ECON 103 Money and Banking
Dr. Douglas Rice
Adjunct Professor
Telephone: (510) 754-7271 Cell
Email: doug@douglasrice.com
Blog www.douglasrice.com/blog
Facebook www.facebook.com/drdouglasrice
Webpage: www.douglasrice.com
Twitter @drdouglasrice
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/drdouglasrice
Important Dates: First Day of Class: 8/30/09 Last Day of Class: 10/24/09
Course Description
This class studies money and the capital market; monetary policies; structure, conduct and
performance of the banking system; and international finance. This is the undergraduate survey
course in money, intermediation and financial markets. The conceptual framework for this course
includes capital theory, finance theory, price theory and monetary theory. There is ongoing
discussion of the rapidly changing environment of the provision of financial services and products.
Careful attention is paid to the impact of the Federal Reserve and the National Treasury on domestic
and international financial activity.
Prerequisite
ENGL 1A, ENGL 1B, ECON 1, ECON 2 and MATH 30. If you can’t satisfy these prerequisites, you
will be at a significant disadvantage in this course and you would be well advised to withdraw and
correct any deficiencies.
Course Conduct
This course is extremely applied and therefore requires students to keep up with daily financial
market developments. For similar reasons and because financial markets are volatile, the discussion
element of this course will be very important. Please read all required materials prior to the class
discussion and be prepared to discuss additional topics which reflect current financial market activity.
Required Text
Madura, Jeff Financial Markets and Institutions, 7th ed., Thompson, Southwestern
Articles and Data - Students will be referred to relevant articles and data available on government
and private websites during the course and are expected to contribute other relevant articles related
to the current topic.
Students are expected to remain well informed of daily financial market developments and to
discuss class topics with regard to current events. The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times,
and The Economist are HIGHLY recommended sources. Many, many other sources are
available.
Course Topics
The following is the outline for the reading and topics that we will cover in this course. I generally
don’t open the next weeks session before Monday but those of you that want to get a jump start can
always do the reading and start looking for a current event related to it.
Week
1
Start Date
8/30
2
9/6
3
9/13
4
9/20
5
9/27
6
10/4
7
10/10
8
10/18
Topic
Overview and Interest rates
The Federal Reserve & Monetary
Policy
Money & Bond Markets
Stock Market
Midterm Exam (Proctored) &
Consumer Finance
Banking, Mortgage Markets,
Insurance, Pension Funds
Futures, Options, Swaps and Forex
Chapter
1, 2, 3
4, 5
6, 7
10, 12, 23,
24
21, 22
17, 18, 19,
20
13, 14, 15,
16
Final Exam
Grading Policy
The grading will be based on the exams, a class project, and students' participation in discussions.
Midterm
20%
Final
30%
Participation 50%
The final letter grade is based on the total of these components. Participation, especially in the
online format, is critical. Lack of participation will significantly affect the final grade.
The exams will cover the material in the course and your ability to apply what you have learned to
real world events. The midterm is proctored, so get that signed up quickly. Also, it’s open book and
open note as is the final.
Make up exams are only given in exceptional circumstances and only with the prior consent of the
instructor. Students should consult the current GGU Bulletin for University policies regarding
incompletes and withdrawals. In addition, please refer to, and be guided by, the University’s policies
on academic integrity (see Bulletin for details)
Class participation is expected and mandatory. Discussion participation is what makes an online
environment interesting and useful. Plan on participating and checking messages several times
each week. Current events are one of the most important parts of this course. Applying the weekly
reading to events in the newspaper will increase your understanding of the role of financial
institutions in everyday life.
Grading
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
C-
4.0
3.7
3.3
3.0
2.7
2.3
2.0
1.7
93% - 100%
90% - 92.9%
87% - 89.9%
83% - 86.9%
80% - 82.9%
77% - 79.9%
73% - 76.9%
70% - 72.9%
D+
D
DF
1.3
1.0
0.7
0.0
67% - 69.9%
63% - 66.9%
60% - 62.9%
0% - 59.9%
Exams
The midterm exam will be proctored and be an closed book, closed note, opportunity for you to show
what you have learned. The final exam will be an open book, open note test of your knowledge of
the concepts covered throughout the entire course. The final exam may be taken during the last
week of class and will be entirely online. Exams will reflect current events, textbook and other
reading materials, session presentations, discussions, etc.
