ECONOMICS 2210-088 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS I (MACRO)
FALL 2008 INFORMATION SHEET -- DR. HIPPLE

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. F. Steb Hipple, Professor of Economics
Office -- Room 304, Wilson Hall
Phone/Voicemail -- 423.439.5304
Fax -- 423.439.8583
Email -- hipples@etsu.edu
Website -- http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples
Office Hours – after class meetings and by appointment.

TEXTBOOK:

Robin Bade & Michael Parkin, Foundations of Macroeconomics, 4ed

Pearson Addison Wesley, 2009, with “MyEconLab in CourseCompass”

(“a la carte” loose leaf edition)

WARNING!

Don’t buy the wrong edition, or the wrong version of the textbook.

This course will use the FOURTH edition. (The third edition is still available.)

Purchase the text version that is “MyEconLab in CourseCompass”.

Do not buy the text version that is just MyEconLab.

MEETING TIMES:

ECON 2210-088 -- TR, 3:45pm-5:05pm, Room 322, Wilson Hall

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES: This is an introductory survey course in economics, and is part of the Core Curriculum of the University's General Education Program, and the Business Core Requirements of the College of Business and Technology. The course will provide a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles of macroeconomics, and establish a foundation for further studies in economics, business, and the social sciences.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of this course, you should be able to: (1) understand the basic principles of economics, including the difference between normative and positive economics, the problem of scarcity, the significance of opportunity costs, and the use of marginal analysis. (2) understand basic supply-demand analysis, and follow its application to product, factor, and financial markets. (3) monitor the functioning of the macro-economy using business indicators such as gross domestic product, employment and unemployment, and the inflation rate. (4) comprehend the nature of the real economy including the concepts of full employment, savings and investment, and the conditions necessary for economic growth and higher standards of living. (5) describe the structure and functioning of the financial system, including how banks create money, the operations of the Federal Reserve System, and how the FRS conducts monetary policy. (6) use a basic aggregate supply-aggregate demand model to explain economic fluctuations (the business cycle) and describe appropriate government responses to cyclical fluctuations. (7) 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, September 9)

Chapter 3. The Economic Problem

Handout. Variables and Relationships

Chapter 4. Demand and Supply

Quiz #2 (Tuesday, September 23)

PART 2 MONITORING THE MACROECONOMY

Chapter 5. GDP and the Standard of Living

Chapter 6. The CPI and the Cost of Living

Chapter 7. Jobs and Unemployment

Handout. The Business Cycle and Economic Indicators

Quiz #3 (Thursday, October 9)

PART 3 THE REAL ECONOMY

Chapter 8. Potential GDP and the Natural Unemployment Rate

Chapter 9. Economic Growth

Handout. The Financial Markets

Chapter 10. Investment, Saving, and the Real Interest Rate

Quiz #4 (Thursday, October 30)

PART 4 THE MONEY ECONOMY

Chapter 11. The Monetary System

Chapter 12. Money, Interest, and Inflation

PART 5 ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS

Chapter 13. AS-AD and the Business Cycle

Quiz #5 (Thursday, November 13)

Chapter 14. (Skipped)

Chapter 15. The Short-Run Policy Tradeoff

PART 6 MACROECONOMIC POLICY

Handout. Monetary vs Fiscal Policy

Chapter 16. Fiscal Policy

Chapter 17. Monetary Policy

Quiz #6 (Tuesday, November 25)

PART 7 THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Chapter 18. International Trade

Chapter 19. International Finance

Quiz #7 (see below)

Comprehensive Make-Up Quiz (see below)

CLASS MEETINGS: Classes will begin Monday, August 25, and end Friday, December 5. Holidays are: Labor Day (Monday, September 1), Fall Break (Monday and Tuesday, October 13 and 14), and Thanksgiving (Thursday and Friday, November 27 and 28). There are a total of 28 scheduled class meetings. We will meet during exam week for Quiz #7 and a comprehensive make-up quiz.

ECON 2210-088 will meet at 10:30am on Thursday, December 11.

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

MyEconLab: This course requires you to use the MyEconLab (MEL) from Pearson Education. Pearson is the parent firm of Addison Wesley, the textbook publisher. Our version of MEL is included in CourseCompass which is a Blackboard based system. We will have a class website at www.coursecompass.com.

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 exercises selected for your homework will be your guide to mastery of the chapter material. Most quiz questions will be based on the homework assignments. 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 the equivalent of one quiz towards your semester grade, so you should do all of the homework assignments. (The MEL also includes Study Plan which is practice exercises linked to “checkpoints” within each chapter, and two Sample Tests for each chapter. You may use these for self study, but they do not contribute to your semester grade.)

EXAMINATIONS: Seven quizzes will be given during the semester. You may drop your lowest quiz grade and/or miss one quiz. The quiz format will be multiple choice questions based on lecture, handouts, assigned chapters, MEL homework, and class discussions. A comprehensive make-up quiz will be given at the end of the semester. This is a bonus quiz and can be used to increase your semester quiz average.

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.

WEBSITE: The class website is at http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples. The website will include the syllabus, handouts, quiz answers and grade distributions, and announcements. Note this is not our CourseCompass class website.

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.