Principles of Macroeconomics
Important dates:
- October 4
- No class
- October 15
- Midterm exam 1, begin at 15:05
- November 19
- Midterm exam 2, begin at 15:05
- December 13
- No class
- December 19
- class on a Wednesday
- January 3
- Final exam, begin at 15:30
Course Description
An introductory course on issues relating to the economy as a whole.
Topics include, but are not limited to, the study of national income and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), national income determination, investment, consumption and consumption theories; classical economic theories, Keynesianism, monetarism, rational expectations, supply-side economics; the business cycle, inflation, unemployment; money and the money supply, the banking system, monetary and fiscal policy, budget deficits and the national debt.
Course Objectives
The course will enable students to gain an understanding of how the market economy works and how economic theory can be used to understand issues of public policy and public finance.
Course Materials
Required:
The course will follow the textbook:
Cowen & Tabarrok, 2015, Modern Principles of Economics, 3rd edition, Worth Publishers.
Available from bookdepository and amazon
Further recommendations:
Additionally, material from the following text may be used:
Goodwin et. al., 2014, Principles of Economics in Context, Routledge.
Available from amazon and bookdepository.
Relevant chapters are listed below as [PEC:Chapter number].
The Cartoon Introduction to Economics: Volume Two: Macroeconomics by Grady Klein / Yoram Bauman, Macmillan
To prepare for the exams, Schaum’s Outlines of Principles of Economics offers a huge number of fully solved problems.
Available from amazon or bookdepository
Course Requirements:
Students must read the corresponding chapters of the textbook before each session. Reading the economic and political press will also be helpful.
I recommend that you try to solve the end of chapter problems in preparation and review of each class session.
Class meets each Monday at 16:20 till 17:35 and Thursday at 16:45 till 18:00. Please bring a hard copy of the problems we want to discuss (see below) to each class.
Electronic devices, i.e. laptops, are discourage from use during class sessions. See http://economicscience.net/content/laptop-use/ for the reasons.
Instructor Information:
Prof. Dr. Dennis A. V. Dittrich
dennis.dittrich@touroberlin.de
http://economicscience.net
You can always contact me via email. For meetings in my office appointments can be arranged through the my webpage at: http://economicscience.net/content/book-appointment.
Updated information, links to the literature, additional materials, etc. can be found on my webpage as well.
Grading Guidelines:
Grading Component | Weight |
---|---|
Midterm Exam 1 | 20% |
Midterm Exam 2 | 20% |
Final Examination | 60% |
If the final exam is better than one or both of the midterm exams the corresponding midterm exam grade(s) will be replaced by the grade of the final exam.
In case you were excused from a midterm exam, the make-up exam for the missed midterm will be administered with the final exam.
Workload
A typical 3 credit course requires 150 hours of your time. The table below identifies how I expect those 150 hours will be allocated. While you do not receive direct marks for reading, reading will affect your class participation mark (your ability to participate in class discussions and activities) and your final exam mark.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Class Time (3 hours / week) | 45 hours |
Reading (3 hours / week) | 45 hours |
Preparation and Review (4 hours / week) | 60 hours |
Topics and Reading Assignments
Session 1
- Economics: The Big Ideas (Ch. 1, PEC: 1)
Session 2
- GDP (Ch. 26, PEC: 0, 1, 19, 20, 21)
The New Yorker, September 9, 2015, The End of GDP?
The Economist, April 30, 2016, The trouble with GDP
The Economist, April 30, 2016, How to measure prosperity
Alexander Tziamalis, February 13, 2018, Why our obsession with GDP ignores harm done to welfare and the world.
The Economist, May 5, 2018,. Economists focus too little on what people really care about.
Coyle, D., 2015. GDP: A brief but affectionate history. Princeton University Press.
Session 3
- GDP
Session 4
- Growth (Ch. 27 & 28, PEC: 20, 32)
Coyle, D., 2011. The economics of enough: how to run the economy as if the future matters. Princeton University Press.
