Syllabus

//Any changes to the syllabus from the 10:40am, Jan 18 version will be announced.// toc Spring 2011
 * __Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory__**

Why are some countries rich and some poor? What is money and what causes inflation? What caused the financial crisis of 2007-2009 and why is it still affecting the U.S. economy? Macroeconomic theory gives us important insights into these and other questions about the aggregate economy. In this course, we will review the current state of macroeconomic knowledge, with a focus on closely examining simplified versions of the core (mathematical) models.

Your grade will measure your understanding of these core models and other key macroeconomics knowledge, as presented in the textbook. How much you get out of the course will depend on your efforts to engage with the material and think critically about how it relates to the real world.

__Catalog description__: "Principles and theories of national income determination, analysis of savings, consumption, investment and other aggregates in the national and international economy and relation to employment, inflation and stabilization." **Prerequisites**: Any two intro econ courses and one semester calc (Math 221 or 211; Math 221 recommended).

Lectures: Tues./Thurs. 1-2:15pm, Bascom 165

Lecturer
[|Tim Huegerich] Office: [|Sewell Social Sciences] 6416 Office hours: Mon. 9-10am, Wed. 2-3pm

Teaching Assistants

 * ~  ||~ Email ||~ Office ||~ Office hours ||
 * Sean Kim || kim246@wisc.edu || [|SS] 6435 || Thur 11-1 ||
 * Suphanit Piyapromdee || piyapromdee@wisc.edu || [|SS] 6473 || Mon 11-12 and Fri 11-12 ||

Email Policy
Please ask your questions on the wiki when appropriate so that other students may benefit from your inquiry as well. If you prefer email, please contact your TA first unless you have a need to contact the lecturer.

Electronic Devices
The use of electronic devices (laptops, smartphones, texting, etc.) is not permitted in lectures without the explicit permission of the lecturer.

Textbook
The required textbook is [|Macroeconomics] (2nd edition) by [|Charles "Chad" Jones]. (We are keeping a list of typos/mistakes.)

The second edition is required, but students may choose among three formats: hardcover for ~$160 (ISBN 9780393934236), softcover for ~$128 (ISBN 9780393149869), or the 3-hole punch/notebook version for ~$96 (ISBN 9780393934236).

One copy of the textbook is available on reserve in College Library.

Course Wiki
The purpose of using a wiki is to make it easy to ask and answer questions, create review materials, work on group projects, and discuss current events and policy debates. Respect the ground rules. Otherwise, be bold and contribute anything you think would be helpful for your classmates.

(One additional website will be used for the course: SmartWork for regular online homework and possibly additional course materials that cannot be posted publicly.)

Course Outline

 * Introduction (Chs. 1-2)
 * Growth (Chs. 3-6)
 * Labor Market (Ch. 7)
 * Inflation (Ch. 8)
 * **Midterm 1**
 * Short Run Fluctuations (Chs. 9,11-13)
 * Financial Crisis of 2007-9 (Chs. 10,14)
 * **Midterm 2**
 * Microfoundations (Chs. 15-16)
 * Government (Ch. 17)
 * International (Chs. 18-19)

Course Schedule

 * ~ Week ||~ Date ||~ Topic ||~ Reading ||~ Other ||
 * 1 || Jan 18 || Introduction || Ch 1* ||  ||
 * ^  || Jan 20 || Economic Growth || Ch 2, Ch 3 ||   ||
 * 2 || Jan 25 || A Model of Production || Ch 4.1-4.3 ||  ||
 * ^  || Jan 27 || Capital Accumulation (Solow) || Ch 4.4-4.5, Ch 5.1-5.4 ||   ||
 * 3 || Feb 1 || Capital Accumulation 2 || Ch 5.5-5.10 || P.S. 1 posted ||
 * ^  || Feb 3 || Growth and Ideas (Romer) || Ch 6.1-6.3 ||   ||
 * ^  || Feb 4 |||| //First Presentation Week A// ||   ||
 * 4 || Feb 8 || Combined Growth Model || Ch 6.4-6.9 ||  ||
 * ^  || Feb 10 || Growth Clean-up || none ||   ||
 * ^  || Feb 11 |||| //First Presentation Week B// ||   ||
 * 5 || Feb 15 || Labor Market Basics || Ch 7.1-7.5 ||  ||
 * ^  || Feb 17 || Inequality || Ch 7.6-7.7 ||   ||
 * ^  || Feb 18 |||| //First Presentation Week C// || P.S. 1 due ||
 * 6 || Feb 22 || Inflation || Ch 8 || P.S. 1 late due ||
 * ^  || Feb 24 || Long-Run Overview || none ||   ||
 * 7 || Mar 1 |||| **Long-Run Midterm** ||  ||
 * ^  || Mar 3 || Short Run Fluctuations || Ch 9 ||   ||
 * 8 || Mar 8 || Causes of the Financial Crisis || Ch 10 ||  ||
 * ^  || Mar 10 || IS Curve || Ch 11 ||   ||
 * - || Mar 15, 17 |||| Spring Break ||  ||
 * 9 || Mar 22 || Cancelled ||  || P.S. 2 posted ||
 * ^  || Mar 24 || Completing the Short-run model & Monetary Nitty Gritty || Ch 12 ||   ||
 * 10 || Mar 29 || Basic Stabilization Policy || Ch 13.1-13.6 ||  ||
 * ^  || Mar 31 || Monetary Policy, Second Look at Financial Crisis || Ch13.7, Ch 14.1-14.2 ||   ||
 * ^  || Apr 1 |||| || P.S. 2 due ||
 * 11 || Apr 5 || Policy Responses to the Financial Crisis || Ch 14.3-14.4 || P.S. 2 late due ||
 * ^  || Apr 7 || Short-run Overview || none ||   ||
 * 12 || Apr 12 |||| **Short-run Midterm** ||  ||
 * ^  || Apr 14 |||| Cancelled ||   ||
 * 13 || Apr 19 || Consumption and Saving || Ch 15 || ||
 * ^  || Apr 21 || Investment and Asset Prices || Ch 16 || P.S. 3 posted, Extra Credit rough draft due  ||
 * 14 || Apr 26 || Government Debt || Ch 17 ||  ||
 * ^  || Apr 28 || Trade Across Time and Exchange Rates || Ch 18, Ch 19.1-19.2 ||   ||
 * 15 || May 3 || Exchange Rates in the Short Run & Exchange Rate Policies || Ch 19.3-19.8 || P.S. 3 due ||
 * ^  || May 5 || Review || Ch 20 || P.S. 3 late due, Extra Credit final draft due  ||
 * - || May 9 |||| **Final Exam** (7:45am, Bascom 165) ||  ||
 * It's OK to read Chapter 1 after the first lecture if you don't have the textbook yet.

