A.P. Macroeconomics

Class and Homework Schedule

AP MACROECONOMICS – Fall 2007

 

Class Syllabus

 

Textbook

Ralph T. Byrns and Gerald W. Stone, Economics (Sixth Edition), HaperCollins College Publishers (1995).  This textbook is provided for you by the district.  As such, do not write or highlight in this book.  You are responsible for returning the same book issued to you at the end of the semester.  Should you loose your book before the end of the semester you must pay for a replacement before you are issued anther one. 

 

Ancillary Materials:

Byrns, Ralph T, and Gerald W. Stone, Student Guide for Learning Economics, Harper Collins College Publishers (1995), 6th Edition

 

Morton, John S. and Rae Jean B. Goodman, Advanced Placement Economics Microeconomics: Student Activities, National Council on Economic Education (2003) 3rd Edition.

 

Morton, John S. and Rae Jean B. Goodman, Advanced Placement Economics Microeconomics: Teacher Resource Manual, National Council on Economic Education (2003) 3rd Edition.

 

Fishman, Charles, The Wal-mart Effect Penguin Books (2006)

 

Periodicals: Timely articles will assigned from the various publications.  Students will analyze each article and write a short response demonstrating the application of concepts covered in the class. 

            The Economist

            The Wall Street Journal

            Business Week

 

Course Description

As our world economy moves ever closer to complete globalization, understanding economic concepts, policies and their impacts is becoming increasingly important in a global society.  Macroeconomic decisions made in the United States and other western countries affect not only our own economies but those of other nations as well.  This global economy requires citizens in all countries to become better informed decision makers.

 

The long term purpose of this course is to give each student the tools to analyze economic information and apply it to aid in making future decisions.  In the short term, this course is prepared to help you master the information needed to pass the AP Macroeconomic exam.  I expect each student to take the AP exam.

 

General Approach

This is a very difficult but interesting class.  There is a great deal of material to cover over the course of the semester.  As such, you are required to read each chapter before we begin discussing it in class.  I realize that many of you are taking multiple AP and advanced classes along with this one but I count on each member of the class to actively participate in each class session.  Class discussion and lecture are designed to clarify and elaborate on difficult concepts and explain the application of these concepts in a national and global economy.  

Class discussion and lecture will be supplemented by group activities and assignments.  Each is designed to assist in your understanding of the applications of economic principles. 

 


 

Course Content

Unit I               Cornerstones of Economics (3 weeks); An introduction to the building blocks of economics and their application to economic thought. 

 

Chapter 1        Economics: the Study of Scarcity and Choice: Scarcity arises because the sum of human wants exceeds the world’s capacity to produce goods.  Economics tries to answer the question: How do we allocate scarce resources most efficiently?

 

Chapter 2        Scarcity in a world of Transition: Income and resources flow between households and firms which is illustrated in the Circular Flow model of the Economy.  Maximizing the world’s output requires cooperative production, specialization and division of labor.

 

Chapter 3        Demand and Supply: The analysis of the interaction between supply and demand in a market economy to determine output and price.

 

Chapter 4        Markets and Equilibrium: Investigation of movements of the Supply and Demand curve and their effects on prices and output and the role of market forces in establishing equilibrium.  How do government interventions in the market affect the markets ability to self correct?  

 

Unit II             The Macroeconomic Environment (2 ½ weeks); An overview of business cycles and the tolls used to measure economic fluctuations.

 

Chapter 5        Foundations of Macroeconomics: Economists are constantly trying to predict business cycles, particularly downturns in the economy.  In this chapter we investigate some major theories regarding business cycle and introduce the Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand framework of macroeconomic analysis.

 

Chapter 6        Employment and Unemployment: Focus on the nature of employment, the relationship between unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and problems of limiting unemployment.

 

Chapter 7        Inflation and Phillips Curve; Rapid inflation obscures the meaning of nominal prices and adversely affects our ability to make decisions and allocate resources.  How do people react to inflation?

 

Chapter 8        Measuring Economic Performance and Growth: Economist use GDP to measure economic performance.  Evaluate the use of GDP as an economic indicator of growth.

 

Unit III            Foundations of Macroeconomic Theory (2 ½ weeks): Exploration of Classical vs. Keynesian economic theories and the role of government and money in each. 

 

Chapter 9        Classical Macroeconomics and Keynesian Aggregate Expenditures: Establish an overview of classical economic reasoning and Keynesian approach to Aggregate Expenditures and its relationship to prices and output.  Examine the role of government according to each theory.

 

Chapter 10      Macroeconomic Equilibrium: Focus on Private sector activities in the Aggregate Expenditure model.

