University of Toronto Scarborough
Department of Management
ECMA06 – LEC 01
Introduction to Macroeconomics:
A Mathematical Approach
Winter 2009
Outline/Handbook
Professor Iris Au
Information about the Professor Au:
Office: MW 376 (3rd floor of the Management Building)
Telephone: (416) 287 – 5650
Email:
Office Hours***: Monday 11:00am – 12:00noon
Tuesday 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Wednesday 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Friday 11:00am – 12:00noon
Teaching Assistants – Office Hours and Tutorials:
Office: MW 369 (3rd floor of the Management Building)
Teaching Assistant / Office hours:Jessica French / Monday 9:00am – 12:00noon
Monday 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Derrick Fung / Tuesday 11:00am – 12:00noon
Wednesday 11:00 – 12:00noon
Friday 11:00am – 1:00pm
Byron Lee / Wednesday 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Wednesday 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Matthew Ma / Tuesday 2:00pm – 6:00pm
Leslie Yang / Monday 12:00noon – 2:00pm
Tuesday 12:00noon – 2:00pm
Rui Yeung / Wednesday 9:00am – 12:00noon
Thursday 11:00am – 12:00noon
Sam Zhou / Thursday 1:00pm – 3:00pm
*** In general, if you want help in the course, the first “line of defense” is the teaching assistants, all of whom have office hours and are happy to answer questions. If you feel that you need additional help, do not hesitate to e-mail me or see me during my office hours. I will try to respond quickly to e-mail questions (but e-mail is awkward for complex questions, especially those that involve detailed mathematical notation). Because of the size of the class, you are unlikely to get lots of individual time from the professor, especially right before the exams. In general, then, you should bring your specific questions about the material to the T.A., and talk to the professor about more general issues (grades, study strategies, future course selection, the general state of the economy, etc.).
Teaching Assistant / Tutorial Sections Held:Jessica French / TUT 004, TUT 014
Derrick Fung / TUT 002, TUT 013, TUT 020
Byron Lee / TUT 009, TUT 0010, TUT 011
Matthew Ma / TUT 006, TUT 007, TUT 008
Leslie Yang / TUT 015, TUT 016, TUT 017
Rui Yeung / TUT 005, TUT 018, TUT 019
Sam Zhou / TUT 001, TUT 003, TUT 012
Course Description:
Macroeconomics is the study of the structure and performance of national economies and of the policies that government use to affect the economy. Topics to be covered include:
· Measuring national product and income
· Unemployment and inflation
· Macroeconomics of closed economy and open economy
· Economic fluctuations in both short run and long run
· Determination of money supply
Course Text:
Christopher T. S. Ragan and Richard G. Lipsey, Economics, 12th Canadian edition, Pearson Addison Wesley, 2008 (Same as ECMA04)
Classes:
· Lecture notes, review questions, and other course related matters will be posted on Intranet; students are expected to check the UTSCweb course page on a regular basis.
· There are three hours of lectures each week.
· Because our text does not use calculus and is not mathematically-oriented, we will be introducing extra mathematical material in class that is not in your textbook. Problem-solving concepts will also be introduced and discussed in your tutorial sessions. That being the case, you should plan on attending all classes and tutorials, concentrating in class, and taking proper notes.
· You are responsible for what is discussed in class.
· The classes are large - up to 500 students in a classroom - so noise in class can be a serious problem. Please do not talk in class. If you want to talk to your neighbour, the class and the professor would appreciate it if you both left the class and watched at home.
Video Version of the Class on the Intranet:
· You can access streaming video versions of the weekly lectures at the address: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ecma06/online.html.
· You can play the lectures s at home or on the on-campus computers if you miss a class, if you wish to watch it from home, or to review something you may not have fully understood.
Exam & Grading:
Midterm one-third (1/3) of the overall grade
Final Exam two-third (2/3) of the overall grade
· There is no make-up midterm. If you miss the midterm, the weight of the midterm will be transferred to the final exam (i.e., your final exam will count for 100%).
· On the other hand, if you miss the final exam, you will have to petition to the Sub-Committee on Standing (see the Registrar’s Office) for permission to write a deferred exam, which will be written at the end of the following term (at the end of the summer). You should try to write the regularly scheduled final unless this is impossible. Students who defer exams often forget huge chunks of the material over the summer, and suffer by the delay.
· I do take improvement into consideration. If you write the final exam and your mark on the final is higher than on the midterm, I will replace the lower midterm mark with the mark you received on the final exam. This means that there is no penalty for trying a term test, even if you think you are not fully ready. My intention is not to delay the point at which you begin to take this course seriously. You should do that now. My intention is, however, to provide a small safety net for students in first year as they begin to learn how to do this challenging subject.
« The final exam for all students will be a three-hour exam and will take place in the final exam period, which starts April 13 and ends May 2, 2008. Do not plan to leave Toronto before the end of the exam period (personal circumstances are not an acceptable excuse for missing the exam).
« The mid-term test will each be held in a 2 hour test period, likely right after Reading Week. Check the INTRANET for information on where to write these tests. The dates and times will also be announced in class.