The Economist, August 5, 2017, Human capital: The people’s champion.
Video: The Economic History of the World in Less than 5 Minutes
Video: The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity
Video: Africa Is the Most Landlocked Continent
Video: The Magic Washing Machine
Video: Why Are So Many Poor Countries Located Close to the Equator?
Video: New Report Reveals Where You Live and Work Affects Your Economic Mobility
Session 5
- Growth
In “Comparative Economic Systems” we will discuss economic performance and institutions in more detail.
Session 6
- Growth and
- Saving, Investment, & the Financial System (Ch. 29, PEC: 30, 26)
Session 7
- Saving, Investment, & the Financial System
Ferguson, N., 2008. The ascent of money: A financial history of the world. Penguin.
The Ecomomist, February 3, 2018, Negative justice.
Kabil, A., 2018. How Warren Buffett Won His Multi-Million Dollar Long Bet
In “Principles of Finance” we will discuss these topics in more detail.
Session 8
- Labor Markets (Ch. 18, PEC: 10)
- Unemployment (Ch. 30, PEC: 23)
The Economist, August 26, 2017, The natural rate of unemployment.
Session 9
- Unemployment
Session 10
Midterm Exam 1
Session 11
Session 12
- Money and Inflation (Ch. 31 & 34, PEC: 27)
NPR, 2011, The island of stone money: Yap
Friedman, M., 1991. The island of stone money. Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
Martin, F., 2014. Money: The unauthorized biography. Vintage.
Graeber, D., 2014. Debt – Updated and Expanded: The First 5,000 Years. Melville House.
Voxeu.org, 2017. Competition between government money and cryptocurrencies.
Bower, B., 2018. Money’s mysterious, complicated origin story. Science News.
Session 13
Session 14
- Business Fluctuations (Ch. 32 & 33, PEC: 24)
Session 15
- The Central Bank & Monetary Policy (Ch. 34 & 35, PEC: 27, 28)
McLeay, M., Radia, A. and Thomas, R., 2014. Money creation in the modern economy, Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin.
Deutsche Bundesbank, 2017. How money is created.
Session 16
- Monetary Policy
The Economist, 20th February 2016, Unfamiliar ways forward
The Economist, 20th February 2016, Out of ammo?
The Economist, October 27, 2016, Hands off
Session 17
- Monetary Policy
Session 18
- Taxes & Government Spending (Ch. 36, PEC: 25, 31)
Session 19
- Taxes & Government Spending
In “Public Finance” we will discuss Taxes in more detail.
Session 20
Midterm Exam 2
Session 21
- Fiscal Policy (Ch. 37, PEC: 25, 28)
The Economist, July 30, 2016, Minsky’s moment
The Economist, August 11, 2016, Where does the buck stop?
The Economist, September 2, 2017, Kicking the can down an endless road
Session 22
- Fiscal Policy
Session 23
- Public Goods (Ch. 19, PEC: 14)
Session 24
- Political Economy & Public Choice (Ch. 20)
Session 25
- Political Economy & Public Choice (Ch. 20)
Session 26
- Economics, Ethics, & Public Policy (Ch. 21, PEC: 11)
Bentham, J., 1996. The collected works of Jeremy Bentham: An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. Clarendon Press.
Mill, J.S., 1901. Utilitarianism. Longmans, Green and Company.
Rawls, J., 2009. A theory of justice. Harvard university press.
Nozick, R., 2013. Anarchy, state, and utopia. Basic books.
In “Public Finance” we will discuss the role of Government in the Economy, Taxes, Public Choice, and Public Policy in more detail.
Session 27
Review
Session 28
Final
Topics and reading assignments are subject to changes.
Problem sets
We will discuss problems – mostly taken from our textbook – in class. You will find the problems for download in a dropbox folder. [Click Here!]
If you do not have a Dropbox account yet: Get one for free!