School of Economics Academic Year 2011-12 Term 2
COURSE CODE & COURSE TITLE Instructor Name : Tan Swee Liang Email :
[email protected] Tel : 6828-0710 Office : Level 4, unit 80, SoE/SoSS Building COURSE DESCRIPTION The course is taught with an emphasis to balance economic theories and applications to real world issues. The section on microeconomics covers the theories of household behavior and firm behavior. The section on macroeconomics covers growth, business cycles and open economies. Real life examples are used to critique the theories and concepts. LEARNING OBJECTIVES While the course prepares the Econ-major students to enroll in higher level Economics subjects in the School, it also equips the non-Econ major students with the competency skills to analyze, synthesize and evaluate real world economic events using a set of economic tools and models. For more details of the weekly learning objectives, please see lesson plan below ASSESSMENT METHODS Class participation Group Project Quizzes/Assignments Mid-term examination Final examination Total
10% 10% 10% 30% 40% 100%
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Class participation: Class participation is the hallmark of the SMU education, where learning takes place through critical exchange of ideas and engagement of mind. Read critically before coming to class, and listen actively to the instructor and your peers. The instructor will engage everyone in learning and where there are gaps in knowledge, you must take the initiative to prompt the instructor to fill in the gaps. Where you can contribute to classroom learning, be pro-active and do so. Students who make the effort to do the preparatory reading will be able to participate more meaningfully and learn more effectively from one another. Class participation is only effective when students come to class with a sense of commitment to make learning happen. Attendance is taken in class. If you are going to be absent from class (due to illness) and/or wish to attend another class, please inform the instructor before class. Laptops are permitted in the classroom only when required during lesson activities, or if you have special learning needs. Quizzes: Students are required to complete weekly on-line quizzes within a stipulated time. No extension of quiz period will be given. Project report and debriefing: Students are pre-assigned to team of 4 members. Each team will be pre-assigned a topic. Participants will decide on some real life economic issues relevant to the topic (from the newspaper, The Economists magazine). Team members will present on the project finding
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(15 minutes), followed by a Q&A session (5 minutes). ONE week after presentation, the team will submit a soft-copy of report on google site. Details about the site will be provided by TA. The purpose of project presentation is for students to demonstrate the ability to apply economic concepts to economic issues that faces households, firms and government faces, as well as to analyze, synthesize and evaluate the decisions and policies. The project work is also to promote collaborative learning Examinations: Students are allowed to bring in an A4-size help sheet that contains handwritten notes, for both examinations. Aside from this, the examinations are closed book - no text book, laptop, worksheets and power point slides are allowed. The mid-term examination, to be held in Week 9, is two hours duration and consists of completing 20 multiple-choice questions (20 marks) and writing a critique of an article (40 marks). The final examination is three hours duration and consists of completing 20 multiple choice questions (20 marks), and writing a critique of an article (40 marks). If you are absent for the mid-term paper, you must have a valid reason (illness). You can sit for a different set of paper that you missed, within the week. The paper requires one long essay question. For absence in the final exam, please see university guideline: OASIS > Study > Regulations and Policy > Exam Regulations “Students who are absent from the University Final Written Examination without valid reasons will be given zero mark for the missed examination(s). Please note that forgetting to turn up for an examination or getting the date, time or venue of the examination wrong are NOT valid reasons and students who are absent because of such reasons will not be granted Incomplete Grade or make-up exams. Students who are absent from exams due to medical or compassionate reasons must submit relevant documentary evidence* within 48 hours of the missed exam and file for Incomplete Grade. (Note: Student will receive zero mark for the exam component if 'I' grade is not approved.)
Mid-Term, 60 marks (30%) Final, 60 marks (40%)
Date and Time Week 9 During class Week 16
Venue TBC
Remarks Close book (calculator, and one A4-size of help sheet) Close book (calculator, and one A4-size of help sheet)
TBC
All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with the academic work of other students) are serious offences. All work (whether oral or written) submitted for purposes of assessment must be the student’s own work. Penalties for violation of the policy range from zero marks for the component assessment to expulsion, depending on the nature of the offense. When in doubt, students should consult the instructors of the course. Details on the SMU Code of Academic Integrity may be accessed at http://www.smuscd.org/resources.html. CLASS TIMINGS Class sessions are three-hour duration per week. Due to heterogeneity in the students, lessons at the start of each session will be pitched at a comfortable level, to bring all students to a level playing field. Thereafter the pace of classroom learning will gather speed. So do come to class prepared. RECOMMENDED TEXT AND READINGS Reference Text Robert Frank and Ben Bernanke, “Principles of Economics”, 3rd edition, McGrawHill, 2007 Supplementary Readings Robert Pindyck, Daniel Rubenfeld and Winston Koh, “Microeconomics”, Pearson, 2006 Rudiger Dornbusch, Stanley Fischer and Richard Startz, “Macroeconomics”, 9th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2004
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WEEKLY LESSON PLAN
Week 1
Learning Outcomes
Chapters in Frank and Bernanke
Part 1: Introduction
Ch 1. Thinking like an Economist Ch 3. Supply and Demand : An Introduction
Objectives: To describe key economic concepts and models
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Part 2: Competition and the Invisible Hand
Ch 4. Elasticity Ch 5: Demand: The Benefit Side of the Market
Objective: To describe how markets work and respons to prices. To define market efficiency and to apply demand-supply model to practical issues. Objective: To analyze how rational consumers behave in the goods market
(Additional materials: preference and budget constraint, utility maximization, inter-temporal consumption, substitution and income effects) Ch 6: Perfectly Competitive Supply: The Cost Side of the Market Ch 7: Efficiency and Exchange Ch 8: The Quest for Profit and the Invisible Hand
Objective: To analyze how a rational firm behaves in the goods market
Teams 1-2 (15 mins presentation + 5 min Q&A for each team)
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Part 3: Market Imperfections
Ch 9: Monopoly and Other Forms of Imperfect Competition
Objective: To compare and contrast behavior of firms in different market structures.
Teams 3-4
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Ch 9: Monopoly and other Forms of Imperfect Competition. Teams 5-6
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Part 6: Macroeconomics – Issues and Data
17: Macroeconomics: The Bird’s Eye View of the Economy 18: Measuring Economic Activity 19: Measuring the Price Level and Inflation
Objective: To describe macroeconomic interactions of buyers and sellers, and identify key macroeconomic indicators.
8 9 10 11 12
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14 15-16
Teams 7-8
(Semester Break) Mid-Term Exam (2 hours) Week 1 to Week 6 materials Part 7: The Economy in the Long Run 20: Economic Growth, Productivity and Living Objective: To evaluate growth models Standards Objective: To link impact of savings on 22: Saving and Capital Formation economic growth and real interest rates (graphically and mathematically)
Teams 9-10
Part 8: The Economy in the Short Run
25: Short Term Economic Fluctuations: An Introduction 26: Spending and Output in the Short run
Objective: To examine causes of business cycles; and to assess effectiveness of policy options Objective: To debate policy options for stabilizing key macroeconomic variables in open and closed economies.
Final Examination (3 hours)
Teams 11-12
27: Stabilizing the Economy: The Role of the Fed 28: Inflation and Aggregate Supply 29: Exchange Rates and the Open Economy (Study Break) Week 1 to Week 13 materials
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