May 12, 2014

 

 

Principles of Macroeconomics (ECO 2013)

Online

RVAA 52259 & RPCA 52327

Department of Economics, Florida International University (MMC)

Summer A 2014 (May 12 – Jun 20)

 

Instructor:  Prasad Bidarkota                                     

Course Website: http://online.fiu.edu/

Course Instructor’s Web Address: http://www.fiu.edu/~bidarkot/

E-mail: bidarkot@fiu.edu

Office: DM 320A        Tel: (305) 348-6362

 

Contact Hours

Students can send e-mail to set up an online appointment, if required.

 

 

Required Course Materials

 

Textbook: N. Gregory Mankiw, Brief Principles of Macroeconomics, 7th Edition, Cengage Publishers, packaged with Aplia.

 

Online Homeworks: To be done by registering with Aplia (Course Key:

5N3L-Q6ZL-Z5TT). Details on Aplia are under Homework Assignments below in this syllabus. Access to the website is through a paid semester-long subscription – details are given in this syllabus).

 

Note: You cannot turn in required homework assignments for the course without a paid Aplia subscription, after the grace period ends on May 29, 2014.

 

 

Course Objectives

  • To provide students with an introduction to macroeconomics and its terminology.
  • To introduce students to the broad measures of a macroeconomy (such as GNP, CPI, interest rates, etc.).
  • To highlight some of the problems that macroeconomists address (such as unemployment, economic recessions, inflation, etc.).
  • To understand the role of the government in creating economic policies to solve macroeconomic problems.

 

 

How to access your Aplia course

 


Online Summer A 2014 Principles Macro


Instructor: Prasad Bidarkota
Start Date: 05/12/2014
Course Key: 5N3L-Q6ZL-Z5TT

Registration

 

Aplia is part of CengageBrain, which allows you to sign in to a single site to access your Cengage materials and courses.

 

  1. Connect to http://login.cengagebrain.com/
  2. If you already have an account, sign in. From your Dashboard, enter your course key (5N3L-Q6ZL-Z5TT) in the box provided, and click the Register button.
    If you don't have an account, click the Create a New Account button, and enter your course key when prompted:     5N3L-Q6ZL-Z5TT. Continue to follow the on-screen instructions.

 

Payment


Online: After registering, you can buy access to Aplia from myhome.cengagebrain.com.

 

If you choose to pay later, you can use Aplia without paying until 11:59 PM on 05/29/2014. After paying, you will have the option to purchase a physical book at a discounted price.

 

For more information on registering for Aplia, please visit http://www.cengagebrain.com/aplia/.

 

 

Bookstore: Purchase access to Aplia from your bookstore.

Purchase the option below --

Mankiw  (No printed textbook, but only e-book + Aplia)

Aplia Printed Access Card for Mankiw's Brief Principles of Macroeconomics, 7th, 7th Edition

  • ISBN13: 978-1-285-85454-0

Course Outline

Our plan is to cover the bulk of the chapters in the text for this course, except for chapters 9, 13-14, and 17-18. The chapters will be covered in essentially the same sequence as in the text.

 

Course Calendar

Introduction

Ten Principles of Economics                                      Chapter 1 (week 1, May 12)

Thinking Like an Economist                                        Chapter 2 (week 1, May 12)

Interdependence and the Gains From Trade                Chapter 3 (week 2, May 19)

 

Supply and Demand I

            Market Forces of Supply and Demand                        Chapter 4 (week 2, May 19)

 

Macroeconomic Data

            Measuring a Nation’s Income                                     Chapter 5 (week 3, May 26)

            Measuring the Cost of Living                                      Chapter 6 (week 3, May 26)

 

Midterm 1 on Friday May 30

 

Real Economy in the Long Run                                              

            Production and Growth                                               Chapter 7 (week 4, May 31)

            Saving, Investment, and the Financial System             Chapter 8 (week 4, May 31)

            Unemployment and Its Natural Rate                            Chapter 10 (week 4, May 31)

 

Money and Prices in the Long Run     

            The Monetary System                                                  Chapter 11 (week 5, June 07)

            Money Growth and Inflation                                    Chapter 12 (week 5, June 07)

 

Midterm 2 on Friday June 13

 

Short-Run Economic Fluctuations

            Monetary and Fiscal Policy                                Chapters 15-16 (week 6, Jun 14)

 

End-of-Term Examination on Friday June 20

 

 

Assessment

There will be several homework assignments collectively worth 40 percent, two midterm examinations each worth 20 percent, and an end-of-term exam worth 20 percent of the course grade.

 

 

Homework Assignments

            All homework assignments are to be completed online within Aplia at the Cengage website after registering through a paid subscription. There will be a homework associated with every chapter we cover in the course. The homework assignments need to be completed on time as per the deadline indicated. The website will be unable to accommodate late assignments for any reason whatsoever and students will automatically earn a score of zero for such assignments.

 

 

Examinations

            All examinations will be based entirely on multiple-choice questions. Examinations are to be taken inside your FIU Blackboard system, and not within Aplia.

 

Schedule of Midterm Examinations

The schedule for the midterms is as follows:

Midterm 1 –    Friday May 30, Chapters 1-6 (both inclusive, including Appendix

to Chapter 2)

Midterm 2 –    Friday June 13, Chapters 7, 8, 10-12 (inclusive)

The midterms will be for 75 minutes duration.

 

 

End-of-Term Exam

            The end-of-term exam is scheduled for Friday June 20. This exam is comprehensive (Chapters 1-6, 7-8, 10-12, 15-16). This exam will be for 2 hours duration.

 

           

Makeup Examination

            There will be no makeup examination under any circumstances.

 

Improving Course Grade

            There are no extra credit assignments for this course.

 

Grades

            The final course grade will be based on the cumulative total score in the course comprising of the scores on the homework assignments, two midterms, and the end-of-term exam. Letter grades will be based on the distribution (“curve”) of these final scores of all students in the course. Depending on the overall performance of the students, the minimum total score required to obtain a particular grade (“the cutoff”) will be determined at the end of the semester.

 

 

General Guidelines for Improving Performance in the Course

Reading Text

            Reading the textbook regularly and keeping up with the course is the most important way to ensure a good grade. Each chapter has about thirty pages and it is just impossible to read all the material overnight for the midterms. Instead, the weekends before the midterms should be reserved for consolidating the concepts already learned rather than learning new material.

 

Lecture Notes

Lectures notes provide an idea of what is important in each chapter from the instructor’s point of view. This will help students focus better on material relevant for preparing for exams. However, merely reading lecture notes is not to be considered a substitute for reading the textbook.

 

 

Academic Misconduct

Florida International University is a community dedicated to generating and imparting knowledge through excellent teaching and research, the rigorous and respectful exchange of ideas, and community service. All students should respect the right of others to have an equitable opportunity to learn and honestly demonstrate the quality of their learning. Therefore, all students are expected to adhere to a standard of academic conduct, which demonstrates respect for themselves, their fellow students, and the educational mission of the University. All students are deemed by the University to understand that if they are found responsible for academic misconduct, they will be subject to the Academic Misconduct procedures and sanctions, as outlined in the Student Handbook.