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at University Albany State University of New York Economics 301: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2006 Section 2150: SS 134; MWF 11:30-12:25 Instructor John Bailey Jones BA-113 442-4926 jbjones@ albany.edu http://www.albany.edu/~jbjones/ Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30-12:00; and by appointment Course Objectives Macroeconomics is the study of how national economies behave. In this course, we will consider: 1. Why economic activity fluctuates over time. 2. Why some economies grow more rapidly than others. 3. How government policies affect economies. In doing this, we will first discuss how a country s economic activity is measured, and then develop models of how this economic activity is determined. In discussing these economic models, we will regularly consider whether the assumptions that underlie these models and the predictions that these models make are consistent with the data. Prerequisites The prerequisite(s) for Eco 301 are: Eco 110; Eco 111 with a grade of C or better; and Mat 106, 111, 112, or 118, or Eco 210. The Economics Department intends to deregister students whose Albany course records do not show that the required courses were completed with passing grades; concurrent enrollment is not sufficient. The deregistration may occur as late as the end of the semester, and students will be assigned a W grade by the Registrar. Individual exceptions to the prerequisite requirements require written permission of the instructor and approval by the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Economics during the drop/add period. Students who have taken a required course elsewhere that is not yet on their Albany records should ask for an exception. Text The main text is Macroeconomics, fifth edition, by Andrew B. Abel and Ben S. Bernanke (Addison-Wesley, 2005). (The cheaper fourth edition will also work.) The other main reading is a set of lecture notes and reprinted articles, which is available at Shipmates in Stuyvesant Plaza. The lectures will include some material not contained in the text. Additional reading assignments may be made during the semester. In addition, the lectures will include material not explicitly discussed in the lecture notes, which is to say that the lecture notes are not complete. You will be responsible for this additional material. Students are also encouraged to look for and read articles that relate to the class in such sources as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Business Week, or Time. As discussed below, students that bring such articles to my attention will receive extra credit. Midterm Examinations Midterms will be held in class at the usual time and place. The midterm dates and tentative coverages are: 1. Midterm 1: Wednesday, March 15, covering material (approximately) from January 25 through March 6. 2. Midterm 2: Friday, April 7, covering material (approximately) from March 8 through March 29. Final Examination The final examination will be cumulative, with more emphasis placed on material not covered in the midterms. According to the University s schedule (click here), the final will be held in the regular lecture room on Thursday, May 11, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Homeworks There will be 5 homeworks. Assigned Friday, Feb. 10 Friday, March 3 Monday, March 20 Monday, March 27 Friday, April 28 Due Friday, Feb. 17 Friday, March 10 Monday, March 27 Monday, April 3 Friday, May 5 Homework No. 1 Homework No. 2 Homework No. 3 Homework No. 4 Homework No. 5 Homeworks will be due at the beginning of class. 2 Attendance Part of the final grade will consist of an attendance Students score. with 5 or fewer unexcused absences will receive a perfect score. Students with more than five unexcused absences will receive a score equal to a weighted average of their homework and exam scores (see below). Students that arrive late or leave during class, or are otherwise disruptive, will be considered absent. All examinations are mandatory. Make-up examinations will be granted when students have: illnesses; family emergencies; or three finals in one day. In rare extreme cases, midterms or homeworks will be waived, and the associated grading weight shifted to other assignments. Late homeworks will penalized, except for the reasons listed above. Grading Scheme Your grade will consist of a weighted average of point (not letter) grades on homework, examinations, and attendance. The weighting scheme will be either: 1. 9 percent on homework, 22.5 percent on each midterm, 36 percent on the final, and 10 percent on attendance. 2. 9 percent on homework, 13.5 percent on each midterm, 54 percent on the final, and 10 percent on attendance. Each person will receive the weights that maximize her score. The attendance score will be set as follows. Students with 5 or fewer unexcused absences will receive a perfect score. Students with more than five absences will receive a score equal to the weighted average of their homework and exam scores. The homework-exam weights used for this calculation will be the ones listed in items 1 and 2 above, rescaled to total 100 percent the weight on homework will rise from 9 to 10 percent, and so on. (I will again use the scheme that maximizes the score.) Finally, there will be extra credit given to students that turn in current newspaper and magazine articles that relate to the class. In addition to the article itself, students should indicate the date of the lecture to which the article relates. This credit will be most useful to students with point totals near letter grade cut-offs. The amount of extra credit will in general depend on the relevance and novelty of the articles. For example, a collection of articles taken from a single edition of the Wall Street Journal will count less than a collection taken from several sources over the semester. There are no other sources of extra credit. Other Policies If a student is dissatisfied with his grade on a homework or examination, he can request that it be regraded in its entirety. Individual questions will not be regraded, but I will provide specific explanations during office hours. Academic dishonesty will be dealt with as severely as possible. Tentative Outline 3 This schedule will change as the semester proceeds. Updates will be provided in class. All readings are required. Page numbers are for the 5th edition of Abel and Bernanke. Page numbers for the 4th edition will at times differ from the ones shown here. 1. Introduction 2. Measuring Economic Activity 3. Production Functions 4. Economic Growth 5. The Saving Decision 6. Savings Markets 7. Labor Markets 8. Money and Asset Markets 9. Business Cycles 10. IS-LM/AD-AS Model 11. Real Business Cycles 12. The Keynesian Approach 13. The Inflation-Unemployment Trade-off 14. Fiscal Policy Ch. 1 Ch. 2; Ch. 3, pp. 94-99 Ch. 3.1, pp. 62-71 Ch. 6 Ch. 4, pp. 111-121, 156-172 Ch. 4 Ch. 3, pp. 72-93; Ch. 11, pp. 393-399 Ch. 7; Ch. 12, pp. 455-459 Ch. 8, pp. 276-297 Ch. 9 Ch. 10.1, pp. 355-373 Ch. 11 Ch. 12, pp. 434-447, 459-462 Ch. 15 Jan. 25 Jan. 27Feb. 3 Feb. 6 Feb. 8-17 Feb. 27March 6 March 8-13 March 1722 March 2429 March 31 April 3 April 24 April 26-28 May 1-5 May 8 If Time Permits 4

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