TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

A.R. SANCHEZ, Jr. SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL BANKING AND FINANCE STUDIES

COURSE SYLLABUS

FALL, 2010

Course: Intermediate Macroeconomics (ECO 4310)

Instructor: Pablo Camacho, Ph. D.

Office Hours: WHTC 206D; (956) 326-2516; M & R 5:00pm – 7:15 pm

E-mail: Best way to contact is by email through Angel, but may also contact at pcamacho@tamiu.edu

Other Contact: Students are encouraged to contact me through Facebook and Twitter, as well as participate in my blog. My webpage at www.tamiu.edu/~pcamacho/ contains the links to such social networks

Required Text: Blanchard, Olivier, Macroeconomics, Prentice Hall, 5^th Edition

Recommended: Additional readings and sources of economic data will be announced in lecture.

Prerequisite: Undergraduate level ECO 2301 Minimum Grade of D and Undergraduate level ECO 2302 Minimum Grade of D and Undergraduate level MATH 1324 Minimum Grade of D and Undergraduate level MATH 1325 Minimum Grade of D

Course Description:

Determination of national income, employment, inflation, savings, interest, and investment; monetary and fiscal analysis, effects of government deficits and debt. (Catalog course description.)

Course Goals: The course’s main goal is for students to be able to understand and intelligently discuss macroeconomics issues that they will encounter in their daily and professional lives; e.g., what makes the economy to grow; what makes prices to increase; among others. This course is an extension to the Principles of Macroeconomics (ECO 2301) course. Several models (Aggregate Demand, IS-LM, AS-AD, Solow’s) will be studied to understand the behavior of the economy. Fiscal and monetary policy analyses are at the core of this course.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

1. Students will perform economic analysis using the economic models: Aggregate Demand, IS-LM, AS-AD, and Solow’s.

2. Student will discuss under what conditions and in what direction should taxes, government expenditures, and interest rate, should be adjusted.

3. Students will differentiate between those factors that impact long run economic growth versus those that have temporary effects only.

Grading Policy

Partial exams (3) 15 points each A: 90 ≤ points

Final (comprehensive) 15 points B: 80 ≤ points < 90

Homework 10 points C: 70 ≤ points < 80

Quizzes 10 points D: 60 ≤ points < 70

Team Projects (2) 10 points each F: 60 > points

Attendance Policy:

Class attendance is required. Students are responsible for any class work, assignments, announcements, or tests that they miss because of class absence or failure to check Angel.

Other course policies:

No Fault – No Make Up Policy: No make-up partial exam will be given. If one partial exam is missed, the grade on the comprehensive final exam will replace it. If a second or third partial exam is missed, the grade of that exam will be zero. Students who take all partial exams may use the grade on the comprehensive final exam to replace the lowest grade on a partial exam. No make-up final exam will be given, except under highly unusual circumstances (such as a documented medical emergency or the observance of a religious holyday).

No late homework will be accepted. Homework shall be turn in during the first ten minutes of the lecture when it is due. Homework shall be typed using Microsoft Word (additional software may be used as it is appropriate, for instance, Microsoft Excel when the homework involves graphing) so that every student will keep an electronic copy of the solved homework. If a student expects not be able to turn in the homework on time, he/she may email the file containing the homework free of viruses before class and later turn in a hard copy of the homework. All submitted homework will be taken by the Instructor and graded, but only those that comply with the above guidelines will count towards the students´ grade. Every student shall bring two hard copies of the homework.

A quiz will be given at the beginning of each lecture. It would primarily cover the material seen the previous lecture as well as the material of the current lecture.

A team project involves teamwork in order to produce a written report, its corresponding power point presentation and the delivery of the presentation before class, of a topic that will be jointly determined by the Instructor and each team. The topic of the first team project will be on US economic policy whereas the topic of the second team project will be on the economic policy in a foreign country.

