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Instructor Information James Murray, Ph.D. Office: 403W Wimberly Hall Office phone: 608-785-5140 Email: murray.jame@uwlax.edu
Course Description Introduction to the functioning of the world economy. Applications of economic principals to domestic and international problems with an introduction to economic systems, economic thought, and economic history around the world. General topics include the economics of international exchange rates, global macroeconomics, international monetary systems, and economic development.
Course Goals The major purpose of this course is to provide students with an analytical framework for life-long independent thinking about global economic issues. Additional objectives include: cultivating students' understanding and appreciation of the historical development of economic ideas and economic systems around the world, introducing students to the tool of macroeconomic analysis and their application to achieving stability and growth in the world economy, and promoting student awareness of the interdependence of national economies and the consequent necessity for global cooperation in coordinating macroeconomic policy.
Learning Objectives
General Education Student Learning Outcomes
Course Resources Textbook: Frank & Bernanke. (FB) 2007. Principles of Macroeconomics. Third Edition. McGraw-Hill Irwin. Internet Resource: Aplia. This is an online economics course learning tool. It provides many optional and required exercises to enhance your knowledge of economics, and detailed immediate feedback on your work. It is available for purchase for $35 either online or by mailing a check. Regular homework assignments will require you to use Aplia. You may register for Aplia online at http://www.aplia.com. When prompted use course key: JK7V-HNB8-LGQT. Further instructions on registering for Aplia will be given in class.
All material handed out in class will be posted on the class website. Grades, announcements and other communication will be done through Desire2Learn.
Office Hours Regular office hours are 9:00am to 10:00am Monday, Wednesday and Friday. These are times when you can drop by announced and expect me to be in my office. I encourage you to not feel limited to these times and just shoot me an e-mail if you would like to meet at an alternative time. Frequently keeping up with the material usually requires frequent office visits, so I feel frequently coming to my office for questions is essential to your success.
Outside of my regularly scheduled classes and office hours, my availability changes all the time. You can visit my calendar at http://www.murraylax.org/calendar.html. It is constantly updated.
Assessment Learning will be assessed through weekly quizzes, homework, and exams. The grading breakdown will be:
Grade Breakdown
I reserve the right to scale every person's grade up by the same amount on any graded item in the event that much of the class falls short of the scale above. However, even if the grades are significantly low, there is no guarantee that I will ever do this.
Quizzes / In-class exercises There will be many announced quizzes, unannounced (pop) quizzes, and in-class exercises given throughout the semester. Adequate preparation for these will involve reading ahead for class and completing homework assignments on time. Classes will begin with your questions so that you can resolve any problems with assigned work before the quiz begins. Quizzes may sometimes be open book and/or open note. Sometimes in-class exercises will be given, some of which must be done in small groups. Assessment of in-class exercises and quizzes are treated identically towards the final grade.
Weekly Homework Aplia homework assignments will be given almost every week. Assessment of homework assignments is treated identically as quizzes and in-class exercises towards the final grade. Doing these assignments requires registering for Aplia.
Exams There will be three midterm exams and one cumulative final exam. Each exam is worth 20% of final course grade. All exams require a calculator, so be sure to bring a calculator to class on exam days. The three midterm exams will be administered during regular class time and the final exam will be administered during final exam week according to the University final exam schedule. The exam dates are as follows:
Grade Insurance / News Reports The purpose of grade insurance is to insure you against the possibility that one of your midterm exams hurts your final grade due to a bad day, bad luck, or whatever the reason may be. If you pay your premiums, the lowest grade of the first three exams will be raised to the middle score of these exams, up to a maximum increase of 20 percentage points.
To pay the premiums for the insurance, every week of class beginning in the second week, write a 250 to 500 word news report and post it to the class blog by e-mailing it to blog@uwlmacro.posterous.com. The news story should cite a news paper article and discuss economics concepts that apply to the story and enhance one's understanding of the story. Feel free to check out all the blog entries on the class website at http://www.murraylax.org/eco120/studentblog/
Attendance Attendance is required to receive credit for quizzes, in-class exercises, and exams. However, if you need to miss a class day or exam day because of illness or emergency you can be excused and arrangements can be made for you to make up missed word. The University is especially concerned with the possible spread of H1N1 influenza. To reduce the chance of spreading the disease, the University recommends that if you experience two or more symptoms of flu that you not come to class nor stay in dormitories, but rather go home where you have contact with few people as possible, and return only after you are symptom free for 24 hours without medication.
E-mail Etiquette I insist on the following e-mail etiquette rules (many of these are also recommended by the College of Business Administration):
Disabilities Any student with a documented disability (e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, or hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the instructor and the Disability Resource Services office (165 Murphy Library, 785-6900) at the beginning of the semester. Students who are currently using the Disability Resource Services office will have a copy of a contract that verifies they are qualified students with disabilities who have documentation on file in the Disability Resource Services office. It is the student's responsibility to communicate their needs with the instructor in a timely manner.
Academic Dishonesty I follow the policy stated University Academic Handbook with regard to cheating and academic dishonesty. The student handbook can be found online at http://www.uwlax.edu/studentlife/eagle_eye.htm. In the event a student is caught cheating I will pursue the harshest penalty that the University will allow, regardless of how small the offense may appear.
Preliminary Topics Schedule Below is a schedule of topics, homework assignments, readings, and exams. This is a preliminary schedule; depending on time constraints and the topics the class finds most interesting, we may choose to not cover some of the items below, cover items that are not shown below, or re-arrange the schedule. The exam dates, however, will occur at the posted dates. The class website has a regularly updated calendar at http://www.murraylax.org/eco120/calendar.html Week 1: September 9, 11
Week 2: September 14, 16, 18
Week 3: September 21, 23, 25
Week 4: September 28, 30, October 2
Week 5: October 5, 7, 9
Week 6: October 12, 14, 16
Week 7: October 19, 21, 23
Week 8: October 26, 28, 30
Week 9: November 2, 4, 6
Week 10: November 9, 11, 13
Week 11: November 16, 18, 20
Week 12: November 23, 25
Week 13: November 30, December 2, 4
Week 14: December 7, 9, 11
Week 15: December 14, 16
Final Exam
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