AP MACROECONOMICS COURSE SYLLABUS AP Macroeconomics is a one semester college level course. The AP Macroeconomics course is designed as an initial college level course in macroeconomics and as a foundation for future college study in economics or business. Each student is expected to take the AP Macroeconomics exam that is administered in May. Passing the AP Macroeconomics examination will give the student three hours of college credit. AP Macroeconomics emphasizes economic principles as applied to the economy as a whole. Topics discussed will reflect the material included in the let AP Economics Course Description from the College Board. Lessons include an analysis of national income and its components, economic indicators, inflation and unemployment, money and banking, stabilization policies and the United States and world trade. There will be 2 sections of AP Macroeconomics. The classes will meet five times a week. The classes will be for 50 minutes with approximately 20 students in each section. Throughout the course students will have plenty opportunity to improve their writing, speaking, critical thinking and consensus building skills. Summer Reading Buchholz, Todd. New Ideas From Dead Economists. New York: Plame, 1999 Texts Bade, Robin and Michael Parkin. Foundations of Economics AP Edition. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. Work Book Pride, Margaret and Sandra Wright, and Mark Rush. AP Test Prep Series AP Economics. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. Additional Readings The Economist The Wall Street Journal Local Newspaper Articles Magazine Articles Guest Speakers Federal Reserve Bank, NYC Goldman Sachs Inc., NYC World Bank, Washington DC Summer Assignment Students will read and do a critical analysis of the summer reading text in order to become familiar with modern economic thought. This reading will be referred to on a unit basis in which students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding each unit study.
Homework will be from the Corresponding Work Book Course Outline Unit 1: Basic Economic Concepts Basic Economic Concepts A. Scarcity, Choice, and Opportunity Cost B. Production Opportunity Curves C. Comparative Advantage, Absolute Advantage, Specialization and Exchange D. Demand, Supply and market Equilibrium E. Macroeconomic Issues: Business Cycle, Unemployment, Inflation and Growth Chapters Included in Unit One Bade & Parkin, Chapters 1, 3, 4, 20, 21 & 22 List of Key Concepts and Graphs Concepts: Introduction to the language of economics, micro versus macro, positive versus normative economics, economic decision making, pitfalls of decision making, scarcity, opportunity costs, production possibilities, absolute advantage, comparative advantage, specialization, terms of trade, demand schedule, determinants of demand, individual and market demand curves, supply schedule, determinants of supply, market equilibrium, shifts in supply and demand with effects on equilibrium price and quantity, introduction of key macroeconomic issues Production Possibility Curve (frontier) Demand and Supply Curve showing equilibrium Demand and Supply Curves showing shifts in demand and supply List of Key Words or Terms Key Terms: Economics, factors of production, inputs, outputs, capital, microeconomics, macroeconomics, positive economics, normative economics, ceteris paribus, fallacy of composition, scarcity, opportunity costs, model, production possibilities, constant costs, law of increasing opportunity cost, absolute advantage, comparative advantage, specialization, terms of trade, demand, law of demand, quantity demanded, market demand, substitutes, complements, normal goods, inferior goods, supply. law of supply, quantity supplied, market equilibrium, equilibrium price, equilibrium quantity, business cycle, recession, trough, recovery, unemployment, inflation, economic growth Power Point Presentations on Basic Economic Concepts and Macroeconomic Issues 1. Students will use individual white boards to practice graphs and correct as we review their work
