1. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Prof. Dietrich Vollrath Office: McElhinney 201C, 743-3806 Office Hours: 2:30 – 5pm Tuesdays Email: devollrath@uh.edu Web: http://uhec3334.blogspot.com/ Teaching Assistant: Parul Mathur Office: McElhinney 246 Office Hours: ?? Email: parulmathur@rediffmail.com

2. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Intermediate Macroeconomics (6th edition) by Gregory Mankiw. www.worthpublishers.com/mankiw http://uhec3334.blogspot.com/

3. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Midterm: February 28 th, in class, 30% of grade Final: April 24 th, in class, 30% of grade Problem Sets: (3), due Feb. 5 th, Feb. 26 th, April 3rd, 20% of grade Short Article Discussions: (5), due whenever you do them, 10% of grade Paper: Due April 24 th, 10% of grade Extra credit: Comments on uhec3334.blogspot.com, each 1% extra, up to 10%.

4. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Withdrawals: by Jan 28 th with no grade for the course, by April 1 st to receive a “W”. After that – you get a letter grade. Problems, Emergencies, Issues: Talk to me right away

5. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 January 15 th – 22 nd : Introduction, data, and basic facts January 24 th – Feb. 5 th : Income, Money, and Open Economies –Application: The U.S. Trade Deficit February 7 th – March 4th: Short run fluctuations, building IS/LM model –Application: Risk versus reward in the IS market –Application: Fed operations and money creation –Application: Housing bubble February 28 th : MIDTERM covers points 1-3

6. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 March 6 th – 13 th : Open economy IS/LM –Application: Currency crises –Application: The rise of China March 25 th – April 1 st : The Philips curve and implications –Application: The Great Depression –Application: The Great Moderation April 3 rd – April 15 th : Other aspects of the macroeconomy –Application: Government debt –Application: Unions and unemployment –Application: Income distribution in the U.S. April 17 th – 22 nd : Growth and Development April 24 th : FINAL covers points 5-8

7. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Throughout the semester I will post articles, or links to articles, online at http://uhec3334.blogspot.com/. You are responsible for writing five (5) short article discussions on these.http://uhec3334.blogspot.com/ Each summary should be approximately 400-500 words (that’s not quite a full page of writing). You have two alternatives for submitting the summaries: –Use the “Comments” section on the website –Submit a typed/printed version

8. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Read any of the assigned articles and write a 1000-1200 word paper about one of them.

9. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Summarize the author’s main points in your own words. Please be aware that using exact sentences (without quotation marks) from the article in your paper is plagiarism. It is ok to use quotes SPARINGLY, but you should concentrate on describing the main points of the article in your words. Identify and explain one or two relevant economic concepts from our text and/or lecture that you find in the article. Present your personal evaluation/reaction to the article. If you submit on-line, feel free to respond to previous comments in a constructive or meaningful manner. FOR THE FINAL PAPER: Use the relevant economic theory (i.e. model) that we discussed in class to analyze the main points of the article.

10. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Identifies the economic concepts that are applicable to the article topic. Identifies and summarizes the main points of the article. –Strong: Identifies the main points and recognizes the nuances of the issues; demonstrates clear understanding of the main points of the article. –Weak: Does not identify the main points of the article, is confused about the issues, or represents the issues inaccurately or incompletely. Merely repeats the author’s words without demonstrating understanding of the main points of the article. Is well written –Strong: Presents main points in a clear and easy to follow sequence; does not contain unnecessary duplication of ideas or information; does not contain errors of punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc. –Weak: Presentation is unclear and disorganized; contains unnecessary duplication of ideas or information; contains errors of punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc; contains excessive use of quotes from the article.

11. Economics 3334: Intermediate Macroeconomics Spring 2008 Specifically, the researchers asked for estimated times by which the students thought it was 50%, 75%, and 99% probable their personal projects would be done. Would you care to guess how many students finished on or before their estimated 50%, 75%, and 99% probability levels? –13% of subjects finished their project by the time they had assigned a 50% probability level; –19% finished by the time assigned a 75% probability level; –and only 45% (less than half!) finished by the time of their 99% probability level. "The results for the 99% probability level are especially striking: Even when asked to make a highly conservative forecast, a prediction that they felt virtually certain that they would fulfill, students' confidence in their time estimates far exceeded their accomplishments."

12. Figure 1.1 Real GDP per Person in the U.S. Economy Mankiw: Macroeconomics, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers

13. Figure 1.2 The Inflation Rate in the U.S. Economy Mankiw: Macroeconomics, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers

14. Figure 1.3 The Unemployment Rate in the U.S. Economy Mankiw: Macroeconomics, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers