December 6, 2011
Principles of
Macroeconomics (ECO 2013-RVC)
Class No. 14683
Department of Economics,
Spring 2012
Instructor: Prasad Bidarkota
Course Website: http://online.fiu.edu/
Course Instructor’s Web Address: http://www.fiu.edu/~bidarkot/
E-mail: bidarkot@fiu.edu
Office: DM 320A Tel: (305) 348-6362
Contact Hours
Students can send e-mail to set up an online appointment, if required.
Required Course Materials
Textbook: N. Gregory Mankiw, Brief Principles of Macroeconomics, 6th Edition, Cengage Publishers, packaged with Aplia.
Online Homeworks: To be done by registering with Aplia (Course Key:
AKVC-TBXT-5NLK).
Access to the website is through a paid semester-long subscription –
details on page 2 of this syllabus).
Note: You cannot turn in
required homework assignments for the course without a paid Aplia subscription,
after the grace period ends on
Course Objectives
- To provide students with an introduction to macroeconomics and its terminology.
- To introduce students to the broad measures of a macroeconomy (such as GNP, CPI, interest rates, etc.).
- To highlight some of the problems that macroeconomists address (such as unemployment, economic recessions, inflation, etc.).
- To understand the role of the government in creating economic policies to solve macroeconomic problems.
How to access your Aplia course
Bidarkota, Prin of Macro 6e,
Spring 2012
Instructor: Prasad Bidarkota
Start Date:
Course Key: AKVC-TBXT-5NLK
Registration
Aplia is part of
CengageBrain, which allows you to sign in to a single site to access your
Cengage materials and courses.
- Connect to http://login.cengagebrain.com/
- If you already have an account, sign in. From your Dashboard, enter your course key (AKVC-TBXT-5NLK) in the box provided, and click the Register button.
If you don't have an account, click the Create a New Account button, and enter your course key when prompted: AKVC-TBXT-5NLK. Continue to follow the on-screen instructions.
Payment
Online: Purchase access to your
course (including the digital textbook) from the CengageBrain website.
Aplia Printed Access Card for Mankiw's Principles of Macroeconomics, 6th, 6th Edition
ISBN: 9781111959333
Bookstore: Purchase access to Aplia
from your bookstore. Check with the bookstore to find out what they offer for
your course.
Bundle: Textbook + Aplia
Bundle: Principles of Macroeconomics, 6th + Aplia Printed Access Card + Aplia Edition Sticker, 6th Edition
ISBN: 9781133150541
After paying, you will have
the option to purchase a physical book at a discounted price. If you choose to
pay later, you can use Aplia without paying until
Course
Outline
Our plan is to cover the bulk of the chapters in the text for this course, except for chapters 9, 13-14, and 17-18. The chapters will be covered in essentially the same sequence as in the text.
Introduction
Ten Principles of Economics Chapter 1 (week 1, Jan 09)
Thinking Like an Economist Chapter 2 (week 2, Jan 16)
Interdependence and the Gains From Trade Chapter 3 (week 3, Jan 23)
Supply and Demand I
Market Forces of Supply and Demand Chapter 4 (week 4, Jan 30)
Macroeconomic Data
Measuring a Nation’s Income Chapter 5 (week 5, Feb 06)
Measuring the Cost of Living Chapter 6 (week 6, Feb 13)
Midterm 1 on Friday February 24
Real Economy in the Long Run
Production and Growth Chapter 7 (week 8, Feb 27)
Saving, Investment, and the Financial System Chapter 8 (week 9, Mar 05)
Unemployment and Its Natural Rate Chapter 10 (week 10, Mar 12)
Money and Prices in the Long Run
The Monetary System Chapter 11 (week 11, Mar 19)
Money Growth and Inflation Chapter 12 (week 12, Mar 26)
Midterm 2 on Thursday April 05
Short-Run Economic Fluctuations
Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Chapter 15 (week 14, Apr 09)
Monetary and Fiscal Policy Chapter 16 (week 15, Apr 16)
End-of-Term Examination on Tuesday April 24
Assessment
There will be several homework assignments collectively worth 25 percent, two midterm examinations each worth 25 percent, and an end-of-term exam worth 25 percent of the course grade.
Homework
Assignments
All homework assignments are to be completed online within Aplia at the Cengage website after registering through a paid subscription (details on page 2 of this syllabus). There will be a homework associated with every chapter we cover in the course. The homework assignments need to be completed on time as per the deadline indicated. The website will be unable to accommodate late assignments for any reason whatsoever and students will automatically earn a score of zero for such assignments.
Examinations
All examinations will be based entirely on multiple-choice questions. Examinations are to be taken inside your FIU Blackboard system, and not within Aplia.
Schedule of Midterm Examinations
The schedule for the midterms is as follows:
Midterm 1 – Friday February 24, Chapters 1-6 (both inclusive, including Appendix to Chapter 2)
Midterm 2 – Thursday April 05, Chapters 7-8, 10-12 (inclusive)
The midterms will be for 75 minutes duration.
End-of-Term Exam
The end-of-term exam is scheduled for Tuesday April 24. This exam is comprehensive (Chapters 1-6, 7-8, 10-12, 15-16). This exam will be for 2 hours duration.
Makeup
Examination
There will be no makeup examination under
any circumstances.
Improving Course Grade
There are no extra credit assignments for this course.
Grades
The final course grade will be based
on the cumulative total score in the course comprising of the scores on the two
midterms and the end-of-term exam. Letter grades will be based on the
distribution (“curve”) of these final scores of all students in the course.
Depending on the overall performance of the students, the minimum total score
required to obtain a particular grade (“the cutoff”) will be determined at the
end of the semester.
General Guidelines for Improving Performance in the Course
Reading Text
Reading the textbook regularly and keeping up with the course is the most important way to ensure a good grade. Each chapter has about thirty pages and it is just impossible to read all the material overnight for the midterms. Instead, the weekends before the midterms should be reserved for consolidating the concepts already learned rather than learning new material.
Lecture Notes
Lectures notes provide an idea of what is important in each chapter from the instructor’s point of view. This will help students focus better on material relevant for preparing for exams. However, merely reading lecture notes is not to be considered a substitute for reading the textbook.
Academic Misconduct