Syllabus 100B Winter 2021 PDF

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Syllabus_100B_Winter2021...

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Course Syllabus Econ 100B, Winter 2021 The objective of the course is to analyze the aggregate or "macro" behavior of the U.S. economy. The first part of the course will examine the economic theory of the long run. We will study the factors that determine income, savings and consumption in the long-run with a special focus on theories of economic growth. The second part of the course will consider short-run business-cycle issues, like how do unemployment and inflation change during periods of unusually fast economic growth or periods of unusually slow or even negative growth. We will discuss the New-Keynesian approach to explaining recessions. We will also examine current issues in the conduct of monetary and fiscal policy. By the end of this course, you should be able to read and interpret articles in the Economist, Wall Street Journal, and other publications through the lens of economic analysis. The goal of the course is to give you the tools needed to analyze the aggregate (macro) behavior of the U.S. economy and understand it in a coherent framework as well as to understand monetary and fiscal policy responses to short and long run economic problems.

Administrative Information • Main Instructor: Alonso Villacorta • Lectures: TuTh 3:20PM - 4:55PM (online) • Office Hours: Wednesdays 10:00AM – 12:00PM (online) • •

Contact: [email protected] Course Website: Canvas (It is your responsibility to check the website regularly for updates).

Online Classes Lectures and office hours will be held online through Zoom. § Use this Zoom link to join Lectures: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/92637156719?pwd=LzcxQWN3aWM0K1JjT0wxbkxERy9UQT09 • Use this Zoom link to join Office Hours: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/99763366947?pwd=ZGJzYmoxeVhFeFJlTm12UTlLZ0J4QT09

You are expected to attend the online lectures. I will keep track of students’ participation every class. However, some of you might be in a different time zone and might have inconveniences attending some of the lectures. For that reason, all classes will be recorded and uploaded on Canvas.

Teaching Assistants • Sila Koc o TA Sections: § Mondays : 01:20 PM- 02:25 PM Zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/92688904554?pwd=WWFlM2ZsbVNPL1hrb1ZOOVFqVU4xZz 09 § Meeting ID: 926 8890 4554. Passcode: 300958. § Fridays: 10:40 AM- 11:45 AM. Zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98002006018?pwd=dis1bVpsamw5dURyTmdYNi9OYl NlZz09 Meeting ID: 980 0200 6018. Passcode: 456522. o Office Hours: Fridays : 12:00 PM -02:00 PM ZoomLink: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/92254665465?pwd=U3g5SU5kZm9XZ1diMGUwZDQrZVhYdz 09 Meeting ID: 922 5466 5465. Passcode: 113515. o Contact: [email protected] •

Yanshuo Chen o TA Sections: § Wednesdays 2:40 PM - 3:45 PM § Wednesdays 4:00 PM - 05:05 PM o Office Hours: Wednesdays 5:10PM-7:10PM o Zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/99731607418?pwd=Y204NHlkVWhZV2E3UTRiL3lIZEY0UT09 Meeting ID: 997 3160 7418 . Passcode: 788803. o Contact: [email protected]

Sections § Section attendance is encouraged but not required. Among other things, TAs will review problem sets during sections. Also, we may not hold sections every week. Please follow closely announcements made by the TAs.

Required Textbook • Jones, Charles 2017. Macroeconomics, 4th edition. W.W. Norton & Company Press. (Use older versions at your own risk.)

Grading • • •

Problem sets: 15% (the lowest point of 5 problem sets will be dropped) Midterm 35% Final 50%

Problem Sets • There will be 5 problem sets. The problem sets will be graded coarsely (check plus, check, check minus). •

Problem sets will be uploaded as Assignments on Canvas. You must upload your solution before the due date. Those submitted after the due date will be considered late, and will not be accepted. I MEAN IT!! It is your responsibility to submit the problem sets on the due date.

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You are encouraged to discuss your problem sets with your classmates. However, you must write down your own solutions. In completing the problem sets, you may not consult solutions that may be available online or from classes from previous years. A violation of this policy will be considered cheating.

Re-grading Policy •

If you feel that your problem sets or exams were incorrectly or unfairly graded, you have one week after the class in which it is returned to submit a written request to the TAs for a re-grading. Verbal communications are not allowed. When an exam is turned in for a re-grade, the entire exam will be re-graded and the scores for individual questions can be either increased or decreased. In the event of disagreements, appeals may be directed to the instructor. The same policy applies to problem sets.

