Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session
Overview
This course will provide an overview of macroeconomic issues: the determination of output, employment, unemployment, interest rates, and inflation. Monetary and fiscal policies are discussed, as are public debt and international economic issues. It introduces basic models of macroeconomics and illustrates principles with the experience of the United States and other economies.
Two Alternative Formats
The course has two alternative formats. Both formats will cover the same topics, use the same textbook, and have the same required assignments, including quizzes and problem sets. As we receive more information on class enrollment, there may be changes in the number of sections and recitations.
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Lecture-Recitation: You attend one-hour lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays, given by Professor Caballero. You also attend a one-hour recitation on Fridays, run by the head TA. During Friday recitations -- which are not optional -- instructors will go over weekly problem sets, review materials from the lectures. If you elect the Lecture-Recitation option, you may choose one of the one-hour Friday recitations.
- All-Section: You attend one-hour sections on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, run by a TA.
As we receive more information on class enrollment, we may need to make changes in recitations or sections. (If any one section is too large, we may ask students to move to different times.)
Readings
The text for the course is the third edition of Macroeconomics, by Olivier Blanchard. Please get the last edition. In addition, it is also suggested that students get into the habit of browsing the daily newspaper The Wall Street Journal or The Financial Times, or the weekly magazine The Economist at least a couple of times a month; all offer good (and well-written) coverage of economic events, and will provide some context for the course.
Blanchard, Olivier. Macroeconomics. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2003. ISBN: 0130671002.
Assignments, Exams, and Grades
The course grades will be based on three quizzes and 6 weekly problem sets. The grade will be primarily determined by the average of the three quiz scores. You will hand in the problem sets to your TA in class or to the head TA if you choose to take Professor Caballero’s lecture. The problem sets can count in the final grade for border line cases. A necessary condition for the problem sets to help you in these border line cases is that all 6 problem sets have been handed in. For students who are on the border between two grades, performance on the problem sets can result in the higher grade, while failing to hand in problem sets can result in the lower grade. Problem sets are due on the due date. We will not accept late problem sets.