Assignments for Macroeconomics Principles
Access to the PowerPoint Slides for Mankiw
corresponding to the Macroeconomics Principles' text.
Problem Set #1 in Word (.doc)
form.
Online Quizzes from the
authors
Grades
Nobel Prize in Economics, 2003
December 11: REVIEW FOR THE FINAL!!!
- Bring your old tests for the review session at the end of class!
- We will continue to cover Monetary and Fiscal Policy and their impact on the
macroeconomy.
- Quiz on the Long-Run equilibrium and how the economy self-corrects (do nothing).
- Quiz on the Long-Run equilibrium and how policy makers "accomodate" (do
something).
December 4: Student Evaluation day - At the beginning of class you
grade me!
- Tests will be returned, as usual you will make corrections next (15 to 20 min for 5
pts). We will pick up with where we left off in determining Aggregate Supply - the
difference between the short and long run. Potential quizzes: What are the
three reasons that the Aggregate Demand curve has a negative slope (and what are the
variables on the axes)? What are the other determinants of AD (what cause a shift in
the curve) and AS? Remember that you will get back the quiz from two weeks ago
regarding the reasons the AS is positively sloped. We will continue with this graph
in the discussion of monetary policy and Chapter 20.
November 27: HAPPY THANKSGIVING - NO CLASS!!!
November 20: TEST III over Chapters 15-18 will be held at the beginning of
class.
- We will cover Chapter 19 on Aggregate Demand during the last half of the class.
November 13: Alan "Baby" is on the Hill!!! 10 am Eastern time
- What did he say and what was the impact of what he said?
- Today's quiz will have to do with our discussion last week: Give the Equation of
Exchange (or Quantity Equation as it is labeled in our text.
- Chapter 17 begins the discussion with special emphasis on Purchasing Power Parity - an
arbitrage condition which means you should be able to buy the same "basket" of
goods in differing countries at the same prices. Arbitrage means that if the
condition doesn't hold, then a profit potential exists. Today's class will finish
the Open Market Macroeconomy discussion by covering Chapter 18 which relates our interest
rates to our exchange rates with other countries. We begin discussion of Aggregate
Demand and Supply next class (Chapter 19). Review for the Test next week (November
20) will cover Chapters 15-19.
November 6: FOMC MEETING and ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY - Quiz - what did the Fed. do
today?
- Collect the data for the M1 (money supply), the current federal funds rate, the 3 month
U.S. Treasury Bill rate and the 10 year U.S. Treasury Bond interest rate (available from
the Whitehouse's Economic Statistics
Briefing Room, as below, or the Wall Street Journal or any number of other websites).
(5 pts) Also be ready to turn in a SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
analysis (be VERY brief) about the two stocks for which you turned in 5 year
graphs. (5 pts) We will finish discussion of the financial system as well as
begin the open macroeconomy section of the text.
October 30:
- For tonight's class, you are to bring in 5 year graphs of two stocks which
you believe are good investments. You must also explain why you think they are good
investments for your savings (please be very brief). (5 pts) Expect that we will
continue our discussion and development of the financial system of the U.S.
macroeconomy. Info for the week: Profit behind the
numbers. Also you may find these interesting: Investing, Budgeting, What is QQQ? and Dude, Where's my cash.
- New numbers are coming out this week - Thursday, Oct. 31 at 8:30 am the Third Quarter
Advance GDP (second quarter was 1.3% remember) and Friday, Nov. 1 is October Unemployment
rate (Sept. was 5.6% remember) - see your favorite site or the Whitehouse's Economic Statistics Briefing
Room. (Potential quiz on Nov. 6) I will assign you to find certain money
aggregates and interest rates in class (they also are available through the
Whitehouse). In Chapter 15 we will continue to investigate the make up of our
banking system and a typical balance sheet for a "typical" bank. Chapter
16 includes a the "money" market (Supply and Demand) which we will discuss in
conjunction with the Loanable Funds market that was part of Chapter 13 if you need review.
October 23, 2002: TEST II covering the last half of Chapter 6
through Chapter 14.
October 16, 2002: Preview and assignments:
To do in class - Quiz on the expenditure components of real GDP. You should know
the indicators of the Macroeconomic goals, where they are today as well as the recent
past. Productivity, Malthusian logic, the importance of long-run growth, savings,
the loanable funds market, stocks, bonds and mutual funds, spyders, webs and ETFs will be
discussed. Much of the material can be found within Chapters 12-14 but there will
also be topics and material covered in class that is not available elsewhere. (You
will notice that we have already covered most of Chapter 14 as well - a quiz over who is
NOT in the labor force is also a high probability). Remember that you have an
assignment on the longshoreman's strike (5), must turn in the international tariff and
quota work (15) and are to print out a graph of five stocks' performance
("profile" on the CBS Marketwatch site) over the past year (5).
October 9, 2002: Preview and assignments:
We will be discussing more about real versus nominal variables as well as the position
of the economy today. To give yourself some background, please read the two articles
Real Value of $100 (by the Motley Fool) and In the
Balance (from the Economist.com). We will
be working on Chapters 10 and 11 but begin some work in Chapter 12.
October 2, 2002: Preview and assignments:
Turn in the 10 stocks and ticker symbols (5 pts). We will be continuing with the
international trade example begun in class on Sept. 26. Tariff and quota comparisons
will be included in a separate example. This will conclude Chapter 9 meaning that we
have covered Chapter 6 (the incidence of a tax) and Chapters 7-9. I will expect you
to be ready for a quiz on dead weight loss due to an imposition of a tax. The
international trade example will be worth 15 points and redone in class to be handed in on
Oct. 9. Problem set II on price indices will be
handed out at the end of class (due Oct. 9 for 20 points).
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