Rules of Communication •

Your success is important for me. Therefore, I would like to help as much as I can so that you can understand the materials we cover in this course. Unfortunately, since this is a very large class and my resource is limited, I have to set up a rule of communication.

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It is best to ask your questions during lectures because it is highly likely that if you are either confused by something, or interested to know more about something, then others are too. So, please, interrupt me a lot during class. o In Zoom you have options to: raise your hand, ask to go slower/faster, or type your questions on the Chat.

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I am available for questions during office hours. If you cannot make it to the office hours for some reason, please send me an email to set up an appointment.

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Teaching assistants are also great resources. They are smart graduate students and were studying the same subject a few years ago. For most questions that you have about the course content, they will be able to help you out. They will also grade your problem sets and exams.

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In general, I do not encourage asking questions using emails. The reasons are three-fold: 1. It takes a lot of time to write a detailed answer. As a result, my reply has to be brief. 2. Since there is no back-and-forth conversation, I may not understand the full intent of your question. 3. There is a time-lag. For example, if you ask a question the night before the exam, it is likely that you will not get a reply in a timely manner.

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If your email can be answered by looking at the website or syllabus, it likely won’t be answered.

Disability Support Services

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UC Santa Cruz is committed to creating an academic environment that supports its diverse student body. If you are a student with a disability who requires accommodations to achieve equal access in this course, please submit your Accommodation Authorization Letter from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to me privately during my office hours or by appointment, preferably within the first two weeks of the quarter. I encourage all students who may benefit from learning more about DRC services to contact DRC by phone at 831-459-2089 or by email at [email protected]. If you wish to exercise your testing accommodation, you must notify me as your instructor at least 7 days prior to the exam so that we can secure testing space and a test proctor. Request made inside 7 days may not be able to be accommodated.

Academic Integrity Policy • All students of UCSC are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council. Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and nonacademic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). In this class, the minimum sanction for violations of the honor code will be a 0 score for the work in question. MSI •

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At Learning Support Services Tutors, Learning Assistants, and staff work with campus partners to support students and advance educational equity by designing inclusive learning environments in Modified Supplemental Instruction, Small Group Tutoring, and Writing Support. Modified Supplemental Instruction (MSI) support is offered for this course. In MSI, you can expect the MSI leader to facilitate cooperative group activities designed to have students work together on the course content. MSI is offered at least three times each week for the entire quarter. The MSI leader is an undergraduate student who took the class, did well, and is trained to facilitate group sessions to focus on you, the students, and what you need to succeed in the course. LSS provides continuous training for MSI leaders to create inclusive spaces for students and facilitate group work effectively. MSI is for everyone and open to all students in class to get extra practice on the things you already know or the things you want to know better. Attendance is voluntary; however, students who attend MSI sessions weekly earn a higher final grade than students who do not participate in MSI. Want MSI to be successful for you? Bring your books, lecture notes, questions, and be open to working collaboratively with your peers. You can access the MSI schedule online or check out Learning Support Services’ website for more information on MSI and other programs LSS offers to support student success.

Schedule (Except for the exam dates, schedules are tentative and are subject to change) (Background reading: Chapter 1: Introduction to Macroeconomics) Jan 5 Jan 7

Syllabus Reading / Chapter 2: Measuring the Macroeconomy Chapter 2: Measuring the Macroeconomy

Jan 12 Jan 14

Chapter 3: An Overview of Long-Run Economic Growth Chapter 3: A Model of Production

Jan 19 Jan 21

Chapter 4: A Model of Production Chapter 4: The Solow Growth Model

Jan 26 Jan 28

Chapter 5: The Solow Growth Model Chapter 6: Growth and Ideas

Feb 2 Feb 4

Review

Feb 9 Feb 11

Chapter 9: An Introduction to the Short-Run Chapter 9: The IS Curve

Feb 16 Feb 18

Chapter 11: The IS Curve Chapter 11: Monetary Policy and the Phillips Curve

Feb 23 Feb 25

Chapter 12: Monetary Policy and the Phillips Curve Chapter 12: Stabilization Policy and the AS/AD Framework

Mar 2 Mar 4

Chapter 12: Stabilization Policy and the AS/AD Framework Chapter 13: Stabilization Policy and the AS/AD Framework

Mar 9 Mar 11

Chapter 14: The Great Recession and the Short-Run Model Review

Midterm

Final Exam: Tuesday, March 16 (8:00 – 11:00 AM)...