Contact Information AP Macroeconomics (APE) Course Syllabus Teacher: Edmund Ned Maino Email: emaino@teh.k12.ca.us (I check email until 5pm, Monday-Friday) Phone: 661-822-2130 ext. 1701 (Please call between 7:45 am to 5:00pm) Office Hours: 7:45am -5:00pm (Room 701) Course Description: The A.P. Macroeconomics course is designed to give students a thorough understanding of how the principles of economics apply to the whole economic system. This course will enable the student to integrate economic concepts into their everyday experiences which will allow them to see the world in a fresh perspective and new light. Furthermore, it will prepare the student for the AP Exam, and further studies in economics and/or business. This course will even follow the student into adulthood, as they discover how economics is a central part of every responsible citizen s life and is a foundation for every type of career. Texts: Main Textbook: Krugman, Paul and Robin Wells. Economics. New York: Worth Publishers. 2008 Supplemental Texts (Readers): Wheelan, Charles. naked economics: undressing the dismal science New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2010 portions of this book will be provided to you Supplemental Sources: Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com Financial Times www.ft.com Other Materials: A three-ring binder with five sections (note the Units listed below) that contain each of the following subsections: Unit Guided Reading Packets Unit Problem Set Packets Unit Quizzes Unit Tests Misc. Bring this to class everyday!!! Unit Guided Reading Packet (UGRP): These are your primary source of homework. As you read through the chapters, you will use the information to answer the questions provided. At the beginning of each class period, we will take a few minutes to answer any questions from these packets. You will not turn these in, these are for your own knowledge base. The notes will help supplement the answers to the questions in these packets but they are not a replacement for the reading the textbook. Unit Participation Set Packet (UPSP): These problem set packets will further help explain and explore the concepts you will learn via PowerPoint s and your guided reading packets. These will be turned in at the end of the unit as part of your participation grade along with your notes. Notes are worth 5 points per chapter based on the response to the given EQ. Unit Free Response Questions (UFRQ): Each unit will have a corresponding free response prompt based on a political cartoon and other various information. Each UFRQ will have a set direction to them, follow these and turn in your results at the end of each unit. The UFRQ is part of your participation grade. Vocabulary Note Cards (VNC): Each chapter/unit packet will have a list of the vocabulary you must KNOW. All other terms are fair game, however. Vocabulary associated the specific chapter must be written down on a 3x5 note card (I will not accept any other size) along with the definition and a descriptive personal sentence. These cards will be turned in before a vocabulary quiz and must be on a metal ring and written in ink. Note cards in any other format will not be accepted and will be considered late. These are entered into your participation grade.
In-class Discussions: Students will participate and contribute substantively to discussions carried out in class. The majority of our lectures will be based around classroom discussion of the various topics we cover. It is for this reason that the student must be well informed and read to maintain a high level of economic comprehension via the unit guided reading packets. Course Internet Requirement: You will need to sign-up on a web server for this course as well: Class Grades/Late Work/Rules/Regulations Class Grades: Grades will be based on a full credit/incomplete credit system via a stamp that is placed on work at the beginning of class on the day the work is due. A full credit stamp earns 5 points; an incomplete credit stamp earns 2 points if completed in full during review, otherwise it is a zero. PLEASE NOTE: two or more incomplete scores on work will result in a teacher/student/parent meeting. Quizzes are valued at 25 points each and test are valued at 100 points each. The grading scale is as follows: Participation Grade: 30% o UPSP, UFRQ and VNC Test Grade: 60% o Unit, Final Quiz Grade: 10% o Chapter, Vocabulary, Reading 100-90% = A 89-80% = B 79-70% = C 69-60% = D 60% or lower = F I do not offer extra credit. DO NOT EVEN ASK. Stay on top off all assignments and your grade will reflect your effort. Late Work: I accept late work up to ONE DAY after the original due date. Any homework turned in during this time can receive a maximum grade of 50%. After one day, I will enter a ZERO into the grade book for that assignment (this applies to current events as well). This does not apply to quizzes or tests. If you miss a quiz or test, you have to make it up on TUESDAY or THURSDAY before the end of the unit in study. The time will be set as per personal requirement. Rules/Regulations: All standards (rules) concerning the dress code, tardiness, and attendance found in the Quincy High School Student Handbook are strictly enforced in my classroom. Some notable additions are listed on the General Classroom Expectations, Rules, Regulations, and Information sheet. Cheating and Plagiarism The definitions and consequences for cheating and plagiarism are outlined in the Tehachapi High School Student Handbook and will be followed to the LETTER, plus these additions: Cheating: Any student caught cheating will earn a zero for that assignment and will receive a phone call home and a referral to the office. Further action will be taken as necessary. Plagiarism: Any student caught plagiarizing any material will earn a zero on the assignment and will receive a phone call home and a referral to the office. Further action will be taken as necessary. Papers will be handwritten to avoid issues with plagiarism.
