ECO 2013 Macroeconomics
Scope of the course:
Economics is an often misunderstood and sometimes
maligned subject. For instance, economics is often called the "dismal
science". The wisdom of economists is nearly proverbial, but in a
negative sort of way. Despite this prevailing prejudice, economics does
have useful lessons for understanding the world around us and the
purpose of the two-course series is to contribute to this understanding.
The two courses in the economic sequence are aimed at providing a basic
level of sophistication in economic matters that will help explain both
the U.S. and the increasingly important global economies.
The sequence is divided into two parts or courses. One
is the macroeconomics part (emphasizing how governments act to constrain
or release economic forces). The second part of the sequence deals with
the topics of microeconomics (how individuals and businesses operate in
the context of supply and demand).
The topics of the two courses combine to explain, and
relate to one another, the terms you frequently encounter in newspapers,
both on the front page and in the business section: supply and demand,
interest rates, wages, financial markets, public goods versus private
interests, regulation and deregulation, unemployment, the poverty level,
inflation, trade balances, budgets and deficits, taxation, exchange
rates, and the "global economy".
However, economics is about much more than the
relatively "dry" sounding topics mentioned above. Economics is about a
way of thinking. It is a structured and disciplined way of looking at
our world and the behavior of the people in it with whom we must
interact. The principles of economics can be applied in many areas other
than business or making money. At the macroeconomic level it is a method
of analysis that helps us understand things that affect real people in
real and often tragic ways. For instance, in New York City there are
abandoned buildings containing four times as many dwelling units as
there are homeless people. Yet, homeless people sleep on the sidewalks
in winter. In Moscow, people are hungry despite a vast amount of the
richest farmland in Europe within easy driving distance? Why did
unemployment reach 25% and American corporations as a whole operate in
the red for two consecutive years during the Great Depression of the
1930s? These different but equally puzzling and needless tragedies
resulted from a failure to understand and apply basic economic
principles.
Today we have our own set of economic issues to deal
with: Should the Congress pass a tax cut? Raise minimum wages? How much? What about the
Social Security program? Should we privatize it as some other countries
have done? Should we enact universal health care? What are the economic
consequences of the War on Drugs? More recently, why did the dot com
bubble of the 90s finally burst? And, what caused the economic boom
during that decade in the first place? What have been the economic
consequences of 9/11, the War on Terrorism, the increase in gas prices, and illegal immigration? How have they affected
you and why? What do these changes portend for you as a college student
soon to become a working professional? As a citizen? These and many
other problems can be analyzed from an economic perspective. Indeed,
they must be analyzed, in part, from an economic perspective if we, as a
society, are to arrive at solutions that will be effective.
Understanding the basic economic principles that are used to analyze
these issues is the goal of this course.
Syllabus
Aplia:
Extra Credit Opportunity
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