Instructor:  Becky Chenevert

Course:  Principles of Macroeconomics

               ECON 2301, Synonym 36843

Meeting Time:  MTWRF 10:40-12:10

Meeting Place:  NRG 2120

 

Contact Information:  My email address is rcheneve@austincc.edu.  I will hold office hours for a half hour before class every day, and am available for appointments on the NRG campus in 2111/2112 if those times don’t work for you.  Please use email to contact me.

 

Course Description: Principles of Macroeconomics deals with consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, the effects of government spending and taxation policies and the effects of the monetary policy carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank. Macroeconomics is concerned with unemployment, inflation, and the business cycle.

 

Required Text Book: N.Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Macroeconomics, fourth edition, Ohio, Thomson South-Western.

 

Instructor Methodology:  The course is designed in a lecture/discussion format. Students are highly encouraged to participate in class discussions.  There are also online supplements as well as required homework.

 

Course Rationale:  This course is meant to give students insight into the dynamics of our national economy. The knowledge gained in the course will make students better informed citizens and allow them to follow the debates over national economic policy reported in the news media. This course is also a foundation course that will prepare students to be successful in upper division finance, marketing, business administration, economics, government, and social work courses.

 

Course Objectives: Students who complete this course will be able to understand:

    • the meaning of unemployment and inflation data and how that data is collected and computed;
    • the meaning and components of the National Income Accounts, especially GDP;
    • the meaning of the business cycle and its phases;
    • and to manipulate the basic Aggregate Supply, Aggregate Demand model of the macro economy;
    • how fiscal policy operates, its tools, and its advantages and drawbacks;
    • how a fractional reserve banking system works;
    • how monetary policy operates, its tools, and its advantages and drawbacks.

Course Evaluation: 25% of your grade will be determined by each of 2 midterm exams, 30% by the (cumulative) final exam, and the remaining 20% will be determined by homework and quizzes.  Quizzes will be unannounced and in class, so attendance is encouraged.  There will be no make up quizzes.  Graded homework will be assigned through Aplia, and additional exercises will be suggested.  See the handout for instructions about signing up for Aplia, and use the tutorials to learn how to use the software and submit homework.  Although the additional exercises will not be graded, you are encouraged to work through them since they will be very good practice for the exams. 

 

 

Course Policies: Missed exams are generally treated as zeroes; only serious and substantiated medical or personal emergencies may be accepted as legitimate excuses for a missed exam.  Makeup exams are generally composed entirely of technical essay questions rather than multiple choice items.   I will not withdraw students from this course.  If you need to withdraw from this course, you must fill out a withdrawal form and submit it to the admissions office on or before August 6.  Incompletes will be given only when extraordinary, documented events intervene after the withdrawal deadline so as to make completion of the course impossible.

 

Scholastic Dishonesty:  Acts prohibited by the college for which discipline may be administered include scholastic dishonesty, including but not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, and unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing outside work. Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their thought, research or self-expression. Academic work is defined as, but not limited to tests, quizzes, whether taken electronically or on paper; projects, either individual or group; classroom presentations, and homework.

 

Students with Disabilities:  Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request reasonable accommodations through the Office for Students with Disabilities on the campus where they expect to take the majority of their classes. Students are encouraged to do this three weeks before the start of the semester

 

Course Outline:

Week of July 8: Introduction, Production Possibilities Frontiers

            Chapters 1-3

Week of July 13: Supply and Demand, Elasticity, Welfare, Taxation

            Chapters 4-8

Week of July 20: International Trade, Macro Measurements

            Chapters 9-11

            Midterm 1: Wednesday, July 22 (Chapters 1-9)

Week of July 27: Long Run Growth, Financial Institutions, Unemployment

            Chapters 12-15

Week of August 3: Money, Aggregate Supply/Demand,

            Chapters 16-17 and 20

            Midterm 2: Monday, August 3 (Chapters 10-15)

Week of August 10: Monetary Policy

            Chapter 21

August 13: Final Exam