Economics 103
Principles of Macroeconomics
Summer 2013
MTWRF 9:40 – 11:10 am BEH 223
Instructor
Bernard Malamud
Email: bernard.malamud@unlv.edu
Office: BEH 502 Phone: 895 –3294 FAX: 895 - 1354
Office Hours: MTWThF 11:20 – 12:50 pm and by appointment
Course website: faculty.unlv.edu/bmalamud
General Nature of the Course
Course objectives: An introduction to the study of the determination of the level of
national income, employment and prices and the basic causes of fluctuations in these
levels. This course will help you guide economic policy if you are ever elected to
Congress or the presidency, intelligently advise those who are and, as an informed
citizen, evaluate and anticipate what these officials are up to. The course gives you the
tools and the confidence to grapple with a highly complex system (the macroeconomy),
to understand how it works and how its performance can be affected by policy. The
course also familiarizes you with the private and public, national and global,
characteristics of today's economic world. We will relate the theories we study to
economic events as they unfold throughout this semester of economic distress.
Upon completion of this course you will know i) measures of macroeconomic
performance; ii) determinants of macro-equilibrium in the short-run and in the long-run;
iii) how the economy responds to demand-side and supply-side shocks; iv) the ways
money and demand-side management policies affect the economy; v) how the global
economy affects macroeconomic performance; and vi) determinants of long-term
economic growth and development.
Text and Supplemental Readings
Required Text: R. Glenn Hubbard and Anthony P. O’Brien, Macroeconomics, 4th
Edition. Prentice-Hall, 2013.
Supplements:
Paul Krugman, End This Depression Now!
Examinations and Grading
Five 50-point “short-exams” and a 200-point comprehensive final consisting of multiple choice and essay
questions will be given this semester. The short exams and essay questions on the final will be drawn
from end-of-chapter problems in your textbook. Your final grade will be based on your top four shortexam scores and your score on the final.
Your overall percentage score will be based on your quiz and exam scores as follows:
Top 4 Short-exam scores
Final Exam, August 16
200 points
200 points
Maximum overall score
400 points
Approximate Final Grade Distribution
Percentage Score
87 percent
77 percent
67 percent
57 percent
FINAL GRADE
Borderline ABorderline BBorderline CBorderline D-
Attendance and class participation will affect your final grade.
Makeup and Religious Holiday Policies Makeup exams may be arranged at mutual convenience if you have a
compelling reason to miss a scheduled classroom exam. A makeup exam must be taken before the missed exam is
returned to the class. There will be no makeup quizzes or final exam. However, a student missing a class because
of observance of a religious holiday and students who represent UNLV at any official extracurricular activity shall
also have the opportunity to make up assignments. Such students must notify the instructor no later than the end of
the first two weeks of classes of his or her intention to participate in religious holidays. See
http://catalog.unlv.edu/content.php?catoid=4&navaoid=164 for further details.
Class Conduct, Academic Misconduct and Copyright Policies Your instructor and classmates deserve courtesy.
If you must arrive late or leave early, do so quietly. Inform me beforehand if you must leave a class early. Smoking
and eating in class are prohibited. Texting, talking to your neighbors, and reading newspapers and magazines in
class is rude, disruptive, and unacceptable. While this probably need not be said, anyone found engaging in any act
of academic dishonesty will be punished in accordance with UNLV policies. For further details, see
http://studentconduct.unlv.edu/misconduct/policy.html. You are individually and solely responsible for violations
of copyright and fair use laws. For details, see http://provost.unlv.edu/copyright/statements.html.
The Disability Resource Center (DRC) coordinates all academic accommodations for students with documented
disabilities. The DRC is the official office to review and house disability documentation for students, and to provide
them with an official Academic Accommodation Plan to present to the faculty if an accommodation is warranted.
Faculty should not provide students accommodations without being in receipt of this plan.
UNLV complies with the provisions set forth in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990, offering reasonable accommodations to qualified students with documented
disabilities. If you have a documented disability that may require accommodations, you will need to contact the
DRC for the coordination of services. The DRC is located in the Student Services Complex (SSC-A), Room 143,
and the contact numbers are: VOICE (702) 895-0866, FAX (702) 895-0651. For additional information, please visit:
http://drc.unlv.edu. .
