Principles of Macroeconomics
ECON 2301.002
Thursday
7:05-9:45pm CYP 2000, RM 2227
Instructor: Don Tompkins
Spring 2009
.
Office Hours Blackboard
Course Description Testing
Textbooks Homework/Class
Participation
Learning Objectives Grading
Course Attendance Incompletes
Scholastic Dishonesty Withdrawals
Students with Disabilities
Works
OFFICE HOURS
Office:
Email: dtompkin@austincc.edu
Phone: Cell (emergencies) 512-468-7541
Office Hours: Thur.
Class Days,
Hrs 6:30-7:00pm and 9:45-10:15pm
Conferences outside of office hours may be arranged by
appointment
The section number of this class is: ECON 2301.002
The synonym for this class: 29306
1. Course Description- Principles of Macroeconomics deals with consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, the effects of government spending and taxation, and the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. Macroeconomics is concerned with unemployment, inflation and the business cycle.
2.
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 by 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.
3.
Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes
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.
The instructional methodology of
this class will be lecture, group discussion, individual current event
presentation with peer review, and brainstorming on relevant political and
social issues.
Problem Solving:
The key in understanding economics is gaining the ability to solve problems. In doing so, first, one must understand the
material; second, one should use the given tools such as graphs and formulae to
arrive at the correct answer. In lecture
examples will be used to demonstrate how it is done. You will gain experience and knowledge from
solving problems with your classmates. On practicing problem solving, it is
important to work together and give help when needed because problem solving
is a key to mastering economics.
Textbooks
Required:
Principles of Macroeconomics. Fourth
Edition by N. Gregory Mankiw (Thomson Learning, South-Western, COPYRIGHT 2007)
Optional:
Study Guide Principles of Macroeconomics, Fourth Edition by David R. Hakes (Thomson Learning, South-Western, COPYRIGHT 2007)
Learning Objectives
Learning objectives for each
chapter you will study are listed at the beginning of each
chapter
in the textbook; a more extensive list can be found in the Study Guide. Read them
carefully
before you read the chapter. They are there to help you read the chapter. They
are
there to help you focus your
mind on the important concepts and theories discussed in the
chapter.
The exams will test your knowledge of and ability to apply these learning
objectives. Knowing this will help you efficiently allocate your mental
energies. In addition, the essay questions at the ends of the
chapters will compose part of the exams and will function as broad learning objectives that will be discussed in class.
Regular attendance is
expected. Frequent exposure to an instructor's explanations is an important
factor in your ability to master the material covered. Although you will not be
penalized for missing class (you are hurting yourself by cutting), current
events and materials used in class to illustrate course-work will be included
in test questions.
Scholastic Dishonesty
Acts prohibited by the college
for which discipline may be administered include scholastic
dishonesty. Scholastic
dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz,
plagiarizing, and unauthorized
collaboration with another in preparing outside work.
Academic work submitted by you
is to be the result of your own 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.
Penalties for scholastic
dishonesty in this class can range from being assigned a zero grade
for an assignment on which
dishonesty took place to being dropped from this class with a failing grade for
cheating on exams. If the latter occurs,
then the incident and the student will be reported to the Dean of Students.
Further repercussions could follow from the Dean.
Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request 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. During the first or second week of class, students with disabilities must present the instructor with the sheet from the Office for Students with Disabilities listing the reasonable accommodations they require.
Blackboard is an on-line
classroom management tool. It includes a grade book, a discussion board, ways
to communicate between students and between students and professor. The course syllabus, assignments and other
pertinent course information will post on Blackboard. Your Online Login
username and password is your 7-digit ACC student ID number.
Please
change your password while you are logged on for the first time. To change your
password, click the "User Tools" button. When that page opens up,
click on the line that says "Personal Information." When that page
opens up, click on the line that says "Change Password." The rest
should be self-explanatory. It is important to change your password so that you
can be secure in the knowledge that no one besides your instructors can see
your grade information. Even then, each instructor will only be able to see the
grades in the course they are teaching.
