Macroeconomic Principles - Econ 2305 Summer 2020 Session 4 (2020SU-11790) Instructors: Christopher Clarke caclarke@uh.edu Dhanushka Peru pddarunasiri@uh.edu Jose Manuel jmotaaqu@cougarnet.uh.edu Office: McElhinney Hall 220 Office Hours: MTWTF 1:00 – 2:00 PM, or by appointment Part 1: Course Description We explore the foundation of macroeconomic theory, including subjects as the aggregate economy, inflation, recession, economic policy, economic growth, business cycle theory, and international trade. It is an online course with lecture videos, textbook readings, and weekly discussions. Assessment will be through homework as well as two midterms and a cumulative final. The exams will be taken online. Final Exam: Wednesday August 5th. Prerequisite: MATH 1310 (College Algebra) or equivalent or consent of instructor. Students can be dropped from this class for not satisfying prerequisites. For more info: http://catalog.uh.edu/content.php?catoid=31&navoid=11569 Textbook & Course Materials Principles of Macroeconomics and Mindtap Subscription $72 ebook/subscription By Gregory Mankiw. 8th Edition. Only use the link in Blackboard Packback Subscription $25 Link in Blackboard Part 2: Course Objectives Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Express the basic terminology of macroeconomics. Apply the tools of supply and demand, applying them to a variety of markets. Analyze the circular-flow of the economy and GDP and formulate how macroeconomic policy affects it. Discuss unemployment and inflation; their causes and policy correctives. Debate in a constructive professional manner macroeconomic controversies. Instruction Interaction Each chapter will include a series of short lecture videos by Christopher Clarke. The links are in blackboard. These are required viewing; your viewership is tracked and is added to the grade. Additionally, there will be three Live Streaming Session on Microsoft Teams three times per week. For those unable to view live, they will be archived. These are also required. You will be assigned to a co-instructor (Dhanushka Peru or Jose Manuel) for live streaming. Follow the assigned instructor. Jose Manuel has students with last names A – Johnson. The Team code is zuhsc6l. While Dhanushka Peru has students with last names Joseph – Z. The Team code is sk2rnjh. Furthermore, we are available via email, during office hours, via video chat. All technology questions should go to tech support. Assessment Measures Assignment Homework Discussions Packback Exam 1 Exam 2 Final Exam Share of Grade 30% 15% 13% 17% 25% Exams There are two mid-terms and a cumulative final exam. All exams are conducted via Blackboard. Exam 1 is available on July 17-18, after the livestream on the 17th. Exam 2 is available on July 27-28. Questions are randomized; every student will be taking a unique exam. May I remind you of the University’s Academic Honesty Policy. https://uh.edu/provost/policies-resources/honesty/ In addition to your expectation to conduct the exam with integrity, I am implementing a game theory exercise. Some of you may be familiar with the Prisoner’s Dilemma, commonly taught in Principles of Microeconomics. Essentially it shows that cooperation and creating a cartel is hard to maintain. See the following Video for a discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCcVODWm-oY For the exam, I will grant a 4-percentage point extra credit to the exam to the first student who credibly reports unethical exam behavior. I will then forward these claims through the University’s institution. The incident will go on the offending student’s record and may result in expulsion. After watching the Prisoner’s Dilemma video and believe that you can maintain collusion, keep in mind that OPEC, the most successful cartel in history, broke down on March 7th. Saudi Arabia and Russia drove the price of oil down 30% in a mere two days, with more price falls expected. If OPEC can’t do it, would you take the risk? Homework This is located on the textbook’s website, MindTap. The link is on Blackboard. Homework is due at 11:59PM on the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of the week after the videos for the chapters are posted. For instance, Chapter 3: Production Possibility Frontier is first presented on Tuesday, July 07th. Please follow the homework schedule as specified in the syllabus carefully. This should give plenty of flexibility. Homework is graded for correctness, on the “do not harm” setting. You have three opportunities to answer a question correctly. It will take the average. Unless you got it right the first or second time, then additional attempts/practice will not harm you. Homework are worth 30% of your grade. For any technical assistance using MindTap, please go to Support.Cengage.com. Videos Pre-Recorded Lectures Associated with each chapter (except for the introduction, which has its own set of “i” videos), there are lecture videos on Youtube. Questions are welcome in the comment sections. These are required, and you will get credit towards your grade for watching them. Make sure