Discussion Sections
Students are expected to actively participate in discussion sections. Discussion section grades, however, will be based solely on attendance, according to the following scale: Individual misses will not be excused. If something may cause you to miss more than one section, discuss it with your TA as soon as you can to see about making up for the missed sections.
 * 0-1 miss || 10 points ||
 * 2 misses || 9 points ||
 * 3 || 7 points ||
 * 4 || 4 points ||
 * 5+ || 0 points ||

SmartWork quizzes
A short set of online problems covering the assigned reading will be due at the start of most every lecture (assume it is unless otherwise announced). They will be posted at least three days in advance (problems due Tues. at 1pm will be posted by Sat., problems due on Thurs will be posted by Monday).



Problem Sets
Three problem sets will be assigned throughout the semester. There is a grace period after each problem set due date in which students may turn in their problem sets late without penalty. However, after the "late due" date, problem sets will not be accepted.

Presentations
Two One group presentation will be assigned throughout the semester. Small groups will give presentations in their discussion section. Groups may collaborate across discussion sections but each is responsible for presenting their topic to their discussion section. Written feedback will be given for each presentation. Grading for presentations is pass/fail. Unsatisfactory contributions will deduct 5 points off your final grade.
 * Growth Presentation

Grading
Your final grade will be based on your grasp of the core concepts laid out in the textbook, as measured by points on the following
 * 10 for Attendance in Discussion Sections (see above)
 * 10* for SmartWork quizzes
 * 30 for Problem Sets
 * 15 for Long-run Midterm
 * 15 for Short-run Midterm
 * 20 for the Final Exam
 * 2 point buffer: Each student will have 2 points added to their final SmartWork grade at the end of the course. However, 10 points will still be the maximum number of points you can earn from SmartWork. Also, the very first SmartWork assignment counts for half as much as a normal SmartWork assignment.

Extra Credit: There is an opportunity to earn 5 points of extra credit doing a project that will take around 15 hours to complete. (More details will be posted soon.)


 * A || 90+ ||
 * AB || 82+ ||
 * B || 75+ ||
 * BC || 65+ ||
 * C || 55+ ||
 * D || 45+ ||
 * F || below 45 ||

Exams
Exams will be based on understanding the material covered in the textbook. The Chapter Reviews at the end of each chapter are the best guides for review. While some exam questions will measure basic recall of important information, others will require a deeper level of understanding of the concepts. More details will be provided on the format of the exam, but any questions about what material will be covered on the exam will simply be referred to this section of the syllabus. A running tally of these questions will be kept on the course wiki here: Will this be on the exam?

//Re-grade requests//: If you would like to appeal your grade on an exam, fill out and submit it, together with your exam, to the lecturer. The deadline for re-grade requests is one week after exams are returned.

Student Support Services
Economics Dept. Staff: Academic and career advising and more - http://www.econ.wisc.edu/undergrad/

Accommodations for Disabilities: Your success in this class is important. If you have a disability or particular circumstance that may have an impact upon your work in this class, please contact an instructor early in the semester so that we can work together to adapt assignments to meet your needs and the requirements of the course. The McBurney Disability Resource Center Services is located on the second floor of 702 West Johnson Street (also 263-2741 or http://www.mcburney.wisc.edu/services/). Students need to provide documentation of a disability to this office in order to receive official university services and accommodations. ([|wording adapted from Bruce Wampold])

Academic Misconduct
Be familiar with the UW's policy: http://students.wisc.edu/saja/misconduct/UWS14.html Don't test it.