Best way to contact the Instructor is by Angel email, but may also do it by Facebook and Twitter, see homepage www.tamiu.edu/~pcamacho/ for link to these as well as to the Instructor’s Blog. Check Angel for details on lecture calendar, assignments, exams, and supplemental material.

Course Description:

Introduction to economic phenomena and issues that affect the entire economy; measurement and determination of national income, employment, and price; introduction to monetary and fiscal policy analysis; the effects of government deficits and debt, exchange rates, and trade balances. (Catalog course description.)

Topic Text Chapter

Introduction to Economics 1, 2, 3, Appendix A

Macroeconomic Issues 5, 10, 11

Macroeconomic Models 7, 12

Macroeconomic Policy 14, 15, 16, 17

International Economics 18, 19

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

Required Texts:

Cowen, Tyler and Alex Tabarrok, Modern Principles: Macroeconomics, Worth Publishers, 1^st edition.

Miller, Roger LeRoy and Daniel K. Benjamin, The Economics of Macro Issues, Pearson Addison-Wesley, 4^th edition.

Supplementary Texts and Materials:

Economic news and sources of economic data will be announced in lecture.

Course Objectives:

The course’s main objective is for students to be able to understand and intelligently discuss macroeconomics issues they will encounter in their daily and professional lives; i.e., what makes the economy to grow; what makes prices to increase; among others. Students will be able to understand and discuss policy issues like when the Federal Reserve System should adjust the interest rate and in what direction; how the Fed determines the interest rate; what difference it makes if the federal government runs budget deficits or surpluses; the effects from tax cuts or increased government spending; among others. The main objective of this course is to provide a set of analytical tools that facilitate students to become better citizens in terms of understanding and analyzing economic events as well as the role of stabilizing policy.

Attendance Policy:

Class attendance is required. Students are responsible for any class work, assignment, announcement or test they miss because of class absence or failure to check Angel.

Administrative Policies:

The Instructor may modify this syllabus.

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 to 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.

Team projects involve writing a report and delivering the corresponding Power Point presentation before class. Team project 1 is on assigned readings from The Economics of Macro Issues text. Topic for project 2 will be assigned in lecture and will involve a debate between opposing teams. Two opposing teams will work on the same issue for the debate project (i.e., one team will write a report that supports the Bush tax cuts whereas the opposing team will write a paper criticizing such tax cuts policy), a debate over the issue will be held following the presentation of team reports.

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 (i.e., minus 5 points for the first offense; minus 10 points for the second offense, etc.). You will be given clear warning if your behavior is becoming disruptive.

Scholastic Dishonesty: University policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced.

SSB Policies

1. Should a faculty member discover that a student has committed plagiarism, the student will receive a grade of “F” in that course and the matter will be referred to the Executive Director of Student Life for possible disciplinary action.

2. The Copyright Act of 1976 grants to copyright owners the exclusive right to reproduce their work and distribute copies of their work. Works that receive copyright protection included 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 of up to $ 250,000 and imprisonment.

3. The university is composed of a diverse student body who have a number of different religious beliefs. Reasonable accommodations will be made to allow student to practice their beliefs. It is the responsibility of the student to inform the instructor in advance when there is a conflict between scheduled classroom activities (examinations, quizzes, etc.) and religious holidays.

4. Students diagnosed with ADA recognized problems should contact Dr. Yolanda Garcia, Director of Counseling (CH 312A - 326-2230). Students who have not been diagnosed with an ADA condition but feel that they might be eligible for assistance under provisions of ADA are encouraged to contact Dr. Garcia.