Download Economics Syllabus

Economics
National Chengchi University
Department of International Business
Spring 2017
Instructor: Natsuki Arai
Class Hours: Wednesday, 1:10-4pm
Classroom: Commerce college, Room 210
Office: Research Building, Room 511
Phone: 02-2939-8033 (ext. 87002)
E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesday, noon-1:00pm
Course Website: https://sites.google.com/site/natsukiarai25/teaching
(ID and Password to access the website will be announced in the class)
Teaching Assistant: TBD
Course Description: This is the second part of a one-year introductory course to
economic concepts and basic economic theory. We study macroeconomics, which
focuses on the behavior of aggregate economic variables, such as GDP growth, inflation
and unemployment. (The first part of the course studies microeconomics, which focuses
on the decision making of individual consumers and firms.) In this course, we will
develop economic tools to analyze and evaluate public policies, poverty and welfare
questions, and other applied topics. Lectures will be given in English.
Textbook: “Principles of Economics” by Gregory Mankiw.
Homework: There will be 3 homeworks during the semester. Late homeworks will not be
accepted for any circumstances. The tentative schedule of homework is as follows: 1st
Homework: (3/22, due 4/5), 2nd Homework: (4/26, due 5/10), 3rd Homework: (5/31, due
6/14)
Course materials: Relevant class material will be posted on the course website. Homework
assignments and notifications will be also available there.
Evaluation:
 Quiz (5-8 during the semester): 10 percent
 Homework (3): 15 percent
 Midterm 1: 20 percent
 Midterm 2: 20 percent
 Final exam: 35 percent
Exam Times
 Midterm 1: Tuesday, April 12, in class time.
 Midterm 2: Tuesday, May 17, in class time.
 Final Exam: Saturday, June 17, 10am-noon (Joint final exam)
Class Attendance: Class attendance is strongly recommended. Students registered for the
course who do not regularly come to class may receive a grade of ND. However, I do not
take attendance in a regular basis and the grades are granted based on exams.
Discussion Sessions: There will be ad-hoc discussion sessions organized by the teaching
assistant, where TA will explain the homework and exams questions. Though it’s not
required to attend the session, the students are encouraged to attend the sessions.
Policy on missed exam: The dates of the midterm and final exams are fixed. Students who
experience a serious medical condition that requires immediate attention from a physician,
or an emergency that prevents them from taking the exam may be excused. However,
students must contact the instructor before the exam and must verify their condition by
official documents. No exceptions will be made for job interviews, holiday travel, or
other non-academic activities. When a student is properly excused from an exam, no
make-up exam will be offered. Instead, his or her course grade will be adjusted based on
other exams and homeworks.
Policy on Regrading: If, after reviewing the exam answers, a student feels that there is a
grading mistake on his or her exam, that student can submit a re-grade request. The student
must submit a written discussion within one week from the time at which the exams are
handed back. When regrade request is accepted, the entire exam will be regraded, which could
lower the score as well.
Academic Dishonesty: Cheating hurts our community by undermining academic integrity,
creating mistrust and fostering unfair competition. The university will punish cheaters with
failure on an assignment, failure in a course, permanent transcript notation and/or
expulsion. Violations can include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments
without permission, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized
collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery, falsification and lying.
Tentative Course Outline:
Week Dates Topics
1
2/22
Measuring a nation’s income
2
3/1
Measuring the cost of living
3
3/8
Production and growth
4
5
3/15
3/22
6
3/29
7
8
9
10
4/5
4/12
4/19
4/26
11
12
13
14
15
5/3
5/10
5/17
5/24
5/31
Saving, investment, and financial system
The basic tools of finance
(Problem set 1 will be distributed)
Unemployment
The monetary system
Review session of Problem set 1
FIRST MID TERM (Ch. 23-27)
Money growth and inflation
Open-economy macroeconomics: Basic concepts
A macroeconomic theory of the open economy
(Problem set 2 will be distributed)
Aggregate demand and aggregate supply
Review session of problem set 2
SECOND MID TERM (Ch.28-32)
The influence of monetary and fiscal policy on aggregate demand
The short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment
Chapter
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
16
17
18
6/7
6/14
6/17
(Problem set 3 will be distributed)
Six debates over macroeconomic policy
Review session of problem set 3
JOINT FINAL EXAM (Cumulative)
36