Course Plan Unit 1: What Is Economics? (1.5 Weeks) 1. Understand and explain the NINE principles of Economics: 2. Understand and can explain why models play a crucial role in economics. 3. Use the following three models to explain how we can change our behavior to think like economists o Production Possibility Frontier, o o Comparative and Absolute Advantage and Trade, Circular-flow diagram to analyze the world around them. In this unit of study, it gives the students an early introduction to gains from trade and to international comparisons. 4. Explain the difference between positive economics and normative economics. 5. Explain when economists agree, and why they sometimes disagree. Chapter 1: economy, economics, market economy, invisible hand, microeconomics, market failure, recession, macroeconomics, economic growth, individual choice, resource, scarcity, opportunity cost, trade-off, marginal decisions, marginal analysis, incentive, interaction, trade, gains from trade, specialization, equilibrium, efficient, equity (24). Chapter 2: model, other things equal assumption, production possibilities frontier, comparative advantage, absolute advantage, barter, circular-flow diagram, household, firm, markets for goods and services, factors of production, positive economics, normative economics, forecast (14). UGRP: Unit 1 Guided Reading Packet Chapter 1 and 2 Vocabulary Notecards o ACDCLeadership.com: -Our units are based on Mr. Clifford s work check his site out! o 5 Steps to a 5 Chapter 5 (2017 Edition) UPSP: Introduction to Absolute/Comparative Advantage Problem Set Assessments: What is economics? Unit 1 Vocabulary Quiz Unit 1 Reading Quiz Unit 1 Test MC and 2 FRQ
Unit 2: Supply and Demand (1.5 Weeks) 1. Explain and illustrate what the demand and supply curves are and what causes them to shift. 2. Explain and illustrate how the supply and demand curves determine a market s equilibrium. 3. Explain and illustrate how the equilibrium price of a market is affected by shifts of the demand and supply curve. 4. Explain how government intervention in the markets can create both problems and solutions, along with who benefits and loses, and why this intervention is used. 5. Explain why the deadweight loss of a tax means that its true cost is more than the amount of tax revenue collected. 6. Explain and illustrate the meaning of consumer surplus and its relationship to the demand curve. 7. Explain and illustrate the meaning of producer surplus and its relationship to the supply curve. 8. Explain and illustrate the importance of total surplus and how it can be used both to measure the gains from trade and to evaluate the efficiency of a market. 9. Explain and illustrate how to use changes in total surplus to measure the deadweight loss of taxes. Chapter 3: competitive market, supply and demand model, demand schedule, demand curve, quantity demanded, law of demand, shift of the demand curve, movement along demand curve, substitutes, complements, normal good, inferior good, quantity supplied, supply schedule, supply curve, shift of the supply curve, movement along the supply curve, input, equilibrium price, market-clearing price, equilibrium quantity, surplus, shortage. (23) Chapter 4: Price controls, price ceiling, price floor, inefficient, inefficient allocation to consumers, wasted resources, inefficiently low quality, black market, minimum wage, inefficient allocation of sales among sellers, inefficiently high quality, quantity control/quota, quota limit, license, demand price, supply price, wedge, quota rent, excise tax, incidence, excess burden/deadweight loss. (21) Chapter 6: willingness to pay, individual consumer surplus, total consumer surplus, consumer surplus, cost, individual producer surplus, total producer surplus, producer surplus, total surplus, market failure. (10) UGPR: Unit 2 Guided Reading Packet Chapter 3, 4, and 6 Vocabulary Notecards o ACDCLeadership.com: -Our units are based on Mr. Clifford s work check his site out! o 5 Steps to a 5 Chapter 6 (2017 Edition) UPSP: Demand Problem Set Demand Elasticity Problem Set Supply Problem Set Supply Elasticity Problem Set Demand and Supply Problem Set Government Regulations and Price Control Problem Set Assessments: Supply and Demand Unit 2 Vocabulary Quiz Unit 2 Reading Quiz Unit 2 Test MC & 2 FRQ
