ECONOMICS 201-70
INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMICS
Winter 2010
Robert J. Gordon, AAH 350
TTh 12:30-1:50 pm TCH LR2
491-3616; rjg@northwestern.edu
web site: http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/economics/gordon
Office Hours, W 4-5:30 pm or by e-m appointment
Teaching Assistants:
Aldo Heffner, a-heffner@northwestern.edu
Zenon Zabinski, zzabinski@northwestern.edu
1. The Course: Its Purpose and Prerequisites. Economics 201 is the basic introduction
to economics that must be taken by every prospective economics major. Economics 201 is
also taken by many other students as a distribution requirement, as a requirement in some
other fields and schools, and just because it is an interesting course about the real world out
there. Please note: there are no prerequisites for Economics 201.
2. Required Reading. Textbook, Aplia homework problems, and course packet. See
the third page of this syllabus for details. Please note that you do not buy the textbook
from the bookstore for this course.
3. Advice. If you don't understand a particular point in the lecture, raise your hand
and ask it on the spot. Or come up and ask after class. For detailed questions about the
text, problems, and readings, talk to the TA in the section meeting or in their office hours.
You will also find that many of your questions only take a minute or two to answer, and
for these you should come up after class rather than making a special trip to office hours.
You can also reach the TAs or me by e-mail (addresses listed above). The TAs and I both
pledge that any e-mail question will be answered within 24 hours, seven days a week.
4. Web Site. This course relies heavily on the web and you need to bookmark three
web sites.
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(a) My web site (google “Robert J. Gordon”) has several sections, one of
which involves teaching. The teaching section of the web site provides past midterm and
final exams, including answers. Don’t miss my photo gallery containing 300 photos of
economists taken over the past 40 years. You can look through the photos to find your
textbook author Paul Krugman and many other economists who are cited in his textbook.
(b) Blackboard. This course uses Blackboard extensively, starting with signup for TA sections, then to provide supplemental lecture material, and further to post
grade distributions and other material relevant to the TA sections. Note that answers to
end-of-chapter problems in the textbook are posted on Blackboard. Answers to the midchapter “Check Your Understanding” questions are already printed at the end of the
textbook (in the Aplia e-book version, just scroll down beyond the last chapter and you will
find them there).
(c) Aplia. This course uses the electronic e-book version of Krugman’s text
and provides you with a lot of electronic assignments that will improve your ability to take
closed-book quizzes, midterms, and finals. To provide an incentive for you to use the Aplia
assignments, 10 percent of your grade will depend on your score on Aplia graded
assignments. The details are provided down below in this syllabus and will be discussed
in lecture as well.
5. Purpose of lectures and TA sections. The lectures will provide real-world examples
to motivate the textbook material, will help you figure out what is important and what you
can skip, will provide updated data and improved versions of many of the textbook charts,
will relate items in the outside reading course packet to the textbook theory and to current
events, and will present and solve questions and problems. Please note that an important
part of the content on quizzes, midterms and the final exam is based on handwritten
handouts that provide an algebraic treatment of textbook topics at a level higher than what
is presented in the textbook. These handouts are only available in class and are not posted
on Blackboard. Please note that there is a major section of the course in the fourth week
which covers material which is not in the textbook at all (on wage determination and career
choice); this material will be explained in the lecture, with illustrations from the course
packet. TA sections will administer quizzes and discuss answers, provide sample test
questions prior to the midterm and final, and present additional explanations of topics for
which there is insufficient time in lectures.
6. Requirements.
a. Aplia homework assignments, 10 percent of your grade. Your scores are
cumulated automatically within the Aplia software system. Details of how you are graded
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will be provided both on the Aplia web site and in lecture. Students who skip doing the
Aplia assignments will lose in two ways. They will lose directly 10 percent of their grade,
and they will find that they are much less prepared for closed-book quizzes, midterms, and
finals than their fellow students who diligently use the resources that Aplia provides.
There is a deadline for each Aplia assignment and you receive no credit for it if you miss
the deadline. To allow for illness and other contingencies, your three lowest Aplia
assignment grades will automatically be dropped when calculating your final grade.
b. Short Quizzes (5). In TA sections on the dates indicated on the schedule.
