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ECON 101+b-Syllabus

This document outlines the course description, instructor information, requirements, and grading policy for an intermediate macroeconomics course at the University of California, Davis. The course will examine how economists model relationships between aggregate economic variables and how fiscal and monetary policies can impact outcomes. Students will complete homework assignments, a midterm exam, and final exam. The average grade for the course has been increased to a B- in an effort to standardize grading across economics department courses. Topics that will be covered include long-run economic growth, inflation, short-run macroeconomic fluctuations, and macroeconomic stabilization policy.

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Steven Mackey
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163 views

ECON 101+b-Syllabus

This document outlines the course description, instructor information, requirements, and grading policy for an intermediate macroeconomics course at the University of California, Davis. The course will examine how economists model relationships between aggregate economic variables and how fiscal and monetary policies can impact outcomes. Students will complete homework assignments, a midterm exam, and final exam. The average grade for the course has been increased to a B- in an effort to standardize grading across economics department courses. Topics that will be covered include long-run economic growth, inflation, short-run macroeconomic fluctuations, and macroeconomic stabilization policy.

Uploaded by

Steven Mackey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
ECN 101: Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory, FALL 2015
TR 1:40 3:00 PM, STORER 1322
Course Description: Macroeconomics is the study of aggregate economic variables, the
economy as a whole. This is in contrast to microeconomics, the study of the economic behavior
of individual consumers, firms, and industries. These two branches, however, are much closer
than their standard separation into different courses would lead you to believe.
Macroeconomists look at the individual behavior- the so-called micro-foundations- in creating
their theories of aggregate economic activity. In this course, we will study how economists
model the relationships between aggregate economic variables and examine how various fiscal
and monetary policies can affect the results. The main goal of this class will be to improve your
ability to apply economic models to analyze world events.

Instructor: Athanasios (Thanasis) Geromichalos ([email protected])


Office Hours: Monday 3:00-6:00 PM, 1102 Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)1

TAs Office Hours and contact Information:


1. Chuan He: Tuesday and Thursday 12:00-1:00, SSH 136 ([email protected])
2. Johannes Matschke: Monday 4:00-6:00, SSH 120 ([email protected])

Web Page: Smartsite

Required Textbook: Macroeconomics, 3rd Edition, by Charles Jones. 2nd Edition will
work too. Additional material and slides will be posted on the course web site.

Prerequisites: 1A, 1B, Mathematics 16A-16B or 21A-21B

Grading:
1) Homework Assignments: 15%
2) Midterm: 35% (Tuesday, October 27- in class)
3) Final Exam: 50% (Friday, December 11 - at 6PM)

The external doors of the department are supposed to be locked around 6, but in practice that happens later. In
the rare event that you are trying to enter the building for Office Hours and the doors are locked, please head to
the southwest entrance (right across from MU). My office is the very first on that side, so if you knock on the door I
will hear it and open for you!

Homework assignments: There will be 6-7 homework assignments. The HW will be


posted on smartsite at least a week before the due date. The assignments must be
submitted at the beginning of lecture on the due date (or electronically before that
time). Each assignment will be graded with a check plus (great job ~ 4 points), check
(good job ~ 3 points), or check minus (OK job ~ 2 points). Notice that it is easy to gather
the full 15 points of the HW. This is precisely why you should do the HW: If you do not
hand in the HW, you will have a significant disadvantage compared to those who did
(i.e., the majority of the class).

Grading Policy: As you probably know, I am not the one who chooses your grades! This
may sound strange, but it is literally true. Your grade depends on your relative standing
in the distribution of scores in the whole class, and the average of that distribution is
strictly determined by the Department of Economics (more on that below). I am just the
person who translates your relative standing in the distribution into a letter grade!
And some fresh (and good) news! For the first time in recent history, the average grade
for ECN 101 is determined to be a 2.7 (equivalent to a B-) from 2.4 that it was till June
2015! Here is the relevant link:
http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/courses/grading-policy

COURSE OUTLINE
PART I: INTRODUCTION
Introduction to Macroeconomics (Chapter 1)
Measuring the Macroeconomy (Chapter 2)
PART II: THE LONG RUN
An Overview of Long-Run Economic Growth (Chapter 3)
A Model of Production (Chapter 4)
The Solow Growth Model (Chapter 5)
Growth and Ideas (Chapter 6)
The Labor Market, Wages, and Unemployment (Chapter 7)
Labor Markets and Informational Asymmetries: Adverse Selection
(Not from the textbook. Notes will be handed out)
Inflation (Chapter 8)

PART III: THEORY OF BONDS AND DETERMINATION OF INTEREST RATES


Not from the textbook. Notes will be handed out
PART III: THE SHORT RUN
An Introduction to the Short-Run (Chapter 9)
The Great Recession (Chapter 10)
The IS Curve (Chapter 11)
Monetary Policy and the Philips Curve (Chapter 12)
Stabilization Policy and the AS/AD framework (Chapter 13)
If we have some time left we will say a few things about Chapters 15 and/or 16.

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