Supervised Exam Information
All CyberCampus (entirely online) courses require at least one supervised exam per term. Check
with your instructor to find out when you are allowed to take the supervised exam. It is your
responsibility to schedule an exam time and location.
For more information, go to http://www.ggu.edu/cybercampus/ExamInformation.
Supplementary Reading and Materials
There are a plethora of good books and journals. The best thing to read is the Financial Times. The
Wall St. Journal is good but not as good as FT. Also the Economist Magazine is highly
recommended. One key element of the class is selection of sources and determining bias in the
publications that are used so choose your sources wisely.
Course Navigation
I recommend you proceed through this course as follows. On Monday of each week, you should
complete the assignment, read the lesson and economic summary, and any supplementary lecture
materials I may have posted. This is the big work day of each session and may require you to read
ahead to make the work load less on Monday. After reading the material, you may want to re-read
some of the text to clarify or emphasize issues I have raised. Then, you should then begin to
participate in our Discussions and Current Events beginning on Tuesday. You should regularly
(daily) check the Discussions for new topics, discussion responses, and administrative
announcements.
Since the supplementary lectures usually rely on recent data and events, I will usually input this
material on the weekend prior to each corresponding session. If you want to read ahead, the
chapters are shown under "course topics." In the Current Event, I will usually provide a weekly
update of current activity in U.S. and global financial markets. You will be posting a current event
article relating to the topic at hand. I will also ask you to respond to an Discussion question(s)
related to that week's topic. Generally, there will not be any right or wrong answers to these
questions. Rather, you will be judged on your ability to apply the principles of this class to your
analysis. Your participation in both of these areas is a key component of the Cyber Campus learning
process, and will count towards 50% of your grade in this course so don’t underestimate your need
to continually participate throughout the entire course.
Feel free to email me to discuss class procedures, policies, or other issues. I prefer that most
discussion of substantive issues take place in class so that we all can all benefit but never hesitate to
contact me individually. Given the fast paced nature of financial markets, we will have a lot to talk
about. Your learning experience, and consequently the experience of our whole class, will be
enhanced if you follow financial and economic events on a daily basis and bring creative ideas and
well-informed questions.
Course Discussion
Whenever you log on, you should check for new discussion items, read responses to your own and
every one else's postings and reply or add to the discussion. It is far easier to log on every day or
thereabouts and do a little than to let it build up for a few days only to find it overwhelming. Always
try to leave evidence you were there so I know you are logging in.
Each week, I will post areas where responses and discussion are required. To keep things from
getting too cluttered, you should not introduce discussion topics on your own. I will provide an area
as an open forum where we can have more general discussions and interaction. I always welcome
ideas for new topics, which you can communicate to me through general discussion or via email.
I encourage you to keep your comments in the focused on the topic at hand. Also remember that
everyone in the class can view and reply to your responses. The more we can do openly in our
class discussions the better.
I will be on the site pretty much everyday to make new postings or to read and respond to your
postings. I will provide feedback in the discussions and try to keep them on track. I try to respond to
each posting but this can be quite a bit so don't feel left out if I miss one of yours every once in
awhile.
My experience indicates that the cyber environment can provide for a solid educational experience. It
works particularly well for this class because of the 24-hour-a-day dynamism of financial markets,
which can be easily tracked on the Internet. Undoubtedly, the technology may sometimes fail us, so
we may occasionally need to resort to more old fashion forms of communication. Let's try to have
patience when these things happen. Let's also try to have fun!
Special Needs
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express their special needs. Information regarding The Americans with Disabilities Acts and the
University’s policies and services may be obtained from the University Advising Center.