Course Syllabus and Outline

Economics 102H, Principles of Macroeconomics (Honors Section)

Spring Semester 2003

Professor Barry Falk

Office: 166E Heady Hall

Phone: 294-5875

E-Mail: bfalk@iastate.edu

Office Hours: MW 3:00-4:00, F 11:00-12:00 and by appointment

Course Description: The main objectives of this course are to review the basic principles of economics, to describe various measures of aggregate economic activity and to develop theoretical models that apply the basic principles to derive implications about the determination of aggregate economic activity. We will be especially interested in using these models to study the effects of fiscal and monetary policy on aggregate activity.

Prerequisite: Economics 101 (Principles of Microeconomics) is strongly recommended prior to enrollment in Economics 102.

Textbook: The required textbook is the 6^th edition of Macroeconomics by Michael Parkin.

Other Reading Requirements: Students will be expected to keep up with current domestic and international economic news. Additional required or recommended readings will be determined as the course proceeds.

Grade Determination: There will be a series of quizzes , two mid-term exams (Feb. 14, April 4) and a comprehensive final exam In addition graded problem sets will be assigned. The course grade will depend upon all of these with the approximate weights: mid-term 1 = 20%, mid-term 2 = 20%, final exam = 30%, quizzes = 20%, problems = 10%.

Class Home Page: The class home page at http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ102/falk/102hpage.htm will provide links to announcements, additional information regarding assignments, supplementary notes, other resources, an anonymous suggestion box, and more.

Course Outline: After reviewing some basic economic principles (Parkin, Chapters 1,2, and 3), we will follow the "Early Long-Term Growth" Sequence described on p. xxiii of Parkin’s book.