ECONOMICS 2210-904 – INTERNET COURSE

PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS I (MACRO)
FALL 2009 INFORMATION SHEET -- DR. HIPPLE

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. F. Steb Hipple, Professor of Economics

Office -- Room 304, Sam Wilson Hall
Phone/Voicemail -- 423.439.5304
Fax -- 423.439.8583
Email -- hipples@etsu.edu
Website -- http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples
Office Hours – by appointment.

TEXTBOOK:

Robin Bade & Michael Parkin, Foundations of Macroeconomics, 3^rd ed

Pearson Addison Wesley, 2007. Buy a used book!

ON-LINE MATERIALS:

“MyEconLab in Course Compass” to accompany Bade/Parkin, Foundations of Macroeconomics, 3^rd ed. These materials will be purchased on line.

WARNING!

Don’t buy the wrong edition of the textbook or the wrong on-line materials.

This course will use THIRD edition. (The fourth edition is used in regular classes.)

WARNING! NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED! An internet course is based on student self study. The successful student will enjoy the lack of class meetings and the unstructured nature of the course. But, the successful student must have (1) a strong academic background, (2) the ability to do self study, and (3) the self discipline to work on the course material on a regular basis.

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

Chapter 3. The Economic Problem

Handout. Variables and Relationships

Chapter 4. Demand and Supply

PART 2 MONITORING THE MACROECONOMY

Chapter 5. GDP and the Standard of Living

EXAM I (Saturday, October 3)

Chapter 6. Jobs and Unemployment

Chapter 7. The CPI and the Cost of Living

Internet. Publications of the St. Louis FRB

PART 3 THE REAL ECONOMY

Chapter 8. Potential GDP and the Natural Unemployment Rate

Handout. The Financial Markets

Chapter 9. Investment and Saving

Chapter 10. Economic Growth

PART 4 THE MONEY ECONOMY

Chapter 11. Money and the Monetary System

Chapter 12. Money Creation and Control

Chapter 13. Money, Interest, and Inflation

EXAM II (Saturday, November 7)

PART 5 ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS

Chapter 14. AS-AD and the Business Cycle

Handout. Monetary vs Fiscal Policy

Chapter 16. Fiscal and Monetary Policy Effects

Chapter 17. The Short-Run Policy Tradeoff

Chapter 18. Fiscal and Monetary Policy Debates

PART 6 THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Chapter 19. International Trade

Chapter 20. International Finance

EXAM III (Saturday, December 12)

CLASS MEETINGS: As an internet course, there will be no scheduled class meetings for lecture. We will meet to take the three hour examinations. If you cannot attend these meetings, then other arrangements will have to be made (such as a proctored exam). Contact me on these matters.

VIDEOS: I have prepared 22 video “modules” to guide your study of the Bade & Parkin chapters. These modules are available on line through our D2L class site. See the special instruction sheet for accessing the video modules.

HANDOUTS: The handouts for the course will be available at the class website http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples. I will also distribute the handouts as email attachments.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION (FYI): During the course, we will look at various statistical releases from the U.S. government which cover the major economic indicators for the macroeconomy. These FYIs will be available at the class website, and I will also distribute them by email. We will also look at the excellent on-line publications of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank.

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 http://www.coursecompass.com. See the special instruction sheet for MEL enrollment.

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 exam questions will be based on the homework assignments. You should complete each homework assignment before the exam, 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 exam score. In addition, your semester average on homework assignments will count as the equivalent of one exam 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: Three hour exams will be given during the semester, and you are expected to take all three exams. The exam format will be multiple choice questions based on the videos, handouts, assigned chapters, and MEL homework. The dates and places for the exams will be announced.

GRADING: Your semester grade will be based on your three exam 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 use 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.coursecompass.com will contain the homework exercises. (3) The University D2L website for the class which contains the links to the video modules.

HELP: Contact me by e-mail. If needed, we can also set up appointments. I will also have regular office hours during the semester. Have a good semester!