Last Update: All MT2 material is now posted (Posted: Tuesday, May 15, 2012)


 

Economics 110: Principles of Macroeconomics
Spring 2012

 

Instructor: Pavel Kapinos

Office: Willis 322                                                                                                      

Email: pkapinos@carleton.edu
Office hours: Tu, We 3-5; appt

Prefect: Jake Alcorn
Email: alcornj@carleton.edu



Essentials:
Syllabus


Date

Lecture

References: Required | [Recommended]

March 27 (Tu)

Lecture 1: Course Overview | Fundamental concepts

TW 1,2

March 29 (Th)

Lecture 2: Production Possibilities Frontier | Supply and Demand

TW 3

April 3 (Tu)

Lecture 3: Social Welfare and Government Intervention | Elasticity

TW 4 | Reading from the Taylor micro text

April 5 (Th)

Lecture 4: Overview of Macroeconomics | Measurement of Variables

TW 5,6 | FRED2 database by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

April 10 (Tu)

Lecture 5: Economic Growth: Overview of Issues, Malthusian Model

TW 17 | Cowen and Tabarrok Ch 6 | Szulga notes on the Malthusian Model | [4 minute overview of the history of economic development]

April 12 (Th)

Lecture 6: Modern Economic Growth: Solow Model

TW 9 | [Cowen and Tabarrok Ch 7] | Szulga notes on the Solow Model  | [Money, Happiness, and Bulgaria—an Economist update]

April 17 (Tu)

Lecture 7: Growth and Inequality | Spending Allocation Model

Lecture notes | TW 7 | [Trends in the Distribution of Household Income, 1979-2007 by the CBO, Bakija, Cole, and Heim (2010), The Economist’s Take on Inequality]

April 19 (Th)

Midterm I (with MC answers at the end)

PSets 1—3, Lectures 1—6 | W’12 Midterm I (with MC answers at the end)  | Sample Midterm | Sample Midterm 1 Solution (Note: Please take the test under regular test-taking conditions first and then compare your answers to the solution—or swap tests with a classmate to grade each other’s work. Disclaimer: While the micro/macro split and relative topic coverage is likely to be similar on the test, the actual questions and relevant models may be different.)

April 24 (Tu)

Lecture 8: Labor Market | Introduction to Money

TW 8, 10

April 26 (Th)

Lecture 9: Introduction to Monetary Policy and the Banking System | Short-run Fluctuations: The Aggregate Expenditure Perspective

TW 10, 11

May 1 (Tu)

Lecture 10: Fiscal Policy: Introduction | Aggregate Expenditure

TW 14 (skip AD-IA discussion for now) | Lecture notes | [Historical evolution of fiscal variables, US Debt Clock, How Would You Cut the Deficits?, Link for your parents, Partisan Politics and Income Inequality]

May 3 (Th)

Lecture 11: Business Cycle Management: Fiscal Policy (Cont’d) | Monetary Policy

TW 12, 15 (skip AD-IA and foreign exchange rate discussion for now) | Lecture notes

May 8 (Tu)

Lecture 12: Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply

All AD-IA discussion in TW | [Monetary Policy Game]

May 10 (Th)

Lecture 13: The Great Recession

Lecture notes | [Dealing with Recessions: An Overview]

May 15 (Tu)

Lecture 14: Financial Markets: Debt and Equity Basics

TW 16; lecture notes

May 17 (Th)

Midterm II  

PSets 1—6, Lectures 1—13 | W’12 Midterm II (with MC answers at the end) | Sample Midterm 2 | Sample Midterm 2 Solution (Note: Please take the test under regular test-taking conditions first and then compare your answers to the solution—or swap tests with a classmate to grade each other’s work. Disclaimer: While the micro/macro split and relative topic coverage is likely to be similar on the test, the actual questions and relevant models may be different.)

May 22 (Tu)

Lecture 15: International Trade 1

TW18

May 24 (Th)

Lecture 16: International Trade 2 | International Finance 1

TW19, TW15 (pp. 372-376) | [Romer on the Dollar: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/business/economy/22view.html]

May 29 (Tu)

Lecture 17: International Finance 2 | Course Overview

Lecture notes

TBD

Final

Everything | MC Practice Questions for the Final | Solution | Disclaimer: The final will have the same format as the two midterms


Problem Sets:
Problem Set 1, due Thu, 4/5 | Solution
Problem Set 2, due Thu, 4/12 | Solution, Excel work
Problem Set 3, due Tue, 4/17 | Solution, Excel work
Problem Set 4, due Thu, 5/3 | Solution, Excel work
Problem Set 5, due Thu 5/10 | Solution, Excel work
Problem Set 6, due Tue 5/15 | Solution
 


Links:
Macroeconomic updates: Global Economic Forum by Morgan Stanley
Financial and Economic News: CNN MoneyEconomist, Wall Street Journal
Nobel Prize Laureates in Economics
FRED II database by the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis (U.S. data)
Penn World Table Database by the Center for International Comparisons at the University of Pennsylvania
Mankiw Blog, Krugman Blog
IGM Expert Panel Answers Important Economic Questions