employment, savings, investment, economic growth, and higher standards of living.
• Describe the structure and functioning of the financial system, including how banks create money, the operation of the Federal Reserve System, and how the Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy.
• Use a basic aggregate supply – aggregate demand model to explain economic fluctuations (the business cycle) and describe appropriate government responses to cyclical fluctuations.
• Describe the linkages of the domestic economy to the global economy through international trade, international investment, and exchange rates.

COURSE ORGANIZATION:

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Appendix. Making and Using Graphs

Handout. The Economic Problem and Economic Systems

Chapter 2. The U.S. and Global Economies

Quiz #1 (Tuesday, February 3)

Chapter 3. The Economic Problem

Handout. Variables and Relationships

Chapter 4. Demand and Supply

Quiz #2 (Tuesday, February 17)

PART 2 MONITORING THE MACROECONOMY

Chapter 5. GDP: A Measure of Total Production and Income

Chapter 6. Jobs and Unemployment

Chapter 7. The CPI and the Cost of Living

Handout. The Business Cycle and Economic Indicators

Quiz #3 (Thursday, March 5)

PART 3 THE REAL ECONOMY

Chapter 8. Potential GDP and the Natural Unemployment Rate

Chapter 9. Economic Growth

Handout. The Financial Markets

Chapter 10. Finance, Saving, and Investment

Quiz #4 (Thursday, March 26)

PART 4 THE MONEY ECONOMY

Chapter 11. The Monetary System

Chapter 12. Money, Interest, and Inflation

PART 5 ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS

Chapter 13. Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand

Quiz #5 (Thursday, April 9)

Chapter 14. (skipped)

Chapter 15. The Short-Run Policy Tradeoff (part)

PART 6 MACROECONOMIC POLICY

Handout. Monetary vs Fiscal Policy

Chapter 16. Fiscal Policy

Chapter 17. Monetary Policy

Quiz #6 (Thursday, April 23)

PART 7 THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Chapter 18. International Trade Policy

Chapter 19. International Finance

Quiz #7 (see below)

Comprehensive Make-Up Quiz (see below)

CLASS MEETINGS: Classes will begin Tuesday, January 20, and end Thursday, April 30. We will not meet during Spring Break (Monday, March 9 to Friday, March 13). There are a total of 28 class meetings. We will return during exam week for the last quizzes.

EXAM WEEK SCHEDULE:

ECON 2210-002 – Tuesday, May 5, 8:00am-10am.

NOTE ON TEXTBOOK AND ON-LINE MATERIALS: This course requires you to enroll in MyEconLab (MEL) from Pearson Education. Pearson is the parent firm of Addison Wesley, the textbook publisher. You may purchase a textbook package from the ETSU bookstore which will include an access kit with the registration information. Or, if you purchase a textbook without the access kit, you can directly enroll in MyEconLab on the internet. MEL registration will be closed after February 28.

PREPARATION: Assigned chapters should be carefully read before class meetings. Class lectures will focus on the theoretical and quantitative aspects of the textbook material.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: The homework assignments are a very critical element in this course. There will be a Homework Assignment in MEL for each Bade & Parkin chapter that we cover. You can work on the homework assignment until your score is 100%, and the homework exercises will be your guide to mastery of the chapter material. You should complete each homework assignment before the quiz, and not be satisfied with any score less than 100%. As an incentive, for each set of completed homework assignments with a score of 100%, five bonus points will be added to the quiz score. In addition, your semester average on homework assignments will count as one-seventh of your semester grade, so you should do all of the homework assignments. (MEL also includes Study Plan which is practice exercises linked to “checkpoints” within each chapter, and Sample Tests for each chapter. You may use these for self study, but they do not contribute to your semester grade.)

EXAMINATIONS: Eight quizzes will be given during the semester. There will be seven regular quizzes plus the comprehensive make-up quiz. Your semester grade will be based on your six best quiz scores (plus your homework average). You may miss or drop up to two quizzes. The quiz format will be multiple choice questions based on lecture, handouts, assigned chapters, MEL homework, and class discussions.

GRADING: Your semester grade will be based on your six best quiz scores and your homework average. The grade scale is: "A" = 90 to 100; "B" = 80 to 89; “C” =70 to 79; and etc. If the class average is below 80, then the letter ranges will be adjusted accordingly. For example, if the class average is 75, then the letter ranges are: “A” = 85 and above; “B” = 75 to 84, “C” = 65 to 74; and etc. Plus and minus grades will be assigned at the end of the semester and show strong or weak performance within the letter range.

WEBSITES: This class will have three websites. (1) My website at http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples. This website will include the syllabus, handouts, FYI items, and announcements. (2) The class website at http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com will contain the homework exercises. (3) The University D2L website for the class will not be used.

ATTENDANCE: Class attendance is expected, and can actually help you get better grades!

HELP: I will have regular office hours to meet with you, or by appointment. Please feel free to ask questions. Contact me if you need help on your reading assignments or problems. Have a good semester!