to use the link inside Blackboard to view these videos. Live Streams We will be holding three hour-long live stream sessions per week on Microsoft Teams. Please submit questions you would like to cover beforehand. These are an excellent opportunity to get some back and forth and work through the problems together. These are recorded and can be viewed later, if you cannot make the live stream en vivo. Make sure you join the live stream of the co-instructor you were assigned. These are required. A face-to-face class is about 45 hours in person a semester. The pre-recorded lectures and the livestreams together amount to around 30 hours for the semester. Take advantage of that time. Discussions Instructions Discussions take place on the Packback platform. The link is also on Blackboard. You receive credit for posting 1 Question and 4 Responses per week relevant to the class subject matter. Submissions are due Tuesdays and Saturdays. Please follow the schedule as specified in the syllabus carefully. The first discussion is due Thursday, July 09th. Discussions are worth 15% of your grade. Posts are required to yield 60 “curiosity points” to count toward your grade. This is an online discussion community where you can be fearlessly curious and ask BIG questions about how what we’re studying relates to life and the real world. Participating will: • • • Help you develop writing skills necessary for any career path. Reinforce the imperative skill of justifying thoughts and claims with credible evidence - and then citing the evidence! Enhance critical thinking sought out by employers Before you start posting, be sure to read the Community Guidelines found in the tutorial on Packback. If your post doesn’t follow the Packback Community Guidelines, there is a chance it will be removed and you won’t receive points for that post. Note: it takes 24 hours for the Packback team to moderate a post and send a coaching email. Here is a list of popular media outlets that do economic reporting, which I encourage you to use. NYTimes.com/section/upshot Democrat Leaning: Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman writes a column for NYTimes Republican Leaning: Hoover Institute: Economic Policy, WSJ Opinion Section. WSJ.com Use this link for the library access. Econofact.org Economist.com Use this link for library access. GregMankiw.blogspot.com TaxPolicyCenter.org/taxvox TheMoneyIllusion.com macroeconomics blog dealing with monetary policy. MacroBlog.typepad.com Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Macro Blog. Andolfatto.blogspot.com MacroMania: In-depth discussion of macro current events Macroeconomic Data Sources: https://ourworldindata.org/ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/ Registration Instructions: You will receive an email with a link and instructions. If you did not receive one, you may manually register. 1. Navigate to https://questions.packback.co and click “Register as a new student”. Note: If you already have an account on Packback you can login with your credentials. 2. Make sure to register with your University email address and the first name and last name that is listed in Blackboard. 3. Enter our class community’s Community Lookup Key into the “Join a new Community” module on your dashboard. Please note, the following Community Lookup Key is only for locating the community; it is NOT a coupon code or access code. Our Community Lookup Code: d563927e-3319-4289-a5aa-6ceb19c86c22 4. Follow the instructions on your screen to finish your registration. If you have ANY questions or concerns regarding Packback throughout the semester, please contact the customer support team at holla@packback.co! For a brief introduction to Packback Questions and why we are using it in class, watch this video: vimeo.com/packback/Welcome-to-Packback-Questions Late Work Policy Be sure to pay close attention to deadlines—there will be no makeup assignments or quizzes, or late work accepted. Technology failures will not be accepted as reason for missed assignment due dates. Therefore, do not leave anything to the last minute. Letter Grade Assignment Grade Range 93-100% 90-92.99% 87-89.99% 83-86.99% 80-82.99% 77-79.99% Letter Grade A AB+ B BC+ Grade Range 73-76.99% 70-72.99% 67-69.99% 63-66.99% <63% Letter Grade C CD+ D F This course follows all UH grade regulations, policies, and standards as stated in the student handbook. Review the catalog for conditions under which an incomplete may be granted. http://www.uh.edu/dos/studenthandbook/ and http://catalog.uh.