This version: 9 Dec, 2011.
Syllabus
Course name: ECO101 B Principles of Macroeconomics Instructor: VU, TUAN KHAI
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Fundamentals of macroeconomic theory: the basic concepts of national income, determination of aggregate production and employment, and the effects of monetary and fiscal policy. Prerequisite to advanced course in economics.
COURSE LEARNING GOALS
The goals of the course are (i) to understand the basic concepts in macroeconomics such as GDP, inflation, unemployment, money etc; (ii) to understand and be familiar with the way macroeconomists analyze the economy; (iii) to understand how the economy works in both closed and open context; (iv) to understand the role monetary and fiscal policy.
PLAN AND CONTENTS
The topics to be covered and the plan of the course are as follows. Note that the plan might be changed depending on the time the lectures actually take.
Section 1: Basic Concepts and the Economy in the Long Run Topic 1 (ch. 1): Introduction: the science of macroeconomics (6 Dec) Topic 2 (ch. 2): Macroeconomic data (6 Dec)
Topic 3 (ch. 3): National income (13 Dec) Topic 4 (ch. 6): Unemployment (13 Dec) Topic 5 (ch. 4): Money and inflation (20 Dec) Topic 6 (ch. 7&8): Economic growth (10 Jan)
Review of the first half and midterm exam (17 Jan)
Section 2: The Economy in the Short Run
Topic 7 (ch. 9): Introduction to economic fluctuations (24 Jan)
Topic 8 (ch. 10&11): Aggregate demand: the IS-LM model (24 Jan & 31 Jan) Topic 9 (ch. 13): Aggregate supply (7 Feb)
Topic 10 (ch. 14): Dynamic macroeconomic models (14 Feb) Topic 11 (ch. 15): Stabilization policy (21 Feb)
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Section 3: Microeconomic Foundations of Macroeconomics (if time permits) Topic 12 (ch. 17): Consumption theory (21 Feb)
Topic 13 (ch. 16): Government debt (21 Feb) Review of the the course (21 Feb)
Final exam (28 Feb)
EVALUATION AND GRADING POLICY Midterm exam: 35%
Final exam (comprehensive): 50% In-class quizzes and homework: 15%
TEXTBOOK
Mankiw, N. Gregory. "Macroeconomics" 7th edtion (International edition) (Worth Publishers, 2010). More information on the book can be found here:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/Macroeconomics-International-N-Gregory-Mankiw/dp/1429238127.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Lecture notes and other materials of the course will be available from the instructor's personal website: https://sites.google.com/site/vutuankhai/mainpage/icu_macro.
RULES AND MANNERS
・ Do not be late and do not chatter during the lecture (except for questions and comments related to the class).
・ Each week we have three periods to study, among which the first two are spent on lectures, and the last one is on solving problems and discussion or quizzes. Problems will be end-of-chapter problems or those prepared by myself. Between the periods we will have two breaks each of about 15 minutes.
・ Copies of lecture notes will be prepared by the TA of our class and will be given in the class. The same files will be uploaded in the above website by the time of the lecture, and you are free to download them.
・ Feel free to ask questions and speak out in the class. I expect your active participation.
・ Reading the textbook’s chapters to be covered before each lecture is required. MORE ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
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Affiliation: Faculty of Economics, Seikei University
Languages: Vietnamese (native), Japanese (fluent), English (fluent) E-mail: vtkhai@econ.seikei.ac.jp
Family name: Vu, given name: Tuan Khai
(In Vietnam I am called Khai (more precisely Khải) whether at home or at school or anywhere else. Students in Seikei University call me “Khai sensei”.)
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