 


 

Chapter 11      Fiscal Policy: Government spending and taxing affect economic equilibrium in different ways when looked at from a Keynesian or Classical economic standpoint.  This chapter focuses on the role of government spending and taxing on the economy as examined from each perspective.

 

Unit IV            The Financial System (3 weeks): This unit addresses money as a social convention, discusses the purposes of financial institutions, and explains how government’s monetary policies affect Aggregate Demand.

 

Chapter 12      Money and Banking: In this chapter we investigate uses of money and the role of financial institutions in the money creation process.

 

Chapter 13      Central Banking: The Federal Reserve System: Central banks play an important role in regulating the Money Supply.  This chapter focuses on the role of central banks and the relationship between the amount of money in circulation and interest rates. 

 

Chapter 14      Monetary Theory and Policy: Examine the role of monetary policy in reducing the severity of business cycles in the economy according to Classical, Keynesian and Monetarist approaches.

 


 

Chapter 15      Budget Deficits and Public Debt: Examine issues related to deficit spending and national debt. 

§         Budget Deficits

§         Crowding Out

 

Unit V             Challenges to Macroeconomic Policymaking and the International Economy (3 weeks): A look at globalization and its effect on international trade, international finance and the effect of government intervention on each. 

 

Chapter 16      Microfoundations of Macroeconomic Policy: Consider the microfoundations of Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand to determine government’s role in manipulating these curves.

§         Reexamine the foundations of

·        Aggregate Demand

·        Aggregate Supply

·        Labor markets and Aggregate Supply

·        Shocks to both curves

§         Evidence of Assessment

·        Chapter Homework Packet from Student Guide for Learning Economics that includes sample multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions.

·        Article analysis from the Economist or Wall Street Journal illustrating the concept

·        Chapter Exam consisting of AP style multiple choice and short answer questions

 

Chapter 36      International Trade: Analyze the benefits of trade and the effect of trade barriers on production and price.

 

Chapter 37      International Finance: Investigate the flow of funds in international markets, the role of exchange rates in trade and a study of the nature of the balance of payments in our economy.

 

 

Expected Behavior

 


 

Make-up policy

 

Cheating

The definition of cheating includes: plagiarism (otherwise known as borrowing the words or ideas of others), looking at another student’s paper during an exam, asking for answers, or signaling to others.  In general, your answers should 100% original to your mind.  If you are caught cheating, you will receive a zero for the assignment.  This includes the person taking the answers and the person providing the answers.  Furthermore a referral will be sent to the deans’ office and your parents will be notified.  I realize that this is a difficult class.  If you feel like you are falling behind and need help, contact me and I will work with you.  THERE IS NEVER A REASON TO CHEAT.

 

Final Thoughts

I sincerely hope that all of you will learn a great deal this semester about economics and its application in national and world politics.  Understanding economic concepts will help clarify many of the issues facing the world today.

 

Periodicals: Timely articles will assigned from the various publications.  Students will analyze each article and write a short response demonstrating the application of concepts covered in the class. 

            The Economist

            The Wall Street Journal

            Business Week

 

Course Description

As our world economy moves ever closer to complete globalization, understanding economic concepts, policies and their impacts is becoming increasingly important in a global society.  Macroeconomic decisions made in the United States and other western countries affect not only our own economies but those of other nations as well.  This global economy requires citizens in all countries to become better informed decision makers.

 

The long term purpose of this course is to give each student the tools to analyze economic information and apply it to aid in making future decisions.  In the short term, this course is prepared to help you master the information needed to pass the AP Macroeconomic exam.  I expect each student to take the AP exam.

 

General Approach

This is a very difficult but interesting class.  There is a great deal of material to cover over the course of the semester.  As such, you are required to read each chapter before we begin discussing it in class.  I realize that many of you are taking multiple AP and advanced classes along with this one but I count on each member of the class to actively participate in each class session.  Class discussion and lecture are designed to clarify and elaborate on difficult concepts and explain the application of these concepts in a national and global economy.  

Class discussion and lecture will be supplemented by group activities and assignments.  Each is designed to assist in your understanding of the applications of economic principles. 

 


 

Course Content

Unit I               Cornerstones of Economics (3 weeks); An introduction to the building blocks of economics and their application to economic thought. 

 

Chapter 1        Economics: the Study of Scarcity and Choice: Scarcity arises because the sum of human wants exceeds the world’s capacity to produce goods.  Economics tries to answer the question: How do we allocate scarce resources most efficiently?

 

Chapter 2        Scarcity in a world of Transition: Income and resources flow between households and firms which is illustrated in the Circular Flow model of the Economy.  Maximizing the world’s output requires cooperative production, specialization and division of labor.