Classroom Behavior

The A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business encourages classroom discussion and academic debate as an essential intellectual activity. It is essential that students learn to express and defend their beliefs, but it is also essential that they learn to listen and respond respectfully to others whose beliefs they may not share. ARSSB will always tolerate diverse, unorthodox, and unpopular points of view, but it will not tolerate condescending or insulting remarks. When students verbally abuse or ridicule and intimidate others whose views they do not agree with, they subvert the free exchange of ideas that should characterize a university classroom. If their actions are deemed by the professor to be disruptive, they will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, which may include being involuntarily withdrawn from the class. Major disruptive behavior will be penalized, after one warning per semester, by subtracting points from the overall final grade of the disruptive student in progressively larger 5-points (e.g., minus 5 points for the first offense; minus 10 points for the second offense, etc.). You will be given clear warning when your behavior is becoming disruptive.

Copyright Restrictions

The Copyright Act of 1976 grants to copyright owners the exclusive right to reproduce their works and distribute copies of their work. Works that receive copyright protection include published works such as a textbook. Copying a textbook without permission from the owner of the copyright may constitute copyright infringement. Civil and criminal penalties may be assessed for copyright infringement. Civil penalties include damages up to $100,000; criminal penalties include a fine up to $250,000 and imprisonment.

Copyright laws do allow students and professors to make photocopies of copyrighted materials, but you may copy a limited portion of a work, such an article from a journal or a chapter from a book for your own personal academic use or, in the case of a professor, for personal, limited classroom use. In general, the extent of your copying should not suggest that the purpose or the effect of your copying is to avoid paying for the materials. And, of course, you may not sell these copies for a profit. Thus, students who copy textbooks to avoid buying them or professors who provide photocopies of textbooks to enable students to save money are violating the law.

Plagiarism and Cheating

Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s work as one’s own. Recently, the Internet has complicated the picture. Getting something from the Internet and presenting it as one’s own is still plagiarism. Copying another student’s paper or a portion of the paper - is usually called “copying”. Neither plagiarism nor copying will be tolerated. Should a faculty member discover that a student has committed plagiarism, the students will receive a grade of ‘F’ in that course and the matter may, if necessary, be referred to the TAMIU Honor Council for possible disciplinary action.

Students with Disabilities

Texas A&M International University seeks to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified persons with disabilities. This University will adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal education opportunity. It is the student’s responsibility to register with the Disabilities Services Coordinator located in the Student Counseling Center and to contact the faculty member in a timely fashion to arrange for suitable accommodations.

Safety and Security- You are the Difference

Your safety and security are of prime concern here at Texas A&M International University, and the University police department work hard to ensure the campus is a safe place to live, learn, work and play. TAMIU is not, however, exempt from crime. To be safe and secure, you must take common sense precautions. Be alert and aware of those around you; look out for the safety of others. Do not leave valuables unattended; do not attempt to touch or interfere with our wildlife.

Student Responsibility For Dropping a Course

It is the responsibility of the STUDENT to drop the course before the drop date. Faculty are not responsible for dropping students who suspend class attendance.

Final Examination

The University requires all final Examinations be comprehensive and be given on the day specified.

THE INSTRUCTOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THIS SYLLABUS AS NEEDED AND WITH NOTIFICATION TO STUDENTS

Course Calendar:

Date	Topic	Reading
23-Aug	Course Overview; Principles & Math Review	Chs 1, 2
30-Aug	Goods & Financial Markets: Closed Economy	Chs 3, 4
6-Sep	IS-LM Model: Closed Economy	Ch 5
13-Sep	IS-LM Model: Open Economy	Chs 19, 20
20-Sep	Test 1	Chs 3, 4, 5, 19, 20
27-Sep	Labor Market / AS-AD Model	Chs 6, 7
4-Oct	Phillips Curve; Money Growth & Inflation	Chs 8 & 9
11-Oct	Team Presentations	Assigned Project
18-Oct	Test 2	Chs 6, 7, 8, 9
25-Oct	Economic Growth	Chs 10 & 11
1-Nov	Technological Progress	Ch 12
8-Nov	AS-AD Model: Long Run	Ch 13
15-Nov	Team Presentations	Assigned Project
22-Nov	Test 3	Chs 10-13
29-Nov	Review / Effectiveness of Stabilization Policies	Ch 24