Georgia Highlands College

Econ 2105 – Macroeconomics

 

Fall Semester, 2007

MW, 9:30-10:45 -- CRN# 80006 – 3 credit hours -- W202

MW, 11:00-12:15 – CRN# 80007 – 3 credit hours -- W 202

 

John Reiners … jreiners@highlands.edu

Office: W 121, Main Campus

Phone: 706/295-6327 (Bus Dept) … 706/295-4450 (home)

Office hours: MTWR 1:30-2:30; or by appointment

 

Prerequisites:  READ 0099; ENGL 0099

 

Materials:

            1) Holt, Jeff.  2007.  Principles of Economics, 3rd Edition.  McGraw Hill – Custom Publishing.

            2) other materials as assigned

            3) Class PowerPoints, assignments, and syllabus are available on WebCT Vista … access at http://highlands.view.usg.edu

 

Course Description:  The class is intended to introduce students to concepts that will enable them to understand and analyze structure and performance of the market economy as a whole. 

            Macroeconomics focuses on the big picture of economics – how countries and societies make decisions on the use of limited resources.  Students will learn to understand and analyze economic measurements such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, unemployment rate, and money supply.  The impact of macroeconomic policies on the US economy (especially fiscal policies of the President and monetary policies of the Fed) will be analyzed and discussed.

Course Objectives:

1)      Learn about learning … understand how you learn best

·         Ability and effort … information competency … leading to self-efficacy;

2)      Understand economic market systems

·         historic development of US economy … demand, supply, equilibrium, graphs … economics & ethics … international trade

3)      Understand macroeconomics measures and policies

·         GDP, unemployment rate, inflation

·         Fiscal policy, monetary policy, banks & money, federal deficits

4)      Apply economic principles to current news

·         Summary/presentation of a current issue … proficient use of e-mail, Excel, & PowerPoint … write and speak logically and clearly about economic issues.

Method of Instruction:  Each class will have specific objectives; and assignments, exams, and projects are tied to these objectives.  Classes will include lecture, discussion, individual presentations, group exercises, and individual projects.  Active student involvement and participation is an important part of the learning process (and of your grade).  Teaching methods stress application of economic concepts to real life situations and understanding economic principles that are evident in the daily headlines. 

 

Note: this syllabus is provided as a guideline to help student understand the content, the expectations, the assignments, and the grading procedures of Econ 2105; and some variations from this syllabus may be necessary during the course.

Econ 2105 – fall semester 2007 -- page 2

 

Grading:                     Exams (4)                                            40 %

                                    Quizzes (8)                                          10 %

                                    Individual projects                               40 %

                                       E-mail assignment                 ---

                                       Excel graph                            ---

                                       Article Summary                    5%

                                       Article presentation               10%

                                       Excel-GDP chart                    --

                                       Excel-GDP forecast             10%

                                       PPT-fiscal/monetary policy   10%

                                       Economic essay                    5%

                                    Class participation                               10 %

                                                total                                                    100 %

 

Class participation:  Attendance is critical.  Exam questions will be based primarily on topics covered in class.  Participation grade will be based on in-class exercises, contributions during class, and e-mail correspondence with the instructor.

Exams:  There will be four exams plus a comprehensive final exam.  The exams will typically include 35 multiple choice questions and 3 of 5 essay questions.  The lowest test grade will be dropped, including the final exam.  Because this class emphasizes understanding and application, students may use a one page summary sheet (8 ½ x 11, one side) of their own making (not Xeroxes of class PPTs) for each exam.

Quizzes:  Nine quizzes will be given during the semester.  The low grade will be dropped.  Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class – in fact, quizzes will be available 15 minutes before class begins – and will be collected at 10 minutes after class begins.  The quizzes will be open book, open notes, open classmates – students are encouraged to discuss quiz questions with other students.

Individual Assignments: Seven individual assignments are scheduled (more details will be provided later):

            1) e-mail: Each student will e-mail the instructor with biographic information and identify the 3 largest economies five years from now and estimate rate of GDP growth, inflation, & unemployment in US five years from now – this is an ungraded assignment.