Counts 20 percent of grade. Your lowest quiz score is automatically dropped, so your
course score is calculated from your four highest quiz scores.
c. Midterms (2). Tuesday, 26 January, Tuesday, 16 February. Each counts 17
percent of grade, total 34 percent.
c. Final. Wednesday, 17 March, 3-5 pm. Counts 36 percent of grade. Please
note that this is the exam date/time for 1pm TTh classes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: A pocket calculator must be brought to each quiz, midterm and to
the final exam. There are no questions from the course packet on the quizzes, only on the midterms
and final. Aplia homework is entirely related to the textbook, not the course packet, and
will prepare you well for each quiz, midterm, and final but will not prepare you for
questions on the midterms and final that can only be answered by coming to lecture and
reading the course packet.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR TA SECTION SIGN-UP
Please note: As shown on the TA weekly schedule on this syllabus, there is no TA
section in the first week.
When you signed up for a discussion section on CAESAR, that was done only for
the purpose of flagging conflicts between the section in this course and other classes you
may be taking. YOU ARE NOT NOW SIGNED UP FOR A TA SECTION UNTIL YOU GO
TO BLACKBOARD AND SIGN UP FOR ONE OF THE 4 TA SECTIONS IN THIS COURSE.
To sign up, just go to Blackboard, select this course, then select “Course Documents” from
the tabs on the far left, then this will take you to a list of TA sections where you can click
on “sign up” to add your name and ID information to any section you choose. The listing
for each section tells you how many places are available and how many have already been
taken. (If you have technical questions about registration problems, call Scott Zacher at 77263, scottz@northwestern.edu.)
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TA SECTION TIMES AND LOCATIONS
TA sections are required for one hour per week.
71
72
73
74
Heffner
Heffner
Zabinski
Zabinski
Friday
Friday
Friday
Friday
9-9:50a
1-1:50p
9-9:50a
1-1:50p
KRG 2435
TCH M128
TCH MG28
TCH LG66
Please note that there is plenty of room for students in the TA sections, since the rooms
hold a total of 165 and the enrollment in this class is currently at 142. If one of the sections
at, say, 1pm fills up, just choose the other section at the same time or choose one of the 9am
sections.
SCHEDULE OF TA SECTIONS
08 Jan
15 Jan
22 Jan
29 Jan
05 Feb
12 Feb
19 Feb
26 Feb
05 Mar
12 Mar
Teach graphs, practice questions for Chapters 1 and 2
Practice questions; Quiz 1
Return quiz; Practice questions; Quiz 2
Return midterm; Discuss answers
Practice questions; Quiz 3
Practice questions; Quiz 4
Return midterm; Discuss answers
Practice questions; Quiz 5
Return Quiz 5; practice questions for final exam
Review sessions, times and places to be announced.
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ECONOMICS 201
REQUIRED READING AND INSTRUCTIONS
Text:
Paul Krugman and Robin Wells, Macroeconomics, second edition, 2009,
Worth publishers.
FOR THIS COURSE THE KRUGMAN-WELLS TEXT MAY ONLY BE PURCHASED
FROM APLIA.COM AND NOT FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE.
No, you absolutely may not use the first edition. The second edition is radically
different than the first edition, with reorganized chapters, new chapters, and any
student attempting to take this course with a used hard copy of the Krugman first
edition will be hopelessly lost, not to mention losing the 10 percent grade credit from
doing the Aplia homework.
Here’s the reason for using Aplia. It’s simple: lower price and higher quality. Start with
the fact that the print textbook purchased from Norris would be $135.
Instead, by buying direct from Aplia you get for $80 a package consisting of the
textbook e-book, that is the exact page image of the real textbook available on your own
computer or any computer in the world, as well as a carefully designed set of homework assignments (they count 10% toward your grade). You can also buy the printed
book from Aplia directly (they will express it to your address) for an extra $52, total
$132 if you choose the print option.
Details on buying Aplia access, with or without the printed book, are provided on a
supplementary page at the end of this syllabus (this is the page with the Aplia logo).
Required Additional Reading:
Course Packet for Gordon Econ 201, availability to be
announced by e-mail when it is ready from the Econ
Department Office, AAH 302. Usual price is $10.
Handouts
The Krugman text is very light on algebra. We will have supplemental algebraic
handouts on several main topics. These will be available only in lecture and will be the
source of several problems on the quizzes, midterms and final.
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GUIDE TO APLIA
1. When you buy access to Aplia, you will receive an initial password that you can
change.