 

Chapter 3        Demand and Supply: The analysis of the interaction between supply and demand in a market economy to determine output and price.

 

Chapter 4        Markets and Equilibrium: Investigation of movements of the Supply and Demand curve and their effects on prices and output and the role of market forces in establishing equilibrium.  How do government interventions in the market affect the markets ability to self correct?  

 

Unit II             The Macroeconomic Environment (2 ½ weeks); An overview of business cycles and the tolls used to measure economic fluctuations.

 

Chapter 5        Foundations of Macroeconomics: Economists are constantly trying to predict business cycles, particularly downturns in the economy.  In this chapter we investigate some major theories regarding business cycle and introduce the Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand framework of macroeconomic analysis.

 

Chapter 6        Employment and Unemployment: Focus on the nature of employment, the relationship between unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and problems of limiting unemployment.

 

Chapter 7        Inflation and Phillips Curve; Rapid inflation obscures the meaning of nominal prices and adversely affects our ability to make decisions and allocate resources.  How do people react to inflation?

 

Chapter 8        Measuring Economic Performance and Growth: Economist use GDP to measure economic performance.  Evaluate the use of GDP as an economic indicator of growth.

 

Unit III            Foundations of Macroeconomic Theory (2 ½ weeks): Exploration of Classical vs. Keynesian economic theories and the role of government and money in each. 

 

Chapter 9        Classical Macroeconomics and Keynesian Aggregate Expenditures: Establish an overview of classical economic reasoning and Keynesian approach to Aggregate Expenditures and its relationship to prices and output.  Examine the role of government according to each theory.

 

Chapter 10      Macroeconomic Equilibrium: Focus on Private sector activities in the Aggregate Expenditure model.

 


 

Chapter 11      Fiscal Policy: Government spending and taxing affect economic equilibrium in different ways when looked at from a Keynesian or Classical economic standpoint.  This chapter focuses on the role of government spending and taxing on the economy as examined from each perspective.

 

Unit IV            The Financial System (3 weeks): This unit addresses money as a social convention, discusses the purposes of financial institutions, and explains how government’s monetary policies affect Aggregate Demand.

 

Chapter 12      Money and Banking: In this chapter we investigate uses of money and the role of financial institutions in the money creation process.

 

Chapter 13      Central Banking: The Federal Reserve System: Central banks play an important role in regulating the Money Supply.  This chapter focuses on the role of central banks and the relationship between the amount of money in circulation and interest rates. 

 

Chapter 14      Monetary Theory and Policy: Examine the role of monetary policy in reducing the severity of business cycles in the economy according to Classical, Keynesian and Monetarist approaches.

 


 

Chapter 15      Budget Deficits and Public Debt: Examine issues related to deficit spending and national debt. 

§         Budget Deficits

§         Crowding Out

 

Unit V             Challenges to Macroeconomic Policymaking and the International Economy (3 weeks): A look at globalization and its effect on international trade, international finance and the effect of government intervention on each. 

 

Chapter 16      Microfoundations of Macroeconomic Policy: Consider the microfoundations of Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand to determine government’s role in manipulating these curves.

§         Reexamine the foundations of

·        Aggregate Demand

·        Aggregate Supply

·        Labor markets and Aggregate Supply

·        Shocks to both curves

§         Evidence of Assessment

·        Chapter Homework Packet from Student Guide for Learning Economics that includes sample multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions.

·        Article analysis from the Economist or Wall Street Journal illustrating the concept

·        Chapter Exam consisting of AP style multiple choice and short answer questions

 

Chapter 36      International Trade: Analyze the benefits of trade and the effect of trade barriers on production and price.

 

Chapter 37      International Finance: Investigate the flow of funds in international markets, the role of exchange rates in trade and a study of the nature of the balance of payments in our economy.

 

 

Expected Behavior

 


 

Make-up policy

 

Cheating

The definition of cheating includes: plagiarism (otherwise known as borrowing the words or ideas of others), looking at another student’s paper during an exam, asking for answers, or signaling to others.  In general, your answers should 100% original to your mind.  If you are caught cheating, you will receive a zero for the assignment.  This includes the person taking the answers and the person providing the answers.  Furthermore a referral will be sent to the deans’ office and your parents will be notified.  I realize that this is a difficult class.  If you feel like you are falling behind and need help, contact me and I will work with you.  THERE IS NEVER A REASON TO CHEAT.

 

Final Thoughts

I sincerely hope that all of you will learn a great deal this semester about economics and its application in national and world politics.  Understanding economic concepts will help clarify many of the issues facing the world today.