            2) Excel graph: Each student will enter supply & demand data into an Excel spreadsheet and generate a graph of supply and demand.

            3) Article summary:  Each student will select a current news article (Atlanta JC, Newsweek, www.dismal.com, or other sources), summarize it and relate it to key economic issues.  A one page report plus an outline of the report will be turned in.

            4) Article Presentation:  Each student will present a summary & analysis of a different, second news item to the class.  Again a one page report and an outline are to be turned in.  The 1-2 minute presentation is to be made from your outline – do not read your report to the class.

            5) Excel chart:  Each student is to collect economic data on GDP performance for the past four years in an Excel spreadsheet and calculate average and % change for each year using Excel formulas.

            6) GDP forecast:  Using the data collected in the Excel chart, each student will discuss the past performance and future expectation of consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports and forecast GDP for the end of this year.

            7) PowerPoint (PPT) project: Each student will prepare and develop a 4-6 slide PowerPoint presentation on fiscal policy or on monetary policy.  No PPT presentations will be made, but PPT note pages should be prepared as if presentation were being made.

            8) Economic essay:  Students select an “interesting” economic phenomenon they have observed and explain it.  For example, why is beef more expensive than chicken?  Why do brides purchase wedding dresses and grooms rent wedding tuxes?  Why is gasoline often $.10 cheaper in Cartersville than Rome?

Calculation of grades: Grades will be scored numerically with A's for 90+, B's for 80-89, C's for 70-79, D's for 60-69, and F's for 59-.

Econ 2105 – Fall Semester 2007 -- page 3

Class Schedule MW – 30 class sessions -- tentative

Date

Topic

Assignments

Aug 20

Aug 22 – Q1

 

Introduction … US econ history

Scarcity & choices

 

 

Ch 1; e-mails due (ungraded)

Aug 27

Aug 29 – Q2

 

Graphs … donut market

Trade & economic systems

Ch 1

Ch 2; donuts graph due (ungraded)

Sep 3

Sep 5 – Q3

 

LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

Supply & demand

Shortages & surpluses

 

Ch 3; article summaries due

Sep 10

Sep 12

Intro to GDP

Exam 1

 

Ch 5

Ch 1-3, 5

 

Sep 17

Sep 19 – Q4

Return exams; inflation & unemploy

Inflation & unemployment … GDP

 

Ch 4

Ch 4-5; article presentations begin

 

Sep 24

Sep 26 – Q5

GDP

Aggregate model

 

Ch 5

Ch 6

 

Oct 1

Oct 3

 

Exam 2

Return exams … Classical Model

 

Ch 4-6

Ch 7

Oct 8

Oct 10 – Q6

 

Oct 9

Classical & Keynesian Models

Keynesian Model

 

last day to withdraw with “W”

Ch 7-8; GDP data project due

Ch 8

 

Oct 15

Oct 17 – Q7

Fiscal policy

Fiscal Policy … and money

 

Ch 9; GDP forecast due

Ch 9-10

Oct 22

Oct 24

Money & money creation

exam 3 

Ch 10

Ch 7-10

Oct 29

Oct 31 – Q8

 

Return exams … Fed & inflation

Fed & monetary policy

Ch 11; video

Ch 11-12

Nov 5

Nov 7 – Q9

Monetary policy

Taxes & deficits

Ch 12

Ch 13

Nov 12

Nov 14 – Q9

Speaker (?)