2. You log in to Aplia, then click on this course (Gordon Winter 2010 Krugman)
3. Your student view will show the textbook chapters on the right and the assignments
on the left.
4. How to read the textbook: you can click on any chapter to get the full image of any
page. The tool bar at the top allows you to search for any word, zoom in and out to get the
right enlargement for readability, flip back and forth between a full page view and a zoomed
view, and go forward and backward between pages or go to a particular page number within
the chapter.
5. How to do assignments. It is essential that by the deadline of Wednesday night 01/06
11pm, you do the practice assignment (click on the first assignment title, “Introduction to Using
Aplia System”). This will show you the numerous types of questions that you will be answering on the practice and graded quizzes, and you will find the graphical interface very cool in
that you can shift curves, identify intersection points, and in a unique way master the tools you
need to answer any question on our closed-book graded quizzes, midterms, and final.
6. Each assignment is identified as “practice” or “graded”. Mark your own calendar for
the deadlines for the graded quizzes. There are 15 graded homeworks, corresponding to the 15
assigned chapters in the textbook. These must be submitted by the indicated date, always
11pm the day after the material is covered in lecture (see the daily schedule below). To allow
for any technical glitches when your computer does not work, or you are ill, or any other
reason, our grade sheet will automatically drop your three lowest grades on the Aplia
homework. Aplia calls these “free passes.” Otherwise, the 11pm deadlines for the graded
problems are absolutely hard deadlines. If you submit your homework even 10 seconds after
11pm central time, it will not count for that particular assignment.
7. Always do the “practice” problems first to become familiar with the material and the
Aplia interface. Do these at least several hours before the deadline for the graded problems on
the same material.
8. As you’ll learn in question 2 of the initial “intro to Aplia” assignment, for graded
problems you are allowed three chances to get it right. The grading system averages your
three scores. Obviously you should take it once as carefully as you can, record your mistakes
and the correct answers, and then take it two more times to get perfect scores on the second
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two times. This way, any incorrect score on your first try will be weighted only by 1/3.
Example: let’s say there are 15 questions and you get 3 wrong, 12 right. Your initial score is
12/15, or 80 percent. But then you take the test two more times, as is allowed, and you get 100
percent on the second two tries. This means that your average score will be 100*280/300 = 93.3
percent.
9. You will find that this intensive quizzing on the textbook material will make you an
expert in introductory macroeconomics and will almost guarantee a good grade on the closedbook quizzes, midterm, and final. The only people who lose from this system are those who
fail to do the Aplia assignments at all, or who miss deadlines, or who do not take the time to do
the problems three times.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The code for reading assignments on the following page
work as follows
Please note that specific page numbers rather than chapter numbers are given for
the text, indicating that appendixes and all problems are included for each
chapter. Selections from the Course Reading Packet are listed by chapter. THE
FOLLOWING CHAPTERS IN KRUGMAN ARE NOT ASSIGNED: 16, 17, 18.
Unfortunately Aplia does not number the assignments. So instead I have
indicated under the Aplia column when graded and practice assignments are due. All
deadlines for assignments are set at 11pm the night BEFORE the subsequent lecture or
TA section. Thus if topic A is covered on Tuesday and topic B is covered on Thursday,
the assignments for topic A have a deadline of 11pm on Wednesday night and the
assignments for topic B have a deadline of Sunday night.
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LIST OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Date
Text
Pages
Topics
Aplia
Assignments
Course
Packet
T 05 Jan
Th 07 Jan
Administrative Details; What is Economics; Big Tradeoffs
First Principles, Gains from the Free Economy, Tradeoffs
--1-22
P
PG
T 12 Jan
Th 14 Jan
PPF, Opportunity Cost, Efficiency, Comparative Advantage
Note: Graphing will be taught in TA section (08 Jan) and by Aplia Assignment
Supply, Demand, and Interactions between Supply and Demand
23-44
45-60
61-92
PG
P
PG
T 19 Jan
Th 21 Jan
Market failures; shortages; surplusses; externalities
Consumer and Producer Surplus, International Trade
T 26 Jan
Th 28 Jan
FIRST MIDTERM (covers text through p. 152, Readings through Chap 5)
How Wages and Salaries are Determined, Career Advice
-------
-----
Part “A”
T 02 Feb
Th 04 Feb
What is Macro? Measuring GDP, Price Indexes, Inflation
Unemployment and Inflation
153-98
199-223
PG
PG
Ch 6, 7
Ch 8
T 09 Feb
Th 11 Feb
Long-run Economic Gro wth: Why Some so Rich, Others so Poor?
