David Leader

Room-D125

Course Syllabus- AP MACRO

What is this class all about? WHAT DOES ECON ALLOW US TO DO?

The long-term goal of this course is to aid student understanding of economic concepts. This knowledge will provide a base for future decision making in school and eventually, life. The short-term goal of this course is to aid student understanding of those concepts tested in the Advanced Placement Exam in Macroeconomics. By now you are hopefully aware of the implications of taking AP exams (credit, finances, etc). Bottom line, this class is a study of concepts and ideas, not necessarily facts. You need to understand, not memorize. I will teach to those who want to take the exam, I encourage you all to do so, but this class will be taught so that you are ALL challenged.

Course Requirements/Expectations

Students are required to attend class prepared to participate in discussions, activities, and projects. This will require effort on student’s part to complete out-of-class reading and writing assignments, plus make-up work. Advanced Placement courses tend to require more reading than most, although economics is an exception to this rule.

1)Keep a notebook containing class notes, study questions, and handouts given in class and when you are gone.

2)Essay writing is structured within the AP Exam and will be emphasized in this course. (NOTE: Writing for economics essays is a bit different than what you may be used to. We will talk about these later on)

3)Respect, this is the expectation above all others. This means respect for the room, for me, for your peers, and especially for yourself

4)We will try to utilize our time as well as possible. There is a scarcity of time in this semester. But things come up and we will adjust accordingly.

Attendance

Attendance is EXTREMELY important to completing and passing this class. You need to make a commitment to be here, be active, and be prepared. If you are not present in class, you need to talk to a classmate or Mr. Leader to see what happened.

Textbooks

Your readings for this class do not match the typical AP class. Readings will NOT consist of an extensive number of pages. However, there is a lot of information in those pages. You will want to take notes, mark in the margins, sticky note questions when it comes to the reading. Our selections will be taken from the following sources:

Primary Text-Krugman’s Economics for AP (Adapted from Economics Second Edition)

Economics by Example - Anderson

Hints/Tips for possible success-THIS IS A COLLEGE BASED CLASS!!!

1)YOU will have to decide to devote the appropriate amount of effort and energy and time to understand AP economics content.

2)As you are also aware the amount of effort that goes into preparing for AP classes can be much more extensive than your normal social studies class. Do the readings, complete the practice problems in the book, be ready with questions, give some effort.

3)Be prepared for class. This means read the assigned pages, take notes on these assignments, complete the problems, review study guides and graphs. Arrive with questions, I recommend using sticky notes in your book to mark questions, important ideas.

4)Save all notes, papers, handouts. I know that you will not go back and look at every assignment, but they will serve as an aid for studying for class exams and the AP exam in May.

5)Notes are up to you. You determine what is important. But everything we cover is fair game for exams.

6)This is a cumulative class (kind of like math). So you need to stay current on the material. Learn to speak “economics”. This class has its own unique definitions for everyday words.

7)Organize study groups on your own (they really do work) or come in for help.

Grading

Grading scale is posted. Ten point scale for your reference. Grades will based on a combination of objective (test, quizzes, homework assignments) and subjective (projects, class participation) factors.

Scale(This is a district wide scale that can and will not change!)

A90-100

B85-89

B80-84

C75-79

C70-74

D65-69

D60-64

FBelow 60

SEMESTER OUTLINE

Below

AP Macro-Economics

Semester Outline:D. Leader

(10-15) UNIT ONE- Economics Basics: Understanding what economics is and basic economic concepts.

Part I: Basic Economic Concepts

  1. What is economics? The difference between Micro and Macro
  1. Scarcity-What is it? Why is it so important to economics?
  1. Opportunity Cost/trade-offs/factors of production (resources)
  1. Production Possibilities- Why are PPCs shaped the way they are?
  1. Functions of Any Economic System/Types of Economic Systems/

Three Economics Questions /Circular Flow of Economics

  1. Specialization and Comparative Advantage (Trade)
  1. Market economics- business organizations, market structures (price setting)

---QUIZ---

Part II: Supply and demand

  1. Demand-define
  2. Distinguish between change(s) in quantity demanded and change(s) in demand
  3. Law of Demand
  4. What affects demand? Determinants!
  5. Illustrate demand graphically
  6. Elasticity
  1. Supply-define
  2. Distinguish between change(s) in quantity supplied and change(s) in supply
  3. Law of Supply
  4. What affects supply? Determinants!
  5. Illustrate supply graphically
  1. Equilibrium Price and Quantity
  2. Surpluses and Shortages
  3. What do these do to prices and quantities?
  4. What do price floors and ceilings do to equilibrium price and quantity?
  5. Market failures: lack of competition, externalities, public goods

------TEST------

UNIT TWO- The government and the economy. Controlling a “roller coaster”.