Unit 3: Introduction to Macroeconomics (3 weeks) 1. Students should be able to explain macroeconomics and how it differs from microeconomics AND answer the following question: Why is it that what is good for the part is not necessarily good for the whole? 2. Explain why the business cycle is important and why policy makers seek to diminish the severity of business cycles? Illustrate a business cycle. 3. Explain what long-term growth is and how it affects a country s standard of living. 4. Explain the difference between nominal and real variables; inflation and deflation. 5. Illustrate how to calculate the unemployment rates and why there is unemployment at full employment. 6. Explain the characteristics of an open economy and how countries trade goods, services and assets. 7. Explain why policy makers and economists prefer price stability in the macroeconomy. 8. Explain how economists use aggregate measures to track the performance of the economy. 9. Define GDP and explain the three ways to calculate it. 10. Explain the difference between real GDP and nominal GDP and why real GDP is the appropriate measure of real economic activity. 11. Explain the significance of the unemployment rate and how it relates to the business cycle. 12. Explain what a price index is and how it is used to calculate the inflation rate. 13. Explain some of the specific price indexes/indices, how they are computed and how economists use them. 14. Explain why the natural rate of unemployment is and why it isn t zero. 15. Explain why cyclical unemployment changes over the business cycle. 16. Explain how factors such as minimum wages and efficiency wages can lead to structural unemployment. 17. Understand and explain why there is a short-run trade-off between unemployment and inflation, identify and illustrate this curve. 18. Explain why NAIRU is an important measure for policy-making. 19. Explain why efforts to collect an inflation tax by printing money can lead to high rates of inflation. 20. Explain how high inflation can spiral into hyperinflation as the public tries to avoid paying the inflation tax. 21. Explain the economy wide costs of inflation and disinflation. 22. Explain why deflation is a problem for economic policy and how it leads policy makers to prefer a low but positive inflation rate. 23. Explain why classical macroeconomics wasn t adequate for the problems posed by the Great Depression. 24. Explain the core ideas of Keynesian economics. 25. Explain how challenges led to a revision of Keynesian ideas. 26. Explain the ideas behind new classical macroeconomics. Chapter 23: economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic aggregates, business cycle, depression, recession, expansions, employment, unemployment, labor force, discouraged workers, underemployment, unemployment rate, aggregate output, stabilization policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, long-run growth (aka secular long-run growth), nominal, real, aggregate price level, inflation, deflation, price stability, inflation rate, closed economy, open economy, openeconomy macroeconomics, exchange rate, trade balance, capital flows (32). Chapter 24: national income and product accounts/national accounts, consumer spending, stock, bond, government transfers, disposable income, private savings, financial markets, government borrowing, government purchases of goods and services, exports, imports, final goods and services, intermediate goods and services, gross domestic product (GDP), aggregate spending, value added, net exports, real GDP, nominal GDP, GDP per capita, market basket, price index, inflation rate, consumer price index (CPI), producer price index (PPI), GDP deflator (27). Chapter 32: frictional unemployment, structural unemployment, efficiency wages, natural rate of unemployment, cyclical unemployment, output gap, Okun s Law, sticky wages, short-run Phillips curve, expected rate of inflation, NAIRU, long-run Phillips curve. (12) Chapter 34: Keynesian economics, macroeconomic policy activism, Monetarism, discretionary monetary policy, monetary policy rule, political business cycle, new classical macroeconomics, rational expectations, real business cycle theory, inflation targeting. (10)
UGRP: Unit 3 Guided Reading Packet Chapter 23 and 24 Vocabulary Notecards o ACDCLeadership.com: -Our units are based on Mr. Clifford s work check his site out! o 5 Steps to a 5 Chapter 7 (2017 Edition) UPSP: What is Macroeconomics and Understanding the Circular Flow of the Macroeconomy Problem Set The Business Cycle and GDP Problem Set Unemployment Problem Set Nominal GDP, Real GPD, and Inflation Rate (CPI) Problem Set Unit 3 Economic Articles Problem Set Assessments: Macro-what-economics!? Unit 3 Vocabulary Quiz Unit 3 Reading Quiz Unit 3 Test MC & 2 FRQ Unit 4: Measurement of Economic Performance (4 weeks) Objectives Chapter 25-26: 1. Explain how long-run growth can be measured by the increase in real GDP per capita, how this measure has changed over time, and how it varies across countries. 