Dr. Andrzej Kondratowicz, Associate Professor COURSE DELIVERY
30 hours of lectures; supplemented by 45 hours of problem solving and other exercises/discussions in Sections
ASSESSMENT
The final grade for the course will consist of the following elements: 40% = Final Exam (comprehensive) (1-13)
20% = Midterm Exam (1-6)
40% = evaluation of your work in Sections [supplied by the Section’s Instructor] (1-13)
As a general rule, evaluation of your work in Sections will take into consideration the results of short quizzes administered on a regular or random basis, quality and timeliness of your submitting homework assignments/presentations, as well as your active participation in class discussions. Precise rules of participation and evaluation are at the discretion of the Section’s Instructor and will be given to you in the respective Section.
Both Midterm and Final will be in a multiple choice form [written], but a large proportion of the questions will feature numerical problems to be solved, as well as manipulation and assessment of graphs.
Generally accepted rules of academic honesty will be strictly applied to all elements of your class participation, including any work submitted and both exams. If in doubt about these rules, consult the Section Instructor and/or the Lecturer. In addition, when in class, students are not supposed to open their notebooks, netbooks, PDAs and the like, unless explicitly authorized by the Lecturer/Instructor.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
The aim of this course is to provide students with knowledge of introductory macroeconomics. In particular: make them familiar with basic macroeconomic categories, stylized facts, transmission mechanisms and models; provide them with a goodgrasp of standard methods used by macroeconomists at this level, and indicate where and how to find, evaluate and use relevant data sources, including those available on the net.
CONTENT
1. Subject of macro-analysis and stylized macroeconomic facts
2. Measurement of economic activity and its outcomes – circular flow of goods and services and social accounting
3.Introduction into long run macro-analysis
5. Labor and labor market. Employment and unemployment. 6. Money and Banking
7.Short run macro: simple Keynesian Model. Sectoral functions. Multiplier analysis.
8. Extension: Various specifications of the consumption function.
9.Rudimentary IS-LM model (closed economy, graphical exposition)
10. Fiscal and monetary policy analyzed within the Keynesian/ISLM framework 11. From ISLM to AD-AS analysis
12. Summary: Keynesian vs.neoclassical perspective.
13. The role of governmentreconsidered: private vs. public choice, institutions and economic policies in SR and LR
14. Extension: current economic ‘crisis’ LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion of this module a student should be able to: 1. Define and measure main macroeconomic categories
2. Identify main sectors of an economy and flows between them 3. Measure the economic flows [national/social accounting]
4. Explain what an economic model is and how to build and handle one. 5. Understand the basics of comparative statics analysis and use simple
maths for multiplier analysis
6. Distinguish between short and long run analyses and models 7. Analyze the determinants of output in the long run.
8. Understand the basic features of a labor market and understand the measures of un/employment
9. Explain basic categories in the area of money and banking, both historically and at present
10. Analyze the basics of short run fluctuations: understand and be able to use static/deterministic versions of the simple Keynesian [algebra and graphic exposition] and the IS-LM model [mostly graphical exposition and analysis] – both in a closed economy version)
11. Describe and know how to measure the effects of basic types of macroeconomic policies in the short run
12. Relate the ISLM analysis to the AD-AS framework
13. Find, retrieve and process reliable, high quality primary macroeconomic data from the internet sources
TEXTBOOK
Required Readings: The first best choice is:
McDowell,Thom, Frank, and Bernanke; Principles of Economics;
McGraw-Hill.
This is a European version of an American textbook written by Frank and Bernanke alone. Ideally, you should use the full, newest version, i.e.: Principles of Economics with Bind-in Connect Access Card, Moore McDowell, Rodney Thom, Robert Frank,Ben Bernanke, 2nd Edition published in March 2009,
ISBN: 9780077121693; see: http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0077121694.html . Nevertheless, any version is acceptable. We will only use the macro part of the book (Parts 5–7), but so far there is no separate Principles of Macroeconomics published, as far as the European version is concerned. There is one in American version. A full list of various versions/editions may be found here: http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/cgi-bin/same_author.pl?author=Ben+Bernanke. A list of official Polish resellers of the book may be found at the McGraw-Hill Polish
representative website: http://www.marek-lewinson.com/997/poland.php . As always, you may also try finding the best source athttp://www.bookfinder.com/textbooks/ .
An alternative to the above (second best):
N. GregoryMankiw, Principles of Macroeconomics, South-Western College Pub; 5th edition (2008)
[earlier editions acceptable] Supplemented by:
RobertHall, John Taylor, Macroeconomics: Economic Growth, Fluctuations, and Policy,
W.W. Norton and Co., New York and London
– editions from 3 up acceptable [only specific fragments (mostly) of Part I, i.e. Fundamentals of Macroeconomics will be assigned; attention: 5/e has three authors:Robert E. Hall, John B. Taylor, David Papell, while starting with edition 6 (2004) again two: Robert E. Hall&David Papell.