on 2. Students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding the unit study. Timeline for Unit One Day Class 1 Introduction to the Economic Way of Thinking, Chapter 1 2 Discussion of Scarcity & Opportunity Costs, Chapter Section 1.1 & 1.2 3 Production Possibilities, Chapter Section 3.1 4 Absolute and Comparative Advantage, Chapter Section 3.5 5 Specialization and Exchange, Chapter Section 34.2 6 Test on Introductory Information 7 Demand, Chapter Section 4.1 8 Shifts in Demand, Begin Supply, Chapter Section 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 9 Quiz on Demand, shifts in supply, changes in equilibrium prices/quantity 10 Macroeconomic Issues, Chapters 20, 21, 22 11 Review, Jeopardy 12 Unit One Examination: Multiple Choice 13 Unit One examination: Free Response Unit 2: Measurement of Economic Performance National Income Accounts 1. Circular Flow 2. Gross Domestic Product 3. Components of Gross Product Inflation Measurement and Adjustment 1. Price Indices 2. Nominal and Real Values 3. Costs of Inflation Unemployment 1. Definition and Measurement 2. Types of Unemployment 3. Natural Rate of Unemployment Chapters Included in Unit Two Bade & Parkin, Chapters 2, 20, 21, 22, 23, & 28 List of Key Concepts and Graphs Concepts: Circular flow of economic activity, inclusions and exclusions concerning gross domestic product, expenditure approach to gross domestic product, income approach to gross domestic product, nominal versus real gross domestic product, phases of the business cycle, types of employment, full employment, measurements of inflation, types of inflation, effects of inflation Circular flow of economic activity Phases of the Business Cycle List of Key Words or Terms Key Terms: Gross national product, gross domestic product, intermediate goods, final goods, multiple counting, expenditure approach, income approach, personal consumption expenditures, gross private
domestic investment, net private domestic investment, government purchases, net exports, national income, consumption of fixed capital, depreciation, personal income, disposable personal income, nominal GDP, real GDP, GDP deflator, peak, recession, trough, recovery, labor force, unemployment rate, frictional unemployment, structural unemployment, cyclical unemployment, full-employment rate of unemployment, natural rate of unemployment, inflation, Consumer Price Index, demand-pull inflation, cost-push inflation, nominal income, real income, deflation Power Point Presentations on National Income Accounts, Inflation Measurement and Adjustment & Unemployment 2. Students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding the unit study. Timeline for Unit Two Day Class 1 What is GNP? Chapter Section 20.1 & 20.2 2 Components of GDP, expenditure approach, income approach, Chapter section 20.1 & 20.2 3 Nominal and Real GDP, Chapter Section 20.3 4 Types of Employment, Chapter Section 21.1, 21.2 & 21.3 5 Types of Inflation, Chapter Section Chapters 22 & 28 6 Determining real versus nominal values using price indexes, Chapter Section 22.1, 22.2 & 22.3 7 Costs of Inflation, Chapter Section 28.3 8 Review Activities from Work Book 9 Unit Two Examination: Multiple Choice 10 Unit Two Examination: Free Response Unit 3: National Income and Price Determination Aggregate Demand 1. Determinants of Aggregate Demand 2. Multiplier and Crowding out Effects Aggregate Supply 1. Short Run and Long Run Analysis 2. Sticky Versus Flexible wages and prices 3. Determinants of Aggregate Supplies Macroeconomic Equilibrium 1. Real Output and Price Level 2. Short and Long Run 3. Actual Versus Real Employment Output
4. Economic Fluctuations Chapters Included in Unit Three Bade & Parkin, Chapters 21, 23, 24, 29, 30, 32, List of Key Concepts and Graphs Concepts: Marginal propensity to consume, the multiplier effect, reasons for the downward sloping aggregate demand curve, determinants of aggregate demand, aggregate supply in the short and long run, sticky versus flexible prices and wages, determination of equilibrium output and price level, actual versus full employment, utilization of resources Investment demand curve Aggregate demand and short run aggregate supply curve Aggregate demand and long run aggregate demand curve List of Key Words or Terms Key Terms: Marginal propensity to consume, marginal propensity to save, investment, multiplier, investment schedule, leakage, injection, real balances effect, interest rate effect, aggregate demand, short run aggregate supply, equilibrium price level, equilibrium real output Power Point Presentations