Saving, Investment, Financial Assets, Financial Planning
225-56
257-86
PG
PG
Ch 9
Ch 10
T 16 Feb
Th 18 Feb
SECOND MIDTERM (covers text and readings through Chapter 9)
Income and Expenditure
287-314
PG
Ch 11
T 23 Feb
Th 25 Feb
Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
Fiscal Policy and the 2009 Obama Fiscal Stimulus
315-49
351-80
PG
PG
Ch 12
Ch 13
381-413
415-42
PG
PG
Ch 14
Ch 15
147-52, then 93-116 PG
117-46
PG
T 02 Mar Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve System
Th 04 Mar Monetary Policy and the Debacle of 2007-09
W 17 Mar
FINAL EXAMINATION (3-5 pm)
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Ch 1
Ch 2
Ch 3
Ch 4
Ch5
Student Registration and Payment Instructions
Course Name: Gordon, Macroeconomics (Krugman 2e) Winter 10
Start Date: 01/04/2010
Instructor: Robert Gordon
Course Key: ADNP-SNQA-NC5Y
You can begin working on your homework as soon as you register!
• In this course, you will use a textbook and Aplia's website.
• In most cases, you can save money if you buy Aplia and your textbook together. See payment
options below.
• You will have access to a digital version of your textbook using Aplia.
Registration
If you have never used Aplia before...
1. Connect to http://www.aplia.com.
2. Click the Create a New Account link and choose Student Account. You will then enter your
course key: ADNP-SNQA-NC5Y. Continue following the instructions to complete your registration.
If you have used Aplia before...
1. Connect to http://www.aplia.com.
2. Sign in with your usual e-mail address and password and enter your Course Key when prompted:
ADNP-SNQA-NC5Y. If you are not prompted for a new Course Key, click the Enter Course Key
button to enroll in a new Aplia course. Enter your Course Key when you are prompted.
* You will have different payment options after you register for your course. If you choose to pay later,
you can use Aplia without paying until 11:59 PM on 01/23/2010.
Payment
Option 1: Digital Textbook with Aplia Access
• From Aplia: Purchase access to your course from Aplia's website for $80.00 USD.
Option 2: Physical Textbook with Aplia Access (also includes digital textbook)
• From Aplia: Purchase access to your course for $80.00 USD and a physical book for $52.00
USD from Aplia's website.
* You will have access to your digital textbook up until the end of this course.
Economics 201
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:
A:
Are there any prerequisites?
No.
Q:
A:
Do I need to be skilled in math?
The only math used in Economics 201 is a bit of junior high school algebra in two
or three of the lectures, and this material will be tested in quizzes, the midterms,
and the final. The algebra will be distributed to you via paper handouts, and you
must come to class to receive these. You need to be comfortable with math to
become an economics major, but in Economics 201 you don't have to face that
decision yet since we just use junior high school algebra, no calculus at all.
However, if you are uneasy about your ability at algebra, you should not take this
version of Economics 201, because the handouts in this course go beyond the
Krugman textbook in requiring you to solve problems using algebra.
Q:
A:
How do I sign up for my section?
Go to Blackboard, this course, “Course Documents”, and you’ll find all the
sections listed with a tab “Sign up”.
Q:
A:
Can I show up for any section I want regardless of what I've signed up for?
No, you must come to the section you've signed up for, except for sickness. Your
TA is responsible for you and your grade, and the TA rooms are strictly limited as
to capacity. If you are sick and miss a 9am Friday section, you can go to the 3pm
Friday section of your own TA.
Q:
A:
Any tips on which section to sign up for?
Most important, if you anticipate trips for some athletic or other activity on
Friday, sign up for the 9am section.
Q:
A:
Important dates?
P/N Deadline, Friday, January 22.
Drop Deadline, Friday, February 12 (you'll know your first midterm grade by
then).
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Q:
A:
Can I add now?
Yes. There are plenty of extra seats in the lecture room TCH LR2.
Q:
A:
What happens if I miss a quiz?
If illness or an extracurricular activity forces you to miss a quiz, your grades on
the other quizzes will be averaged and applied to your missing grade. However,
only one quiz can be missed and given credit in this way. You will receive zero
credit for any other missed quiz. There are no make-ups for quizzes. To be fair to
people who take all five quizzes, their lowest grade of the five will be dropped
(Hint: this is an incentive to take all five quizzes).
