Principles of Macroeconomics
(ECO 201 3.0 Cr)
Business & Economics

Course Description

Macroeconomics uses the tools of economics to understand how an economy functions and to develop policies that promote economic growth. In this course students will learn about how a national economy works, and how various government policies affect the economy and, by extension, its citizens’ lives. This course gives students the concepts and factual knowledge to read and understand the economic news and events that relate to the three main concerns of macroeconomics: inflation, unemployment, and economic growth.

Economists use "models" to understand how an economic system works and how a variable, for example, the amount of spending in the U.S. economy affects other variables such as the rate of inflation. Students will develop several macroeconomic models in this course and use them to both analyze and predict inflation, unemployment, and economic growth.

Learning Objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the role of the market mechanism in determining the prices and quantities of
goods and services produced in an economy
• Show how economists apply the model of supply and demand to individual markets
• Define important macroeconomic variables such as GDP, unemployment, inflation and
foreign exchange rates
• Locate and use current data about macroeconomic variables
• Understand how the banking industry is structured and the role that various agencies
play in regulating the banking industry
• Analyze monetary and fiscal policy using aggregate supply and demand diagrams as well as information from relevant sources such as the U.S. Federal Reserve's "beige book"
• Analyze and critique current policies
• Follow macroeconomic discussions in the news media and develop informed arguments
for themselves

Breadth of Assignments
This course uses a variety of methods to explore the Principles of Macroeconomics including:
textbook reading assignments, online presentations designed to present the material in a way that the textbook cannot, web resources provided to support particularly challenging subject matter, self-assessment quizzes, collaborative projects involving problem-solving or discussions with classmates, individual activities ranging from Java and Flash based interactive exercises to writing assignments and case studies.

Required Resources
Mankiw, N. (2004). Principles of Macroeconomics (3rd Edition.). Fort Worth TX: South-Western. ISBN: 0-32417-189-7
A national/international newspaper or journal of your choice is strongly suggested. The following are recommended: The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The New York Times.

Principles of Macroeconomics
Business & Economics
Module/Topics

Module 1: Introduction to Economics
• The ten basic principles of economics
• General concept of opportunity cost in business and personal life
• Economic graphs and tables
• Analyzing markets using the law of supply and demand

Module 2: Macroeconomic Data
• Supply and demand models and policy applications
• Key variables that macroeconomists use, locating these variables on the Internet, and
presenting these data graphically
• Assessing if income is related to other measures of well-being
• Constructing a simple price index to measure the cost of living and inflation
• Understanding news reports on unemployment, inflation and output.

Module 3: The Long-Run Determinants of Economic Growth
• Important factors in creating sustained economic growth
• Arguing for or against the proposition that growth increases people's well being
• Applying the market for loanable funds to analyze financial markets
• Interest rates on bonds and explanation of why differences exist
• The natural rate of unemployment

Module 4: Money and Inflation
• The role of money in an economy
• The role that the Federal Reserve plays in maintaining the U.S. money supply
• Locating and using reports by the Federal Reserve to analyze current monetary policy
• Analyzing U.S. inflation reports and critique the Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology for computing inflation

Module 5: Aggregate Supply and Demand
• Researching current macroeconomic policy by locating important sources of information on the Web
• The “multiplier effect;"
• Assessing current monetary and fiscal policy using the tools of aggregate supply and demand
• Explaining the limitations of long-run policy by using the long-run aggregate supply curve.

Module 6: Macroeconomic Policy
• Current U.S. macroeconomic policy within the broader concept of the U.S. business cycle
• Arguments for and against different macroeconomic policies
• Understanding the Federal Reserve's "Humphry-Hawkins Report" and other important reports
• Arguing both sides of major policy debates in macroeconomics
• Explaining the basic dynamics of the U.S. and other economies