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=1077 Deadlines: Students are responsible for knowing and adhering to all university and college dates and deadlines. Such dates and deadlines include those for enrollment (registration), adding and dropping of courses, academic holidays, payment and refunds, and applying for graduation. Visit the following helpful websites for specific dates: http://www.uh.edu/academics/catalog/academic-calendar/ and http://www.uh.edu/emergency. Incomplete Policy The official policy on incompletes, from the Undergraduate Catalog, states that the grade of “I” is given “when students a) are currently passing a course or b) still have a reasonable hope of passing in the judgment of the instructor, but for non-academic reasons beyond their control have not completed a relatively small part of all requirements.” Part 3: Topics Outline/Schedule Week Chapter 1 3 4 6 7 2 10 11 12 13 3 15 16 16 17 18 4 19 19 20 Topic Date-Video Introduction Monday, July 06 Trade & PPF Supply and Demand S&D and Gov Surplus and Welfare Tuesday, July 07 Wednesday, July 08 Thursday, July 09 Friday, July 10 Saturday, July 11 Measuring a Nation's Income Measuring Cost of Living Production and Growth Saving, Investment, Financial System Exam 1 (Up to Ch. 11) Unemployment The Monetary System The Monetary System Money Growth and Inflation Open Economy: Basics Exam 2 (Up to Ch. 17) Macroeconomic Theory of Open Economy Macroeconomic Theory of Open Economy AD & AS Homework -Packback Introduction 3 Chapter 3 4,6 Chapters 4,6 -- 1Q 2R Sunday, July 12 Monday, July 13 Tuesday, July 14 Wednesday, July 15 Thursday, July 16 Friday, July 17 Saturday, July 18 Sunday, July 19 Monday, July 20 Tuesday, July 21 Wednesday, July 22 Thursday, July 23 Friday, July 24 Saturday, July 25 Sunday, July 26 Monday, July 27 Tuesday, July 28 7 Chapter 7 -- 2R 10,11 Chapters 10,11 12, Review Chapter 12 -- 1Q 2R 13 Chapter 13 -- 2R 15,16 Chapter 15 16,17 Chapters 16,17 -- 1Q 2R 18, Review Chapter 18 -- 2R Wednesday, July 29 Thursday, July 30 Live Stream 19 Chapter 19 21 AD: Money and Fiscal Policy Friday, July 31 Saturday, August 01 Sunday, August 02 5 21 AD: Money and Fiscal Policy Review Final Exam 20 Chapter 20 -- 1Q 2R Monday, August 03 Tuesday, August 04 Wednesday, August 05 21, Review Chapter 21 -- 2R Part 4: Course Assistance UH Tutoring Tutoring is available for the several Economics courses. The tutoring service is based on a drop-in/walk-in system. It is a first come first served basis. There is no appointment necessary. More information and schedule at http://ussc.uh.edu/lss/tutoring.aspx Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) CAPS can help students who are having difficulties managing stress, adjusting to college, or feeling sad and hopeless. You can reach CAPS (www.uh.edu/caps) by calling 713-743-5454 during and after business hours for routine appointments or if you or someone you know is in crisis. No appointment is necessary for the “Let's Talk” program, a drop-in consultation service at convenient locations and hours around campus. http://www.uh.edu/caps/outreach/lets_talk.html Inform Your Instructor of Any Accommodations Needed The College of Technology would like to help students who have disabilities achieve their highest potential. In accordance with 504/ADA guidelines, reasonable academic accommodations will be provided to students who request and require them. Students must register with the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) 713-7435400, Location: Room 100 CSD, http://www.uh.edu/csd/. Please present approved accommodation documentation to their instructors as soon as possible but no later than the second week of the semester. Academic Dishonesty Policy As a student in this course you are expected to maintain high degrees of professionalism, participation in this class, and integrity in your behavior. Cheating, plagiarism, or other kinds of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will result in appropriate sanctions that may include failing an assignment, failing the class or being suspended or expelled. Please refer to the Code of Conduct: https://www.uh.edu/provost/policies/honesty/_documents-honesty/academic-honestypolicy.pdf. Any violation will result in an investigation. Tech Support Services: Student assistance for Blackboard can be found by visiting http://www.uh.edu/blackboard/help/, calling 713743-1411, or emailing support@uh.edu. Additional UH computer labs are available all over campus. Learn more by visiting http://www.uh.edu/infotech/services/facilities-equipment/comp-labs/ Technology Requirements This course uses Blackboard. It is best viewed with a full desktop or laptop computer, especially for the exam. The minimum technology requirements: • • • Stable internet connection Pop-up blockers disabled, and cookies enabled for trusted sites (e.g. UH, Blackboard, Mindtap, Packback) Webcam is strongly recommended. Online Student Etiquette: This course may host synchronous online meetings. During those meetings consider the following: • • • • • • Keep chats on topic. Be polite. Language can easily be misinterpreted in written communication. Before sending an email or chat message make sure it clearly conveys the intended feeling. Use emoticons to express feelings. Nonverbal cues can reinforce the feeling of a message. Respect privacy of peers. Do not post someone’s personal information online. Appropriate dress code and environment on camera. During a video conference dress as if attending a face-to-face class. Take advantage of quiet areas to avoid distractions to fellow classmates. Be helpful.
