ECN 253- 201
Principles of Macroeconomics
Marshall University, Spring 2016
Name: Dr. Yuanyuan (Catherine) Chen,
Assistant Professor of Economics
Office: CH 262
Phone: (304) 696-2827
Course Schedule: MWF 10:00-10:50am
Classroom: CH 106
Office Hours: MW 12:45-3:45pm or by
appointment
Email: chenyu@marshall.edu
REQUIRED TEXTS

Macroeconomics, R. Glenn Hubbard & Anthony P. O’brien, 5th Ed. Publisher:
Prentice Hall
CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION AND PREREQUISITES
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Course description from the catalog: ECN 253 introduces the workings of the
national economy. Focuses on the forces driving economic growth, inflation,
unemployment, and the country's international economic relations.
Prerequisites: ECN 250 or ECN 242 -- Principles of Microeconomics, or ECN
200 -- Survey of Economics
EXPANDED COURSE DESCRIPTION
ECN 253 Principles of Macroeconomics, serves as an introductory course for those who show
interests in business/economics/management or related areas. This course studies topics of
aggregate economies. It will help you understand fundamentals such as definitions and principles
in economics and it will also provide basic understandings for tools applications. All of these are
useful to analyze miscellaneous economic events and macroeconomic policies nationally and
internationally.
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
After this course, you will:
1. Participate in conversations using language of macroeconomics: the key concepts and
variables developed by economists and used by them--along with policymakers and
politicians --to define, measure, monitor, and evaluate a country's overall economic
performance.
2. Understand and use graphs to illustrate macroeconomic activities and do basic policy
analyses and how to work with the analytical framework that economists use, in order to
identify and analyze the cause-and-effect linkages between macroeconomic policy
activity, global economic conditions, and national economic performance.
3. Integrate previous learning of definitions and analytical skills to exploring the system of
US economy and to adding international elements of US economy.
COURSE CONTENT AND TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (Subject to changes)
Objectives
General Introduction
Macroeconomic
Fundamentals
Fundamental Applications
and Analyses
Chapters
N/A
8
9
10
13
Macroeconomic Policies
14
15
18
16
17
Topics
Introduction to the Class （0）
GDP and National Income （2）
Unemployment and Inflation (2）
Economic Growth （2）
Aggregate Demand and
Aggregate Supply （2）
Money, Banks, and the Federal
Reserve System （1）
Monetary Policy （1）
Macroeconomics in an Open
Economy （1）
Fiscal Policy （Optional）
Inflation, Unemployment, and
Federal Reserve Policy
（Optional）
TENTATIVE DUE DATES, EXAM DATES, AND HOLIDAYS
Homework due dates: (Exact schedule is subject to changes)
It is very important to know that although the homework assignments are distributed on
MUonline , they MUST be turned in in the form of hard copies by due dates in the class!
Submissions via MUonline or email are NOT going to be graded and therefore will get a ZERO
grade.
Please carefully read the following information of the DATES and be free to mark them on
your calendar. (Pay attention to the changes announced during the lectures!)
Homework
1,2
3,4
5,6
7,8
9, 10
11
Submission due dates
Jan 25
Feb 5
Feb 24
Mar 9
Apr 6
Apr 18
To improve students’ learning, on the dates listed in the table above, students will bring
their homework assignments to the class. If the students have not finished the
assignment(s), they are free to co-operate with other students or consult the professor.
But remember, due to our short class time, not everyone can get answered. By the
end of the class on that day, everyone should submit their homework assignments. Again,
do NOT submit the homework on MUonline or via email!
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Exam dates: Exam 1---Feb 10(planned)
Exam 2---Mar 14 (planned)
Exam 3---Apr 22 (planned)
Final Exam---May 2(10:15am~12:15pm)
Study Dates: Exam 1---Feb 8
Exam 2--- Mar 11
Exam 3---Apr 20
Final Exam---Apr 27, 29
Review of previous exams----Feb 12, Mar 16, Apr 25
Dates without classes: Jan 18--- Martin Luther King Holiday (University Closed)
Mar 21~ 26--- Spring Break (Classes Dismissed)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING POLICY
Grading Scale
A
666-740
B
592-665
C
518-591
D
443-517
F
<443
No shading grade will be provided.
Your final grade comprises three main parts: four exams, eleven homework assignments, and
attendance. Random bonus points are given during the lectures. Any activity to be recorded as
bonus points CANNOT be made up. Your overall grade is weighted as follows:
Exams (3 mid-terms and 1 final)
400
Attendance
20
Homework Assignments
320
Total
740
 Exams: three mid-term exams and one final exam are distributed in this semester.
Tentative dates are listed above. Each exam takes one-fourth of the total 400 points of
exam; in other words, each exam has 100 points. The three mid-term exams are noncomprehensive, but the final is comprehensive. As stated below, exams are not available
for makeup. To enhance student to understand the chapters and to prepare for the exam,
when an exam is to take place, the instructor will highlight and review the basic points
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for the study guide on the STUDY DAY. But this does not guarantee the students to gain
high points in the exams! To prepare for the final exam, store up your previous
exams and mark your confusing questions. These questions can be answered using
the office hours or on the day after each mid-term. Make sure you take your own
exams on the days the instructor gives them back. Do not ask others to take your
exams if you do not trust them.