· The mid-term test will be made up multiple-choice (MC) questions only. The final exam will include both MC and short-answered questions.
Calculators:
· The following simple calculators are recommended (there may be additional letters added at the end on the version you buy, but that does not make any difference).
SHARP EL531
SHARP EL509
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TI30
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TI34II “Explorer Plus” or TI-32
CASIO fx-65 or fx-280
· You may buy other types of calculators and use them for this course, but you should avoid any that have considerable storage capacity for text, because these calculators can be confiscated during an exam or test.
Tutorials:
· Tutorials have been scheduled in this course, led by both graduate and senior undergraduate students.
· These will begin in the second week of classes (but there is a first tutorial for you to do on your own). We have prepared special problems and questions that will be dealt with in these tutorials; these tutorial questions are included in this Handbook. The answers will be taken up by your teaching assistants at the weekly tutorials; a hard copy version of the correct answers will be handed out at the end of the tutorial. Tutorials will parallel the material that we are also doing in class, at about the same time. These tutorials are an excellent source of supplemental help in this difficult course. There are tutorials held every week except the first week of term.
Important Dates of this Term:
February 17 – 20 / Reading Week -- No classes held.
February 23 / Classes resume in S and Y courses.
March 23 / Last day to drop S courses without academic penalty and have them removed from the transcript.
April 3 / Last day of classes in S & Y courses and last day for submission of term assignments in S & Y courses.
April 6 – 9 / Study Break. (Classes continue on other campuses.)
April 10 / Good Friday -- University closed.
Sunday, April 12 / Last day to drop Y & S courses and have them remain on the transcript with a grade of LWD indicating withdrawal without academic penalty.
April 13 – May 2 / Final examinations in S and Y courses. 2008 Fall deferred examinations.
Dropping Out of ECMA06:
· Sorry to bring up this painful subject so early in your career in economics, but if you are not doing well in economics, you may decide to drop out of ECMA06H. Dropping a course is unfortunate, but it is not a shameful act; under certain circumstances, it is the wisest course of action.
· The drop date is March 23rd. By that time, you will have written the mid-term test and received 1/3 of your marks in this course. If, at that stage, it is clear you cannot handle the material (given the rest of your academic load), you are better to drop the course and take it again another term, rather than see it through to the bitter end.
Office Hours:
· The office hours of the professor who teaches this course are limited, I am happy to see you to talk about any problems you may be having in the course. Specific questions can answered right after (or before) class.
· If you e-mail questions about the material to me, it can often be dealt with in the next lecture (or, if the question is simple, by a quick e-mail reply).
· Because there are so many more students than professors (well over 1000 students in the course), detailed questions about the material should be discussed with the teaching assistants.
· Of course, I am happy to try to help if this is not enough, but the time we can spend individually with each student is limited. And right before the test or the final, the available time will inevitably not be enough! Of course, any more general questions (how can I study more effectively? What further economics courses should I take? What do you think about the following article on the economy?) are always most welcome.
Cheating:
· Cheating debases the learning process and is immoral. Furthermore, it violates the rules of the University and, if detected, will have serious consequences.
· Even more to the point, we take it very seriously, and will pursue any case to the limit. We routinely take a variety of measures calculated to make cheating difficult and to catch offenders (some you will know about; others are kept secret).
· The point is simple: students who do not cheat should know that they are not disadvantaged by their honesty. Each year, a couple of students are caught cheating and get a mark of zero.
· The professor is cheery and personable, but once you cheat, you are treated in a quite Draconian manner in the University, and things become most unpleasant. You have now been warned, both for this course and for any other course you may take.
The Secret of Success in ECMA06:
· The course is complex and interconnected, and many students find it quite hard. But here is the secret.
· Success in this course is actually quite easy. Work hard, work steadily, and don’t stop working.
Tentative Schedule:
Week / Date / Topic / Chapter(s)1 / Jan 5/Jan 7 / Introduction / 19 &
Supplement A
2 / Jan 12/Jan 14 / Measurement of national income / 20 &
Supplement B
3 / Jan 19/Jan 21 / Aggregate expenditure –
the simplest short-run model / 21
4 / Jan 26/Jan 28 / Adding government and trade to the short-run model / 22
5 / Feb 2/Feb 4 / Output and prices in the short run –
AD-AS model / 22 & 23
6 / Feb 9/Feb 11 / Output and prices in the short run –
AD-AS model (continued) / 23 &
Supplement C
7 / Feb 23/Feb 25 / Output and prices in the long run, and the adjustment from short run to long run / 24 & 25
8 / Mar 2/Mar 4 / Money demand & money supply / 28 & 29
9 / Mar 9/Mar 11 / Banking system & the supply of money / 27, 29 &
Supplement D
10 / Mar 16/Mar 18 / Use of stabilization policy / 30 – 32
11 / Mar 23/Mar 25 / Open economy / 35 &
Supplement E
12 / Mar 30/Apr 1 / Open economy / 35
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ECMA06 Outline (Winter 2009)