on Aggregate Demand, Aggregate Supply &Macroeconomic Equilibrium 2. Students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding the unit study. Timeline for Unit Three Day Class 1 Introduce marginal propensity as it applies to consumption and saving, Chapter Section 30.1 2 Multiplier effect, Chapter Sections 24.3 & 30.3 3 Aggregate demand and its determinants, Chapter sections 29.3, 30.1, 30.2, 30.3, 30.4 4 Short run aggregate supply, Chapter sections 23.1, 30.1, 30.2, 32.1 & 32.2 5 Long run aggregate supply, Chapter sections 23.1, 30.1, 30.2, 32.1 & 32.2 6 Sticky versus flexible wages and prices, Chapter sections 32.1, 32.2 7 Equilibrium real output and prices, Chapter sections 29.4 8 Supply shock changes in aggregate demand, Chapter section 29.4 9 Review Activities in Work and Jeopardy 10 Unit Three Examination: Multiple Choice 11 Unit Three Examination: Free Response
Unit 4: Financial Sector Money, Banking and Financial Markets 1. Definition of Financial Assets: Money, Stocks and Bonds 2. Time Value of Money, Present & Future 3. Measure of Money Supply 4. Banks and Creation of Money 5. Money demand 6. Money Market 7. Loanable Funds Market Central Bank & Control of the Money Supply 1. Tools and Central bank Policy 2. Quantity Theory of Money 3. Real versus Nominal Interest rates Chapters Included in Unit Four Bade & Parkin, Chapters 24, 26, 27 & 28 List of Key Concepts and Graphs Concepts: Function of money, characteristics of money, measure of money, demand of money, the money market, the creation of money, loanable funds market, organization of the Federal Reserve, tools of monetary policy, responsibilities of the Federal Reserve, quantity theory of money Money Market Loanable Funds Market List of Key Words and Terms: Key Terms: Medium of exchange, store of value, measure of value, M1, M2, M3, checkable deposits, demand deposits, rime deposits, legal tender, asset demand, transaction demand, balance sheet, T account, fractional reserve banking system, required reserves, excess reserves, actual reserves, fed funds rate, prime interest rate, discount rate, open market operations, monetary multiplier, nominal interest rate, real interest rate, federal deposit insurance company, velocity of money Power Point Presentations on Banking, Financial Markets, Central Banks & Money Supply 2. Students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding the unit study. Timeline for Unit Four
Day Class 1 Definition of financial assets, money, stocks & bonds, Chapter Sections 24.1 & 26.1 2 Time Value of Money (present and future value) Chapter Sections 24.2 and 24 Appendix 3 Measures of Money Supply, Chapter Section 26.1 4 Banks and creation of money, Chapter Sections 27.1 & 27.2 5 Guest speaker from Goldman Sachs Inc., NYC 6 Money demand, Chapter Section 28.1 7 Money market, Chapter Section 28.2 8 Loanable fund market, Chapter Section 24.2 9 Tools of central bank policy, Chapter Section 26.3 10 Quantity theory of money, Chapter Section 28.2 11 Real versus nominal interest rates, Chapter Sections 22.3, 28.1 & 28.2 12 Unit Four Examination: multiple choice 13 Unit Four Examination: free response Unit 5: Inflation, Unemployment and Stabilization Policies Fiscal & Monetary Policies 1. Demand-side Effects 2. Supply-side Effects 3. Policy Mix 4. Government Deficits & Debts Inflation & Unemployment 1. Types of Inflation 2. Demand-Pull Inflation 3. Cash-Push Inflation 4. The Philip Curve: Short Run Versus Long Run 5. Roles of Expectations Chapters Included in Unit Five Bade &Parkin, Chapters 24, 31, 32, 33 List of Key Concepts and Graphs Concepts:Fiscal Policy and the Aggregate demand/aggregate supply model, monetary policy and the Aggregate demand/aggregate supply model, combinations of the policies and their effects, international considerations, government deficits and debts, long run aggregate supply, demand-pull inflation, cashpush inflation, the inflation-unemployment relationship & expectations Aggregate demand/aggregate supply model The Philip Curve List of Key Words and Terms: Key Terms: Expansionary fiscal policy, contractionary fiscal policy, budget deficit, budget surplus, built in stabilizer, discretionary policy, progressive tax system, regressive tax system, proportional tax system, crowding out effect, net export effect, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, open market operations, discount rate reserve requirement, short run, long run, Philip Curve, stagflation, aggregate supply shocks, long-run vertical supply curve, supply side economics