Attendance: The attendance report is conducted on every class. However, each student
has up to 5 missing times. No other exception is accepted unless official notice is
provided! For example, if during the semester, student A misses 5 times together, he/she
will still have 100 percent of your attendance report (20 points in total). If this student has
6 times, he/she will have incomplete record on Attendance portion. This policy provides
student convenience when he/she has emergency and not able to report to the instructor
ahead of time. Notice that attendance is of great importance if you want to gain high
grade and learn knowledge. Many highlights may not be repeated after class!
Homework Assignments: There will be 11 homework assignments planned. The lowest
3 grades will be dropped. The homework will be given out during the lectures via
MUonline. Please check your emails regularly also. The instructor suggests students to
finish it progressively; it will reduce the burden if you complete it one the day before due
dates. Also, there will be specific classes for homework assignments co-operation or
discussion once a chapter is finished. They are specifically designed for explaining
questions progressively. It will be very helpful for those who have questions in the
lectures or for the homework assignment. It will also be useful if the students who have
completed their homework to check the correct answers. Each homework assignment
takes 40 points. Once again, do NOT submit homework assignments on MUOnline.
Each portion of your overall grade can be found on http://muwwwnew.marshall.edu/muonline/ (Note that some categories such as bonus points and attendance ,
etc. may not be reflected on MUOnline due to the systematic issues, they will show by the end of
the semester)
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The final result of your grade will be posted on http://mymu.marshall.edu/
For missing exams/attendance/homework assignments, please see policies below.

Attendance policy: This class encourages students to attend class. A responsible and
mature student is expected to attend class. There may be times when the student is not
able to attend class. The instructor may occasionally check attendance and it will be
included in your final grades. The instructor may decide not to scale exams for those who
have more than one unexcused absence or tardiness between exams. Scaling is
completely at the discretion of the instructor. Attendance comprises a small portion of
the overall grade. Students will have up to 5 times of attendances. Only official
attendance excuse will be accepted and please make sure to hand it to me in the class!
No email excuse will be accepted! If you do have an email form, please print it out and
hand it to me so that even with lots of students I have this semester, your record will be
safe.
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A missed homework, attendance: To be accepted, a homework assignment must be
turned in on time. All assignments are given during the class time and also are collected
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in the class dates listed on Homework due dates. Assignments will be hand graded by
the instructor. Students will have up to 3 missing homework assignments (three zeros to
be dropped. Therefore, there will be no make-up opportunities for homework
assignments. No later homework assignments will be accepted!
A missed test: If a student misses the final test, he/she will receive an incomplete grade
for the course. The incomplete grade may then be completed as regulated by University
policy. This will require completing extra material in the following semester. To avoid
this problematic situation, a student is strongly encouraged to attend tests on-time. The
exams are NOT online. They will be given in class! If you are not able to make that day,
please email to the professor at least one week earlier.
A Note about Text Messaging, Web Surfing and Grades: Text messaging and noncourse-related web-surfing are not appropriate during class time. It disrupts the attention
of the other students and the instructor. In the case of emergencies it is OK to take and
send text messages. But please first ask for permission to leave the classroom, and then
text outside of the room. The instructor will take note of students who are texting or
inappropriately web-surfing. The instructor will deduct 2 points from the Final Semester
Score for each infraction.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES (Please read carefully!)
By enrolling in this course, you agree to the University Policies listed below. Please read the full
text of each policy be going to www.marshall.edu/academic-affairs and clicking on “Marshall
University Policies.” Or, you can access the policies directly by going to
http://www.marshall.edu/academic-affairs/?page_id=802 Academic Dishonesty/ Excused
Absence Policy for Undergraduates/ Computing Services Acceptable Use/ Inclement Weather/
Dead Week/ Students with Disabilities/ Academic Forgiveness/ Academic Probation and
Suspension/ Academic Rights and Responsibilities of Students/ Affirmative Action/ Sexual
Harassment.
HOW THE COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES WILL BE PRACTICED AND
ASSESSED
Course Learning Outcomes
How Practiced in this Course
Assessment
Participate in conversations using
the language of macroeconomics
and structure of macroeconomic
models: the key concepts and
variables developed by
economists and used by them along with policymakers and
politicians - to dene, measure,
monitor, & evaluate a country's
overall economic performance.
Learn how to understand graphs
to illustrate macroeconomic
Lectures, videos, interactive
discussions, homework
assignments, and bonus points
quizzes for all Chapters
Exams I, II, and III, and
Final Exam
activities
Learn basic mathematical tools to
calculate macroeconomic
expressions in the daily news,
understand how to integrate
different graphs to explain a
macroeconomic change, and
integrate previous learning of
definitions and analytical skills to
exploring the system of US
economy.
Lectures, videos, interactive
discussions, homework
assignments, and bonus points
quizzes for all Chapters
Exams I, II, and III, and
Final Exam
Conduct basic policy analyses and
how to work with the analytical
framework that economists use, in
order to identify and analyze the
cause-and-effect linkages between
macroeconomic policy activity,
and national economic
performance and to adding
international elements of US
economy
Lectures, videos, interactive
discussions, homework
assignments, and bonus points
quizzes for all Chapters
Exams I, II, and III, and
Final Exam
Learn how to use macroeconomic
analysis to:
Lectures, videos, interactive
discussions, homework
assignments, and bonus points
quizzes for all Chapters
Exams I, II, and III, and
Final Exam
 understand the recent economic
performance
 evaluate alternative proposals for
improving upon this
performance
 understand and critically
evaluate discussions of
economics and economic policy
in various media publications.