Economic growth

Economic policy PPT drafts due

Ch 14

Nov 19

 

Nov 21

Growth and LDCs

 

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Ch 14-15; economic policy PPTs due

 

Nov 26

Nov 28

LDCs & international econ

International economics

 

Ch 15-16

Ch 16

 

Dec 3

Dec 5

exam 4

Return exams … review for final

 

Economic essays due

Dec 10

Dec 12

9:30 final at  10:00 am

11:00 final at 12:00 noon

 

 

Page 4                                                  ASSIGNMENTS & POLICIES

 

Assignments:  All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date due.  All assignments are to be clearly titled (including student name and date) and to be typed.  Please assume that nothing will go right.  Do your work early and be pleasantly surprised when all goes well.  Keep copies of all your assignments.  I encourage everyone to find a study partner(s) to work with and discuss class problems.  Note: all assignments must be completed individually.  Late assignments are accepted but penalized -- by midnight of date due = 5% penalty; within one week = 20% penalty; later than one week = 50% penalty.

Written assignments:  Writing style counts!  Clarity, organization, and grammar will be evaluated as part of your grade.  Hard copies of all assignments are expected unless otherwise noted.  DO NOT USE PLASTIC COVERS for your assignments; I prefer a simple staple in upper left hand corner.

Internet assignments:  Students need to demonstrate competence in sending e-mail.  Be sure to use your GHC e-mail account (or set up this account to forward mail to your current address).  As well, use of internet sites in research for presentation and class projects is encouraged.  Be sure to use good reasoning and analysis in your choice of internet sites!  Electronic submission of assignments must be in Microsoft WORD documents.  E-mail is notoriously unreliable.  If you are submitting an assignment by e-mail, always be sure to keep copies of that assignment and the corresponding e-mail.   

Attendance:  Just like a business environment, 100% attendance is expected.  If you must miss a class, you must notify me (by e-mail preferably) BEFORE class.  Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class.  Students arriving late must see the instructor to be counted.  Consistent or severe lateness will be counted as absence from class.  Attendance means being on time, staying the whole class, and being attentive. 

Internet usage:  Students need to demonstrate competence in sending e-mail messages to instructor.  Students should regularly check for e-mail messages from me.  Use of internet sites for research & support of assignments is encouraged as long as students carefully evaluate the source of the information.

Make-up exams:  Students are allowed to drop one exam.  Students who miss an exam will automatically use that exam as their dropped exam. 

Save all graded assignments:  Just in case.

Classroom decorum:  Students are expected to behave in class as if they were participating in a professional business meeting at work.  Courteous and civil behavior is expected.  Pagers and cell-phones are to be turned off during class.  Students who must be “on call” during class may set they phones to a silent ring, but they must have my permission.  Students are asked to be recognized before speaking.  Interruption of others or talking while others are speaking is unacceptable behavior.  The instructor has the right to reassign the seat of any student.

Computers:  Laptop computers may be brought to class and turned on only with the instructor’s permission.  All class projects can be completed using desktop computers at home or the college computers in student labs.

Plagiarism and cheating:  Plagiarism (presenting the work of others as your own) and cheating on exams are expressly forbidden.  Students caught plagiarizing or cheating will receive a failing grade on that assignment and will be subject to dismissal from the class. Students are referred to the Floyd College Academic Integrity Policy at  http://www.floyd.edu/subwebs/academicaffairs/academicintegritypolicy.htm

Financial Aid Students:  Federal regulations state that if students did not attend classes and received failing grades, then their federal financial aid is reduced accordingly.  Students who have earned at least one passing grade on an assignment for the semester will not be affected by this regulation.

Students with special needs:  Any student who feels they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should make an appointment with the College Access Center (706: 802-5003) to coordinate reasonable accommodations.  You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your specific needs.

Food & Drinks in Class:  Food and drinks in class can be very distracting.  Please limit any food or drinks during class; and please consume them quietly with the consideration of fellow students in mind.

Extended Absence Policy:  Students, who have circumstances that require them to miss more than 15% of the class sessions for the term, must receive written permission from the Division Chair before any course assignments can be completed while missing class.  The student must be in good academic standing in the course to make the request. All approved coursework must be completed by the end of the semester in which the course was begun.

All students: Please contact me if you are having trouble.  Please do not wait until you have failed assignments or tests; if you don’t understand something see me.  I will do all I can to assure your success in this class.