2. Explain why productivity is the key to long-run growth and how productivity is driven by physical capital, human capital, and technological progress. 3. Understand the factors that explain why growth rates differ so much among countries. 4. How growth has varied among several important regions of the world and why the convergence hypothesis applies to economically advanced countries, but only conditionally to many poorer countries. 5. Explain the relationship between savings and investment spending. 6. Understand and explain the aspects of the loanable funds market, which shows how savers are matched with borrowers. 7. Explain the purpose of the four principal types of financial instruments: stocks, bonds, loans, and bank deposits. 8. Explain how financial intermediaries help investors overcome the problems of high transactions costs, risk, and the need for liquidity. 9. Analyze some competing views of what determines stock prices and why stock market fluctuations can be a source of macroeconomic instability. Objectives Chapter 27-28: 1. Explain how the aggregate supply curve illustrates the relationship between the aggregate price level and the quantity of aggregate output supplied by the economy. 2. Explain why the aggregate supply curve is different in the short run as compared to the long run. 3. Explain how the aggregate demand curve illustrates the relationship between the aggregate price level and the quantity of aggregate output demanded in the economy. 4. Understand and explain the importance of the multiplier. 5. Illustrate how the AS-AD model is used to analyze economic fluctuations. 6. Explain how the economy tends to self-correct in the long run. 7. Explain how monetary policy and fiscal policy can be used to try to stabilize the economy in the short run. 8. Understand the factors that cause the AD curve to shift to the right (non-change in price level).
Objectives Chapter 29: 1. Explain what fiscal policy is and why it is an important tool in managing economic fluctuations. 2. Explain which policies constitute an expansionary fiscal policy and which constitute a contractionary fiscal policy. 3. Explain why fiscal policy has a multiplier effect and how this effect is influenced by automatic stabilizers. 4. Explain why tax and transfer multipliers are less than the government purchases multipliers. Chapter 25: Real GDP per capita, Rule of 70, labor productivity, physical capital, human capital, technology, aggregate production function, diminishing returns to physical capital, growth accounting, total factor productivity, infrastructure, research and development, convergence hypothesis. (13) Chapter 26: savings-investment spending identity, budget surplus, budget deficit, budget balance, national savings, capital inflow, loanable funds market, interest rate, rate of return, crowding out, (household) wealth, financial asset, physical asset, transaction costs, financial risk, diversification, liquid, illiquid, loan, financial intermediary, mutual fund, pension plan, bank deposit, bank, efficient markets hypothesis. (25) Chapter 27: aggregate supply curve, nominal wage, short-run aggregate supply curve, long-run aggregate supply curve, potential output, aggregate demand curve, marginal propensity to consume (MPC), marginal propensity to save (MPS), multiplier, AS-AD model, short-run macroeconomic equilibrium, short-run equilibrium aggregate price level, Short-run equilibrium aggregate output, supply shock, stagflation, demand shock, long-run macroeconomic equilibrium, recessionary gap, inflationary gap, self-correcting. (20) Chapter 28: consumption function, aggregate consumption function, accelerator principle, inventories, inventory investment, unplanned inventory investment, actual investment spending, planned aggregate spending, income-expenditure equilibrium, income-expenditure equilibrium GDP, Keynesian cross. (12) Chapter 29: social insurance, expansionary fiscal policy, contractionary fiscal policy, automatic stabilizers, discretionary fiscal policy, cyclical adjusted budget balance, fiscal years, public debt, debt-gdp ratio, implicit liabilities. (10). Homework Assignments: Unit 4 Guided Reading Packet Chapter 25-26, 27-28, and 29 Vocabulary Notecards o ACDCLeadership.com: -Our units are based on Mr. Clifford s work check his site out! o 5 Steps to a 5 Chapter 7, 8, 9 (2017 Edition) Classwork Assignments: Introduction to Aggregate Demand Problem Set Introduction to Aggregate Supply Problem Set Short-Run Equilibrium Price Level and Output Problem Set Short-Run to Long-Run and LRAS and the PPC Problem Set Classical and Keynesian Economics Problem Set Short-Run Philips Curve Problem Set The Magic of the Multiplier Problem Set Fiscal Policy Problem Set Assessment: How do we measure the performance of the macroeconomy? Chapter 25-26 combined Vocab Quiz, 27-29 Combined Vocab Quiz Chapter 25-26 combined Reading Quiz, 27-29 Combined Reading Quiz Unit 4 Test MC & 2 FRQ