Tutoring and UNLV Writing Center The Academic Success Center (ASC in the SSC, 895-3177,
http://academicsuccess/.unlv.edu/tutoring) provides tutoring and academic assistance for all UNLV students taking
UNLV courses. One-on one or small group assistance with writing is available free of charge to UNLV students at
the Writing Center (CDC-3-301, http://writingcenter.unlv.edu).
An incomplete grade can be given at the discretion of the instructor in accordance with university policies. Please
see http://catalog.unlv.edu/content.php?catoid=4&navoid=164
Course Outline, 4th Edition
Date
Jul 15
Jul 16,17,18
Topic
Course organization / The macroeconomy today
Macro – measures
 GDP / National income accounting
 Unemployment and inflation
 Business cycles
Jul 19
Problems: Chapters 8,9 and business cycles in Chapter 10
Short – exam: Chs 8,9 and business cycles in Chapter 10
Jul 22,23,24,25
Understanding the short – run
 Output and expenditure: demand – side equilibrium
 Aggregate demand – aggregate supply
 Money functions / money creation
Jul 26
Jul 29,30,31
Aug 1
Aug 2
Aug 5,6,7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Ch. 10 (Fig. 10.2 &
pp. 320-329)
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Ch. 14 (pp. 455 – 470)
Problems: Chapters 12,13
Short – exam: Chapters 12,13
Money and demand – side stabilization policies
 The Fed/Shadow Banking /The quantity equation
 Monetary policy
 Fiscal policy
Ch. 14 (pp. 471 – 488)
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Problems: Chapters 14,15,16
Short – exam: Chapters 14,15,16
Tradeoffs and Open Economy Macroeconomics
 Phillips Curve and the Fed
 International transactions, exchange rates and the
macroeconomy
Aug 8
Problems: Chapters 17,18
Short – exam: Chapters 17,18
Aug 9
Crisis and Response
Krugman, End This Depression Now!
Aug 12,13
Reading in Text
Chapter 1
Economic growth and development
 Measuring growth
 Long – run economic growth: sources and policies
Aug 14
Problems: Chapter 11
Short – exam: Chapter 11 and crisis
Aug 15
Review
Aug 16
Comprehensive Final Examination
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Ch. 10 (pp. 303 – 319)
Chapter 11
Course Outline, 3rd Edition
Date
Jul 15
Jul 16,17,18
Jul 19
Jul 22,23,24,25
Jul 26
Jul 29,30,31
Aug 1
Aug 2
Aug 5,6,7
Topic
Course organization / The macroeconomy today
Macro – measures
 GDP / National income accounting
 Unemployment and inflation
 Business cycles
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Ch. 9 (Fig. 9.2 & pp.
287-297)
Problems: Chapters 7,8, and business cycles in Chapter 9
Short – exam: Chapters 7,8, and business cycles in Chapter 9
Understanding the short – run
 Output and expenditure: demand – side equilibrium
 Aggregate demand – aggregate supply
 Money functions / money creation
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Ch. 13 (pp. 421 – 436)
Problems: Chapters 11,12
Short – exam: Chapters 11,12
Money and demand – side stabilization policies
 The Fed/Shadow Banking /The quantity equation
 Monetary policy
 Fiscal policy
Ch. 13 (pp. 437 – 447)
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Problems: Chapters 13,14,15
Short – exam: Chapters 13,14,15
Tradeoffs and Open Economy Macroeconomics
 Phillips Curve and the Fed
 International transactions, exchange rates and the
macroeconomy
Aug 8
Problems: Chapters 16,17
Short – exam: Chapters 16,17
Aug 9
Crisis and Response
Krugman, End This Depression Now!
Aug 12,13
Reading in Text
Chapter 1
Economic growth and development
 Measuring growth
 Long – run economic growth: sources and policies
Aug 14
Problems: Chapter 10
Short – exam: Chapter 10 and crisis
Aug 15
Review
Aug 16
Comprehensive Final Examination
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Ch. 9 (pp. 271 – 286)
Chapter 10