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Testing
Midterm examinations will
consist of .two parts: 1) objective questions and 2) essay questions. At least
50% of the questions will be directly related to the questions and problems in
the text. There will be two midterm examinations plus a final exam. The final
exam will be comprehensive
If you
provide advance notice and valid reasons to miss a test, it is required that
make up the test at the testing center within six days.
Homework/Class Evaluation
Each student will select a current event newspaper or magazine article that applies to one or more of Principles (five through ten) of Economics in Chapter One. You will be asked to select the date you want to present your article and must submit it to the instructor one week in advance. The submission shall include a minimum one page double spaced description of why it applies and provide at least one footnote from the text, referencing the logic of how it applies. In class you will lead a discussion regarding the economic significance of the event you choose, supplying a copy of the article and basis for your discussion for each class member. This activity has a value of 40 grade points. Several of the questions on the exams will be taken from these presentations.
Each student will select a company by draw to use in a stock market exercise. The exercise will include graphing the stock performance based on a closing market price and analysis of the performance of the stock over a selected period. This exercise has a value to 30 grade points.
Additional bonus points of up
to 50 points may be earned by completing and handing in problems selected by
the instructor at the end of each chapter.
Bonus points maybe used to improve your grade but in no event will total
points exceed 500.
All assignments must be completed on time as agreed to in class. I will not accept any late homework no matter what the reason.
There are 500 grade points available. The two midterms will be worth 140 points each or 280 points all together. The Final Exam will be worth 150 points. The homework/class participation assignments will be worth 70 points.
An optional 50 bonus points are available as incentive to prepare for and attend class.
Final letter grades will be
distributed according to the following scale:
Grade Points Percent
A 500-450 100-90%
B 449-400 90-80%
C 399-350 80-70%
D 349-300 70-60%
F 299-0 59-0%
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Incompletes
Incompletes are discouraged. They will be given only when extraordinary events intervene so as to make completion of the course impossible. Incompletes will not be given to students who are behind schedule when the semester nears its end, nor will incompletes be given to students who need just a few more points to make the next higher letter grade. Plenty of opportunity exists during the semester to accomplish your goals.
To
receive an incomplete you must have completed the first two exams with a C or
better. If you need an incomplete, the reason must be documented by filling out
a special form, available from the instructor.
If the form is not filled out, an
incomplete grade will not be given.
If you
find yourself way behind or many points short toward the end of the semester
you may withdraw without a grade penalty up to four weeks before the end of the
semester. Please read the following note
about withdrawals.
You
are responsible for withdrawing yourself from this course if that is what your
personal situation requires. This means that if you have taken no tests or only
a few of the tests and the semester ends without having withdrawn, your grade
for the course will be an F. The
instructor makes no promise either implicit or explicit to withdraw you from
the course. However, the instructor does reserve the right to withdraw you if
he/she believes the situation warrants such action. For example, if you miss
more than seven classes, the instructor can
unilaterally initiate a student withdrawal.
The
Beginning in the Fall of 2007 academic term, and applying to students who enroll in higher education for the first time during the fall of 2007 or any term subsequent to the 2007 term, an institution of higher education may not permit an undergraduate student to drop a total of more than six courses, including any course a transfer student has dropped at another institution of higher education.
The
last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday, April 27th.
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Tentative Lecturing/Test
Schedule
Week Date Chapter
Assignments
2 Jan
29 Chapter 2, 3 & 4
3 Feb 5 Chapter 4, 5
5 Feb 19 Chapter 10, 11
6 Feb 26 Test 140 points
7 Mar 5 Chapter 12, 13
9 Mar
19 Spring Break No Class
10 Mar 26 Chapter 14, 15
12 Apr
9 Chapter 17
13 Apr 16 Test 140 points
14 Apr 23 Chapter 18, 19
15 Apr
30 Chapter 20, 21
16 May 7 Chapter 22
17 May 14 Final Test 150 points