(10-12) Part I: How do we determine if the economy is healthy?

A. Indicator Introduction- what does our government look at?

B. Gross Domestic Product and National Income Concepts Measuring GDP, 4 sector Circular Flow Model, and Flow versus Stock

  1. Expenditure Approach [C+I+G+(X-IM)] where

C=

I=

G=

X-IM=

2. Income Approach (W+I+R+P) where

W=

I=

R=

P=

3. Problems with calculating GDP

4. Changing Nominal GDP to Real GDP

  1. Other National Accounts: Net National Product, National Income, Personal Income, Disposable Income, GNP

C. Poverty

  1. What causes it?
  2. What is being done about it
  1. Unemployment

1. Problems with the Unemployment Rate- Who is counted and who isn’t

2. Types of Unemployment

a. Four kinds

  1. Which type(s) affect the unemployment rate?
  2. Full Employment- What is it? What are the implications if achieved?

E. Inflation

a. Defined

  1. What Causes it?
  2. Price indices, real v nominal, costs of inflation
  3. Phillips Curve
  4. Rational Expectations

F. Economic Growth*/ Business Cycle

---QUIZ---

(15-20) Part 2: How we visualize the economy

Topic I: Aggregate Expenditure / Basic Macro Relationships*

  1. Government Expenditures, investment, tax and spending multipliers

Topic II: Aggregate Demand

  1. Shape
  2. Determinants
  3. Shifts in

Topic III: Aggregate Supply

  1. Shape
  2. Long Run v Short Run
  3. Determinants
  4. Shifts in

Topic IV: Aggregate Equilibrium

  1. Labeling the curve

------TEST------

UNIT THREE: The ways the government manages/stabilizes the economy.

Topic I: Economic Goals of the government

Topic II: Fiscal Policy

1. Discretionary Fiscal Policy

a. Changes in government spending

  1. Changes in Tax rates
  2. Balanced budget multiplier
  3. Automatic Stabilizers
  4. Money market curve

2. Problems with taxation policies

3. Government Size and Growth

a. Financing Budgets

b. Governmentt Expenditure Patterns

4. Type of Taxation

a. Progressive

b. Proportional

c. Regressive

5. Federal Deficits and the National Debt

a. Should we worry about the deficits or the debt?

b. When are deficits a good thing?

------QUIZ------

Topic III: Money- How it works.

  1. Three Functions of Money
  2. What makes money, money?
  3. What Stands Behind the Dollar?
  4. Three money supply definitions
  5. M1
  6. M2
  7. M3
  8. Banking
  9. how are banks organized?
  10. what do they do?
  11. T-accounting of banks
  12. The Money Multiplier- Theory vs Reality
  13. Loanable funds curve.

-----QUIZ-----

Topic IV: Monetary policy

1.The Federal Reserve System (The FED)

a.Origins and Org. Structure

b.Powers of the FED

  1. controlling the money supply
  2. clearing checks
  3. supervising and regulating banks
  4. acting as a bank for the U.S. government

2. Monetary policy Shortcomings

a. Money multiplier inaccuracies

  1. Lags in policy effects

3. Monetary Policy

a. The demand for money and how it may affect interest rates

b. How the monetary policy affects prices, output, and employment, in other words how does it affect AD/AS

-----QUIZ----

Topic V: The Theories and Ideas

  1. Classical
  2. Monetarist
  3. Keynesian
  4. Supply-Side

Topic VI: Fiscal and monetary working together

  1. economic growth
  2. AD/AS analysis (lots and lots of curves)

------TEST------