Unit 5: Monetary Policy (2 weeks) 1. Explain why tax and transfer multipliers are less than the government purchases multipliers. 2. Explain how the Federal Reserve System is structured and the various roles it plays. 3. Explain how the actions of private banks and the Federal Reserve determine the money supply. 4. Explain how the money multiplier is measured. 5. Explain how the Federal Reserve uses open-market operations to change the monetary base. 6. Explain and illustrate what the money demand curve is. 7. Explain how the Federal Reserve can move interest rates. 8. Explain how monetary policy affects aggregate output in the short run. 9. Explain why economists believe in monetary neutrality that monetary policy affects only the price level, not aggregate output, in the long run. Chapter 30: money, currency in circulation, checkable bank deposits, money supply, medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account, commodity money, commodity-backed money, fiat money, monetary aggregate, M1, M2 (near moneys), M3, bank reserves, reserve ration, deposit insurance, reserve requirements, monetary base, money multiplier, central bank, federal funds market, federal funds rate, discount rate, open-market operation. (25) Chapter 31: short-term interest rates, long-term interest rates, money demand curve, real quantity of money, real money demand curve, velocity of money, quantity equation, liquidity preference model of the interest rate, money supply curve, target federal funds rate, expansionary monetary policy, contractionary monetary policy, monetary neutrality. (13) Homework Assignments: Unit 5 Guided Reading Packet Chapter 30 and 31 Vocabulary Notecards o ACDCLeadership.com: -Our units are based on Mr. Clifford s work check his site out! o 5 Steps to a 5 Chapter 7, 10, 11 (2017 Edition) Classwork Handouts: What is Money Problem Set The Federal Reserve Problem Set Monetary Equation of Exchange Problem Set Multiple Expansion of Demand Deposits Problem Set Monetary and Fiscal Policy Problem Set Assessment: What is monetary policy? Unit 5 Vocabulary Quiz Unit 5 Reading Quiz Unit 5 Test MC & 2 FRQ
Unit 6: Open Markets and International Trade (3 weeks) 1. Explain who gains, and who loses from international trade AND why the gains exceed the losses. 2. Explain why tariffs and import quotas cause inefficiency and reduce total surplus. 3. Explain why governments often engage in trade protection AND how international trade agreements counteract this. 4. Explain the role of the foreign exchange market and the exchange rate. 5. Explain & illustrate the Foreign Exchange Market Graphs. 6. Illustrate what happens to the Foreign Exchange Market Graphs for each of the following scenarios: o Prices of US goods fall relative to the prices of imported goods. o Interest rates in the US rise slower than interest rates in Canada. o French tourists flock to Mexico s beaches. o American video games become popular with Japanese children. 7. Illustrate the foreign exchange market (US dollar to Taiwan dollar) when the US carries out expansionary fiscal policy. 8. Illustrate the foreign exchange Market (US to Taiwan dollar) when the US carries out contractionary monetary policy. Chapter 17: imports, exports, autarky, factor intensity, Heckscher-Ohlin model, domestic demand curve, domestic supply curve, world price, exporting industries, Import-competing industries, free trade, trade protection (protectionism), tariff, import quota, international trade agreements, World Trade Organization (WTO). (16) Chapter 35: balance of payments accounts, balance of payments on goods and services, trade balance, current account, financial account, foreign exchange market, exchange rates, equilibrium exchange rate, real exchange rate, purchasing power parity, exchange market intervention, foreign exchange reserves, devaluation, revaluation. (14) UGRP: UPSP: Unit 6 Guided Reading Packet Chapter 17 and 35 Vocabulary Notecards o ACDCLeadership.com: -Our units are based on Mr. Clifford s work check his site out! o 5 Steps to a 5 Chapter 12 (2017 Edition) Reffonomics Problem Set Assessment: Open for business! Unit 6 Vocabulary Quiz Unit 6 Reading Quiz Unit 6 Test MC & 2 FRQ