Principles of Macroeconomics

UPON COMPLETION OF THE COURSE, THE STUDENT WILL BE COMPETENT IN:

• Understanding the basic concepts of the art and science of economic analysis including definition of economics, economic scarcity, factors of production, product and resource markets, circular flown model, positive and normative economics, and economic graphs.
• Understanding the basic economic tools used in economic analysis including opportunity costs, law of comparative advantage, production possibility analysis, and three economic systems.
• Understanding the economic decision makers of households, businesses, and the government.
• Understanding the economic concepts of demand, supply, and market equilibrium.
• Understanding the basics of macroeconomics including gross domestic product, the business cycle, and leading economic indicators.
• Understanding productivity and growth of the economy including the production possibility frontier and factors that influence productivity growth.
• Understanding the methods to track the economy including an analysis of GDP, the circular flow of income and expenditure model, national income accounting, and consumer price index.
• Understanding the factors that impact unemployment and inflation.
• Understanding the factors that impact aggregate expenditure including consumer spending, business spending, government spending, and net exports.
• Understanding factors that impact aggregate expenditure and aggregate demand including components of aggregate expenditures, the multiplier, and price level.
• Understanding factors that impact aggregate supply including expansionary gaps, contractionary gaps, and supply shocks.
• Understanding the fiscal policy including automatic and discretionary policy, the tools of fiscal policy, expansionary and contractionary fiscal policy, and supply-side economics.
• Understanding federal budgets and public policy including federal budget process, federal budget deficits, federal budget reforms, social security and medicare, and the national debt.
• Understanding money and the financial system including functions of money, the Federal Reserve System, and the banking system.
• Understanding the banking and the money supply including definitions of the money supply and the tools of monetary policy.
• Understanding monetary theory and policy including expansionary and contractionary monetary policy, interest rates, quantity theory of money, and contrasting monetary policy.
• Understanding the macro policy debate of active or passive economic policy.
• Understanding international trade including the trade balance, comparative and absolute advantage, quotas and tariffs, and trade restrictions and trade protection.
• Understanding internal finance including the balance of payments, balance of goods and services, and exchange rates.
• Understanding developing and transitional economics including developing and industrial markets, productivity, and types of economic systems, the development of emerging countries.