ECO3203: Intermediate Macroeconomics Syed Al-Helal Uddin Fall 2015

E-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: 6:20 – 7:50 PM (M & W) Office: VH 136

Web: syedalhelaluddin.weebly.com/teaching Class Hours: 5:00 – 6:15 PM (M & W) Class Room: ECS 145

Course Objectives • Understand how aggregate economic activity is measured at the level of a nation • Understand how basic models of the economy summarize and explain the interactions between these main macroeconomic measures, output, employment, and inflation • Understand what causes economic activity to fluctuate over the years, from recessions to full employment and back • Understand the role of government in trying to smooth out these fluctuations • Understand the links between the domestic economy and the rest of the world • Understand the differences between adjustment in the short run and adjustment in the long run • Understand the insights conveyed by the various schools of thought Keynesian economics with sticky prices, classical economics with flexible prices, and various syntheses of the two • Understand how the economy grows in the very long run through capital accumulation and technological progress • Understand specific concepts like dynamics and expectations

Required Readings • Textbook: Macroeconomics, 6th Edition by Oliver Blanchard, David R Johnson. If you prefer using the non-custom version of the book, I would recommend buying the 6th edition (ISBN: 0133061639). 1

ECO3203 – Fall 2015

• Reference: Macroeconomics, 9th Edition by N. Gregory Mankiw (ISBN: 978-1-4641-8374-4). This is also a good book for intermediate Macroeconomics.

Course Policy I will detail the policy for this course below. Basically, don’t cheat and try to learn stuff.

Grading Policy 1. Problem Sets (5*3 = 15%): There will be three problem sets over the quarter. Each of them will be assigned one week before the due date. Due dates will be announced in class, late problem sets will not be accepted. You are encouraged to work together on the problem sets. However, I require an individual write-up by each student. 2. We will have three non-cumulative in-class exams. 3. Exam 1 (25%): The first exam is tentatively scheduled for (28th September, 2015) 4. Exam 2 (30%): The second exam is tentatively scheduled for (2nd November, 2015) 5. Exam 3 (30%): The third exam is tentatively scheduled for (tba)

Academic Honesty : Exams are individual work and cheating will not be tolerated. Although I encourage you to work together on problem sets, I will not tolerate if you copy answers from another student. The Department of Economics will follow university policy in case of academic dishonesty. Academic integrity is the cornerstone of the Department’s rules for student conduct and evaluation of student learning. Students accused of academic misconduct will be referred directly to the Office of Community Standards and Student Conduct for disciplinary action pursuant to the Student Conduct Code and, if found guilty, will be subject to sanctions. Sanctions range from a disciplinary warning, to academic probation, to immediate dismissal for the Department and the University, depending on the seriousness of the misconduct. Dismissal can be, and has been, applied even for first offenses. Moreover, a grade of zero can be assigned by the instructor for the course.

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ECO3203 – Fall 2015

Tentative Course Schedule: Week 01, 08/27 - 08/31: Major Macroeconomic Variables [Ch 2] The Goods Market [Ch 3] Week 02, 09/03 - 09/07: The Goods Market [Ch 3] Financial Market [Ch 4] Week 03, 09/10 - 09/14: Goods and Financial Markets: IS-LM model [Ch 5] Week 04, 09/17 - 09/21: The Labor Market [Ch 6] All Markets Together: AD-AS Model [Ch 7] Week 05, 09/24 - 09/28: All Markets Together: AD-AS Model [Ch 7] Midterm Exam 1 [Ch 1 - 7] [28th September, 2015] Week 06, 10/01 - 10/05: The crisis [Ch 9] Inflation, Unemployment, Phillips Curve [Ch 8] Week 07, 10/08 - 10/12: The Facts of Growth [Ch 10] Saving, Capital Accumulation and Output [Ch 11] Week 08, 10/15 - 10/19: Saving, Capital Accumulation and Output [Ch 11] Technological Progress and Growth [Ch 12] Week 09, 10/22 - 10/26: Technological Progress and Growth [Ch 12] Week 10, 10/29 - 11/02: Technological Progress and Growth [Ch 13] Midterm Exam 2 [Ch 8 - 13] [2nd November, 2015] Week 11, 11/05 - 11/09: Openness in Goods and Financial Markets [Ch 18] Week 12, 11/12 - 11/16: The Goods Market in an Open Economy [Ch 19] Week 13, 11/19 - 11/23: The Goods Market in an Open Economy [Ch 19] Week 14, 11/26 - 11/30: Output, Interest Rate, and Exchange Rate [Ch 20] Week 15, 12/03 - 12/07: Review Final Exam, 12/10 - 12/14: [Ch 18 - 20]

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