Graduate Curriculum Committee Course Proposal Form
for Courses Numbered 6000 and Higher
Note: Before completing this form, please carefully read the accompanying instructions.
Submission guidelines are posted to the GCC Web site: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/gcc/index.cfm
1. Course prefix and number:
ECON 8211
2. Date:
09/13/2011
3. Requested action:
X New Course
Revision of Active Course
Revision & Unbanking of a Banked Course
Renumbering of an Existing Course from
from
to
#
X
Required
#
Elective
4. Method(s) of delivery (check all boxes that apply for both current/proposed and expected
future delivery methods within the next three years):
Current or
Proposed Delivery
Method(s):
X
On-campus (face to face)
Expected
Future Delivery
Method(s):
X
Distance Course (face to face off campus)
Online (delivery of 50% or more of the instruction is offered online)
5. Justification (must cite accreditation and/or assessment by the graduate faculty) for new course
or course revision or course renumbering:
The graduate faculty of the Department of Economics identified a need in government, the
private sector, and in academia for PhD graduates with advanced analytic and technical
skills necessary for analysis, mitigation, management and regulation of risk—both
environmental and financial. This requires an understanding of the underlying individual
decision maker and firm behavior and their interaction within market and nonmarket
settings. Theoretical modeling and empirical analysis complete the picture and allow for
the identification of effective public policy and regulation. This doctoral program is
unique within the state of North Carolina because it emphasizes risk modeling and
analysis over a broad scope of applications that range from financial markets to natural
hazards. Students with training from this program will be well equipped to qualify for
high level positions within Federal and State Agencies that deal with natural hazards and
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regulation of risk, as well as businesses for management and mitigation of risk.
The assessment process of the Economics Graduate Faculty has determined that this
course should be the first in a two-course PhD field sequence in macroeconomic theory.
6. Course description exactly as it should appear in the next catalog:
8211. Macroeconomic Theory I (4) P:ECON 5501 or consent of the director of
graduate studies. Foundations of macroeconomic behavior and analysis: household’s
choice problem, growth models, and real business cycle models.
7. If this is a course revision, briefly describe the requested change:
N/A
8. Course credit:
Lecture Hours
3
1
3
1
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
Studio
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Practicum
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Internship
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Lab
s.h.
s.h.
Other (e.g., independent study) Please explain.
s.h.
4
Total Credit Hours
s.h.
6
9. Anticipated annual student enrollment:
10. Changes in degree hours of your programs:
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
PhD in Economics
N/A
11. Affected degrees or academic programs, other than your programs:
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
12. Overlapping or duplication with affected units or programs:
X Not applicable
Documentation of notification to the affected academic degree programs is
attached.
13. Council for Teacher Education (CTE) approval (for courses affecting teacher education):
X Not applicable
Applicable and CTE has given their approval.
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14. University Service-Learning Committee (USLC) approval:
X Not applicable
Applicable and USLC has given their approval.
15. Statements of support:
a. Staff
Current staff is adequate
X
Additional staff is needed (describe needs in the box below):
b. Facilities
X Current facilities are adequate
Additional facilities are needed (describe needs in the box below):
c. Library
X
Initial library resources are adequate
Initial resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and an
estimate for the cost of acquisition of required initial resources):
d. Unit computer resources
X
Unit computer resources are adequate
Additional unit computer resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief
explanation and an estimate for the cost of acquisition):
e. ITCS resources
X
ITCS resources are not needed
The following ITCS resources are needed (put a check beside each need):
Mainframe computer system
Statistical services
Network connections
Computer lab for students
Software MATLAB
Approval from the Director of ITCS attached
16. Course information (see: Graduate Curriculum and Program Development Manual for
instructions):
a. Textbook(s) and/or readings: author(s), name, publication date, publisher, and
city/state/country. Include ISBN (when applicable).
Required Textbooks:
Romer, D. (2011). Advanced Macroeconomics, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN:
978-0073511375
Barro, R. and X. Sala-I-Martin. (2003). Economic Growth, 2nd Edition, Cambridge,
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MIT Press. ISBN: 978-0321416629
Selected Articles:
Campbell, J. (1994). Inspecting the Mechanism: An Analytical Approach to the
Stochastic Growth Model. Journal of Monetary Economics, 33, 463-506.
King, R.G., C.I. Plosser, and S.T. Rebelo (1998). Production, Growth and Business
Cycles: The Basic Neoclassical Model. Journal of Monetary Economics, 21, 195-232.
Uhlig, H. (1999). A Toolkit for Analyzing Nonlinear Dynamic Stochastic Models
Easily, in R. Marimon and A. Scott (eds.), Computational Methods for the Study of
Dynamic Economies, 30-61, Oxford University Press.
b. Course objectives for the course (student – centered, behavioral focus)
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
 Demonstrate mastery of the foundations of macroeconomic behavior;
 Analyze key macroeconomic questions using tools and techniques employed
in
current macroeconomics.
c. Course topic outline
I.
II.
III.
Growth models.
Consumption and saving under uncertainty.
Real business cycle models.
d. List of course assignments, weighting of each assignment, and grading/evaluation system
for determining a grade
Problem sets:
Midterm Exam:
Course Paper:
Final Exam:
Evaluation System
A
90% to 100%
B
89% to 80%
C
79% to 70%
F
Below 70%
25%
25%
25%
25%
Outstanding Performance
Acceptable Performance
Inadequate Performance
Failure
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