DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

  University of South Florida

        Syllabus

   Spring 2002

1.   BASIC INFORMATION:

Course:      ECO 2013-001      Principles of Macroeconomics

Class Meeting      MW  8:00 – 9:15 a.m. CPR 103

Instructor:      Professor Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong

Office:              BSN 3414.      Phone: 974-6520      E-mail:kgyimah@coba.usf.edu

Office Hours:      MW 10-11:30 a.m.  Other times by appointment.

TEXT:  REQUIRED:

N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Macroeconomics, 2nd Ed. (Fort Worth,  Harcourt; 2001)

RECOMMENDED:

David Harkes   Study Guide to Accompany Principles of Macroeconomics, 2th ed (Fort Worth, Harcourt, 2001).

M. Karscig, Power Point Lecture Notes to accompany Principles of Macroeconomics 2nd ed.

The Wall Street Journal

II.  COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is an introductory course that analyzes the behavior of the macroeconomy and policies designed to influence the behavior of the economy as a whole.  The objective of this course is to help students understand major macroeconomic issues---what are the important macroeconomic aggregates, what determines long term economic growth and standard of living, why are there episodes of inflation in some countries, what determines the Anatural rate of unemployment@, why is there a short term trade-off between inflation and unemployment, how do economists think about economic problems?  Students are expected to be able to use the economic way of thinking to analyze these economic issues after this course.

III.  PREREQUISITES

This course does not assume any prior knowledge of economics.  It however assumes that the student is willing to work hard and that a passing grade will require a good deal of effort on the student=s part (First lesson in economics!!!!!).

IV.  INSTRUCTIONAL MODE

Instruction in this course will be a combination of lectures, question and answer sessions, and class discussion.  The course will require students to participate in class discussions and failure to be an active learner will hurt students= grade in this course.  I will make the course as application oriented as possible, hence there is the need to read The Wall Street Journal and the business sections of the local newspapers as issues for discussion and test questions could come from those sources.  Students are advised to read the material ahead of time in order to understand what is being taught in class.

V.  EXAMINATION AND GRADING POLICY

Students course grade in this class will be based on performance in three tests. Each of the first two tests is worth 30% of your grade.  The final is worth 40% of your course grade.  The grading scale is as follows:

90% +                     A

88-89                      A-

86-87                      B+

82-85                      B

80-81                      B-

78-79                      C+

72-77                      C

70-71                      C-

60-69                      D

< 60                        F

There will be no curve and there will be no extra credit work.

VI.  OTHER Policies

MAKE UP EXAMINATIONS:

As a rule, I do not give a make-up examination.  I only make an allowance for unusual circumstances such as medical emergencies (I also make allowance for the Adeath@ of 2 grandparents).  I will give one and only one comprehensive make-up exams at the end of the semester.  I do not report grades by phone, email or fax.  Therefore do not contact me in that manner for grades.  There will be only one comprehensive make-up examination at the end of the semester.

ATTENDANCE:

While I do not take attendance, it is important that students attend class all the time.  We cover important material each class time and students who miss classes have a hard time following the material in the course.  I reserve the right to award extra points for attendance that I will take randomly.

GRADE REPORTING

I do not report grades either by telephone or by email.  Therefore do not contact me by email or telephone for your grades.  The grades will always be posted.

EXAMINATION PAPERS

I give back students’ examinations for their own reference.  However, it is the student’s responsibility to be in class to pick up his/her examination at the time they are passed out.  After that students forfeit their chance to pick and keep their examination.

WEEK                  CHAPTER ASSIGNMENT

1                  Chapters 1

2                  Chapter 3

3                  Chapter 3

4                  Chapters 4 & 5 – First 2 sections of Chapter 5

5                  Chapters 5

                        TEST 1 -                   Feb. 4, 2002

6                  Chapter 10

7                  Chapter 11

8                  Chapter 12

9                  Chapters 13

10                  Chapters 14

                        TEST 2 -                   March 20

11                  Chapter 15

12                  Chapter 16

13                  Chapter 17

14                  Chapters 19 & 20

15                  Chapter 20

                        REVIEW – April 29, 2002

                        FINAL EXAM –Friday May 3, 2002 – 8-10:00 a.m.

 

Attention:

Students who enter USF under the 2001-2002, or later, catalog who are business majors are required to earn a grade of C-, or better, in every business core class and an overall GPA of 2.0 for all business core classes.