COURSE OUTLINE
Principles of Macroeconomics
Economics 103; 11:00-11:50 MWF; JTB 100
Professor Mark Pingle
Office AB 319C; 784-6634; pingle@unr.edu
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:30-3:45 and by appointment
Fall 2011
Course Description: This “core” social science course for the University of Nevada introduces the student to
macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that focuses on the economic system as a whole. Upon
successfully completing this course, the student will have an elementary understanding of (1) US macroeconomic history
since the beginning of the Great Depression, (2) how a market economy works, and (3) how government can influence a
market economy.
Required Course Materials:
(1) US Macroeconomic Statistics: A Set of Figures and Data Tables to Supplement a Macroeconomics
Course, Mark A. Pingle, 16th Edition, 2011. To be distributed at a cost of $10. Make checks
payable to Omicron Delta Epsilon (or just ODE)
(2) Principles of Macroeconomics, Mark A. Pingle: To be distributed at a cost of $15. Make checks
payable to Omicron Delta Epsilon (or just ODE)
Grading:
20% Midterm 1: Friday, September 30
20% Midterm 2: Monday, November 7
35% Final: Wednesday, December 21; 8:00-10:00 AM
15% Assignments---Three assignments, each of equal weight
5% Quizzes
5% Participation
Penalties for Irresponsible Behavior: As a student, learning is your job, a job you should take seriously. Irresponsible
behavior will impact your course grade in the following ways:
 Assignments turned in late will be docked one letter grade per class period until they are received.
 Each student must do all 3 assignments. If an assignment is not received, then the will receive an F course grade.
 Attendance is not mandatory, but attendance will be taken periodically and will count toward participation.
 A loss of participation credit will occur if you are called upon to participate in class and you are not present. (Hence,
you should email pingle@unr.edu if you have a special reason for not attending class.)
Assignments: The first assignment involves applying some “data manipulation techniques,” which allow you to learn more
from a set of data. The second assignment is a writing assignment, given to help you develop your writing skills in an
economic context. The third assignment allows you to practice using a macroeconomic model that will be used extensively
at the end of the course to describe how the economy works and to predict the impacts of various economic policies.
Quizzes: You will be given regular quizzes through Web Campus on the vocabulary found in your reading.
Participation: The most significant factor determining how much you will learn is the extent to which you seek to make
economic ideas your own, incorporating them into your understanding of the world. Participation is a key to making the
ideas your own. Participation includes,
o Attending class
o Asking questions: This is your primary job as a student. Ask about what is not clear from the reading,
about a homework problem you do not understand, about something you observe in everyday life.
o Posting items to Web Campus discussion board and reading what others have posted.
o Coming to class prepared, which means you have read the assigned readings, done any problems given for
practice, and are read up on current events through the Wall Street Journal editorial page or some other
editorial source.
o Participating when specific opportunities to earn participation credit are offered (e.g. guest speaker on
campus)
1
Salient Economic Ideas: Among the many ideas discussed in the course, these economic ideas are labeled here as being
particularly significant. You will be tested on these, and much focus will be placed upon these in class.
1. Opportunity cost
2. Specialization and trade
3. Trade is mutually beneficial
4. Invisible Hand
5. Arbitrage
6. Price system
7. Burden of debt
8. Availability of credit
9. Production and its relationship to income and wealth
10. Law of diminishing returns
11. Competition and its relationship to technological improvement
12. Classical theory of income distribution
13. Inflation tax
14. Effect of inflation on debtors and creditors
15. Importance of saving
16. Investment and its relationship to saving and capital stock
17. Autonomous spending multiplier
18. Principles of insurance
Lectures and Assignments: Each class will begin with an opportunity for students to ask questions, and there will be a
current events discussion at the beginning of most classes. Students are expected to read at least one current periodical (e.g.
Wall Street Journal, Newsweek) regularly. (See Real Clear Politics Website for a good list of daily editorials.) Those
students who participate more regularly in class discussions will receive more credit toward the participation portion of the
course grade. Most of the assignments in the “Assignments Due” column are reading assignments. CH refers to the
“classnotes,” Fig. refers to the Statsbook., and the symbols I1, I2, I3,… refer to Salient Economic Ideas.
Date
8/29
8/31
9/2
9/5
9/7
9/9
9/12
9/14
9/16
9/19
9/21
9/23
9/26
9/28
9/30
10/3
10/5
10/7
10/10
10/12
10/14
10/17
10/19
10/21
10/24
10/26
10/28
Topic
Economics as Social Science
What is economics?
Origins of market system
Labor Day: No class
Model market and command economies
Data presentation and production facts
Assignment 1 given
Expenditure and income components of output
The role of government
Economic performance; Major macro concerns
Preparing for Model Building
Production: The source of wealth
Labor productivity measures (and marginal thinking)
Production Possibilities and the concept of cost
Review for first midterm
First Midterm
Labor Demand
Assignment 2 given
Labor Supply
Labor Market
Labor Market Shocks I
Labor Market Shocks II
The Aggregate Supply Curve
The Dynamic Supply-Side
Barter and Money
The Federal Reserve and Money
Money Supply and Money Demand
Classical Monetary Theory
Nevada Day (Observed): No Class
To Do
None
CH1; I1
CH2 2.1-2.2; I2, I3
CH2 2.3-2.4; I4, I5, I6
Fig 1-4 and App. B in Statsbook;
Statsbook Table 3 and Fig 5,6, 9-12
Fig 33-43; I7, I8
CH3; Fig 20, 21, 28, 48-50; Assign 1
Appendix: “Mathematical Tools”
CH4 4.1-4.4; Fig 7-8, 15-16; I9
CH4 4.5; Fig 19, 44-47; I10, I11
CH4 4.6
None
None
CH5 5.1; Fig 23; I12, I13, I14
CH5 5.2
CH5 5.3.1-5.3.2
CH5 5.3.3-5.4; Assignment 2
None
CH6 6.1-6.2
CH6 6.3-6.5
CH7 7.1-7.3; Fig.29-32
CH7 7.4
CH8 8.1-8.2
CH8 8.3
2
10/31
11/2
11/4
11/7
11/9
Keynesian Monetary Theory
The Circular Flow
Review for second midterm
Second Midterm
Consumption, Savings, and Investment
11/11
11/14
11/16
11/18
The Aggregate Demand Curve
Laissez Faire Adjustments
Monetary Policy (Short Term/Less than Full Employment)
Fiscal Policy---Government Purchases
(Short Term/Less than Full Employment)
Assignment 3 given
Fiscal Policy---Net Taxes
(Short Term/Less than Full Employment)
Gambling and Insurance: Principles and their role in society
Thanksgiving vacation: No class
Monetary Policy (Long Term/Full Employment)
Fiscal Policy---Government Purchases and Net Taxes
(Long Term/Full Employment)
An increase in population
Capital accumulation and tech. improvement
Explaining the Long Term Economic Trends
Explaining the Great Depression
Review for final
Final 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
11/21
11/23
11/25
11/28
11/30
12/2
12/5
12/7
12/9
12/12
12/21
CH8 8.4-8.5; Fig 21
CH9 9.1; Fig 5-10; Assignment 2
None
CH9 9.2; Fig 11-14; I15
CH9 9.3; Fig 17-18; I16
CH9 9.4,
CH10 10.1;
CH10 10.2.1; I17
CH10 10.2.2
CH10 10.2.3
None; I18
CH10 10.3.1
CH10 10.3.2-10.3.3
CH10.3.5
CH10 10.3.3-10.4; Assignment 3
None
None
None
3