Power Point Presentations on Fiscal Policies, Monetary Policies, Inflation and Unemployment. 2. Students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding the unit study. Timeline for Unit Five Day Class 1 Fiscal Policy, Chapter section 31.1 2 Consequence of fiscal policy, Chapter section 31.1 3 Monetary policy, Chapter section 31.2 4 Consequence of monetary policy, Chapter section 31.2 5 Fiscal and monetary policies, Chapter 31 6 Government budget deficits and Debts, Chapter section 24.3 & 31.1 7 Short-run and long run supply curve, Chapter 32 8 Short-run and long run Philip Curve, Chapter section 32.1 & 32.2 9 Expectations, Chapter section 32.2 &32.3 10 Guest Speaker from the Federal Reserve Board in NYC 11 Review, Jeopardy 12 Unit Five examination: multiple choice 13 Unit Five Examination: free response Unit 6: Economic Growth and Productivity 1. Investment in Human Capital 2. Investment in Physical Capital 3. Research and Development, and Technological progress 4. Growth Policy 5. Productivity Chapters Included in Unit Six Bade &Parkin, Chapters 24 & 25 List of Key Concepts and Concepts: Ingredients of economic growth, production possibilities analysis, growth in the AD/AS model, long and short run analysis, labor and productivity, technological advance Production Possibilities Curve Aggregate demand/aggregate Supply Model
List of Key Words and Terms: Key Terms: Economic growth, labor productivity, labor force participation rate, human capital, economies of scale, infrastructure, efficiency Power Point Presentations on economic growth and productivity. 2. Students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding the unit study. Timeline for Unit Six Day Class 1 Ingredients of growth, Chapter 24 and 25 2 Production Possibilities AD/AS Analysis, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, chapter 25 3 Growth and Labor productivity and technological advance, Chapter 25 4 Macroeconomic implications, Chapters 24 & 25 5 Review 6 Unit Six Examination: Multiple choice 7 Unit Six Examination: Free response Unit 7: International Trade and Finance A. Balance of Payment Accounts 1. Balance of Trade 2. Current Account 3. Capital Account B. Foreign exchange Market 1. Demand For and Supply of Foreign exchange 2. Exchange Rate Determination 3. Currency Appreciation & Depreciation C. Net Exports & Capital Flows D. Links to Financial Goods Markets Chapters Included in Unit Seven Bade &Parkin, Chapters 34 & 35 List of Key Concepts & Graphs Concepts: the US and world trade, absolute and comparative advantage, balance of payments, foreign exchange markets, implications of foreign trade, effects of domestic fiscal and monetary policies on capital flows and foreign exchange markets, use of resources, decisions and policy making
Production Possibilities Foreign Exchange Markets List of Key Words or Terms Key Terms:Tariffs, quotas, subsidies, absolute advantage, comparative advantage, terms of trade, world price, domestic price, current account, balance of goods and services, trade deficit, trade surplus, capital account, official reserves, flexible exchange rates, fixed exchange rates, depreciation, appreciation, General Agreement of Tariff and Trade (GATT), World Trade Organization (WTO), North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) European Union (EU) World Bank and International Money Fund (IMF Power Point Presentations on International Trade and Finance. 2. Students will form groups and do presentations regarding the dead economist s ideas regarding the unit study. Timeline for Unit Seven Day Class 1 The US and world trade/barriers to trade, Chapter 34 2 Absolute and Comparative Advantage, Chapter 34 3 Balance of Payments and trade, Accounts Chapter 35 4 Current and Capital Accounts, Chapter section 35.1 5 Guest speaker from the World Bank, Washington DC 6 Introduction to exchange rates, Chapter 35 7 Foreign exchange rates, Chapter 35 8 Implications of foreign exchange rates and economic policies, Chapter 35 9 Review, Jeopardy 10 Unit Seven Examination: Multiple Choice 11 Unit Seven examination: Free Response