Q:
A:
What's the point of the quizzes?
Two: first, to give you an incentive to keep up with the reading, and second, to
give you practice on exactly the same kinds of questions that will be asked on the
midterms and final. Quizzes will cover any material covered in lecture up to the
Tuesday lecture in the same week. More specific guidance about the types of
questions that will be on the quiz will be given in lecture each week.
Q:
A:
Should I work out all the text's End-of-Chapter questions and problems?
Absolutely. Answers are provided on Blackboard.
Q:
A:
What happens if I miss either midterm?
The midterms are administered on Tuesday during the normal class time 12:301:50 pm. If you are not free at 12:30 pm those days, then you should not be taking
this course.
Q:
A:
Will there be essay questions on the tests or is it all objective?
No essay questions on the midterms or final. But, beware. While many of the
questions will come from the textbook's test bank, others will not and will be
based on the outside readings and the lectures' linkages between the outside
readings, recent events in the "real world," and textbook material.
Q:
A:
Where do I find past midterms and final exams?
On my web site.
Q:
A:
What happens if I fall suddenly ill and cannot take one or both midterms?
You must send me an e-mail before the exam starts. You will get an automatic F
on the midterm if you don't show up and haven't notified me beforehand. There
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are no makeups for midterms. If you miss a midterm because of illness, have
notified us beforehand, and have a doctor’s excuse, your grade will be adjusted
accordingly.
Q:
A:
What happens if I miss the final?
You get an incomplete in the course. There are no alternative arrangements made
to take the final at any time other than that listed in the official registrar's schedule.
Q:
A:
Do I need to come to lectures? Can't I just read the textbook and do the exercises?
First, substantial material in this course is not contained in the textbook — see the
lecture schedule for January 28. Also, there are four algebraic handouts that teach
material not in the textbook or in the Aplia assignments, and these then are tested
in quizzes, midterms, and the final. The lectures teach you how to solve problems
based on the in-class handouts. Beyond that, the lectures will make it easier to
read the textbook and get good grades on the quizzes and tests. The lectures will
emphasize some points in the textbook and tell you which points and examples to
skip. There will be much discussion in the lectures to link together and integrate
issues raised in the outside readings with the framework of the text. Finally, the
lectures contain many hints about the nature of questions to be asked on the
quizzes, and students who attend the lectures and pick up these hints will do
better than students who do not.
Q:
A:
How do I get a good grade?
Recipe:
(1)
Skim the textbook assignment before the lecture. The Aplia assignments are set up so that you read each textbook chapter by the day
before the lecture on that set of topics.
(2)
Read the text carefully and do the questions and problems before
the quizzes given in TA section.
(3)
Do the Aplia assignments by the 11pm deadline for each chapter,
Wednesday 11pm for the Tuesday lecture topics and Sunday 11pm
for the Thursday lecture topics.
(4)
Read the assigned items in the outside readings before the lecture
where they will be discussed.
(5)
Come to lecture, since the lectures will highlight the most important things to learn from the text, develop the graphs in a way that
makes them much easier to understand than just reading the text,
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and will provide numerous hints as to the type of questions to be
asked on the quizzes.
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
I've done the reading and thought about the material but I am still so confused
that I don't even know what to ask. Should I feel embarrassed about coming to
office hours for help?
Not at all. If you have done the reading, office hours are an excellent time to
clear up big or small questions. But don't come until you've done the assigned
reading and the Aplia assignment problems on the topic you plan to ask about.
If you have a conflict, you can go to another TA's office hours if you can't go to
see your own TA.
What about e-mail?
If you've got a question that can be answered briefly, e-mail to your TA first, and
if his/her answer isn't clear, e-mail to me. All of us pledge to answer every
message within 24 hours, seven days per week. If your question is that you just
don't understand what you're reading, then you'll need to come to office hours.
Start with the TA and if not satisfied, then come to my office hours on Wednesday, 4-5:30pm. Be sure to complete all the Aplia assignment problems before
coming to TA office hours, and if you don’t understand an answer to one of the
Aplia problems, bring it with you to discuss with the TA.
Finally, remember that many questions of clarification can be asked by raising
your hand in lectures and/or by coming up to talk to me after lectures. I never
leave the lecture room until every student has departed.
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