Schedule Updated October 9, 2003
This Page: http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/002054.html
Course Index Page: http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/002061.html
J. Bradford DeLong
delong@econ.berkeley.edu
http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/
Office Hours: Th 1-3, Evans 601, or by appointment
Rui Pedro Esteves
resteves@econ.Berkeley.EDU
Office Hours: Th 2-4, Evans 508-3
Lecture Meets: TTh 11:00-12:30, 70 Evans
Sections Meet: TTh 8 AM, 45 Evans; TTh 1 PM, 39 Evans
This is the go-faster and do-more version of macroeconomics--the study of the determination of output, production, income, employment, and prices in the economy as a whole. Two books are required:
- The intermediate macroeconomics textbook I am most comfortable with: my own (which should be in the bookstore the week of August 25). Why I wrote this textbook. Order it online.
- The Economic Report of the President (available online at http://w3.access.gpo.gov/eop/).
- You might also browse, for recent economic data, the CEA-JEC Recent Economic Indicators.
- And if you want alternative takes at the subject matter, let me recommend two alternative textbooks: Greg Mankiw's Macroeconomics (4th edition): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572596449/, and Olivier Blanchard's Macroeconomics (2nd edition): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/013013306X/
Since this is a go-faster do-more course, we will go faster and do more. As a group, the class will be made up of people comfortable using calculus, so I'll feel free to use it in lectures, handouts, and in problem sets (and on exams). If you aren't comfortable using calculus, you probably don't belong here and may well not have a good time... However, Rui Pedro Esteves and I are keenly aware that almost everybody signing up for this course could alternatively take and do very well in Economics 100b. We are anxious not to have students vote with their feet for an easier course and learn less because they fear the consequences of lowering their grade point average. Therefore this course will have a high curve: the idea is that nobody should get a lower grade than they would have gotten had they decided to take Economics 100b instead:
Grades will be based on the following:
- 26% from a (short: two hours long) Final Exam to be given Friday December 12 5-8 PM (exam group IX). (Yes, I realize that this is an unpleasant time.)
- 27% from a first Midterm Exam (1 1/2 hours) to be given on September 30. (I find that it is important to give a midterm exam early in the course to serve as a reality check: so that students in trouble can figure out how much trouble they are in, and also--more important--so that the professor can figure out how unrealistic and detached from reality his beliefs about his teaching effectiveness are.)
- 27% from a second Midterm 2 Exam (1 1/2 hours) to be given November 13.
- 20% from Problem Sets and other assignments to be due at the start of section. Problem Sets will be graded either 0 points (didn't hand it in at start of section), 1 point (handed it in but didn't make an effort), and 2 points (made an effort--whether successful or not--to solve all the problems).
Students can drop one of the three exams by sending notes beforehand to me and Rui Pedro Esteves saying that they are not taking the exam, or by handing in a note saying that they are not handing in their bluebook at the end of the exam. Remember: bring your own bluebooks to your exam!
August 26 Lecture: Introduction (textbook chapter 1): what this course is going to be about; the current macroeconomic situation. Problem Set 1 issued. Additional reading: Economic Report of the President, chapter 1.
Section: Math Review: systems of equations, power functions, levels and changes, growth rates, derivatives, simple differential equations
August 28 Lecture: Macroeconomic Data (textbook chapter 2): six key economic variables and why they are important.
Section: key economic variables; index numbers; real GDP, its pluses and minuses, chain indices.
September 2 Lecture: How Economists Think (textbook chapter 3): model-building, circular flow, behavioral relationships (i.e., production function) and equilibrium conditions (i.e., balanced-growth capital-output ratio). Problem Set 2 issued.
Section: Problem Set 1 due; go over Problem Set 1. Answers to Problem Set 1.
September 4 Lecture: Building Blocks of the Growth Model (textbook chapter 4): "technology" and capital accumulation; production function and diminishing returns to scale. Erosion of Okun's Law Handout.
Section: Work examples of production function and exponential growth.
September 9 Lecture: Solving and Converging to the Growth Model (textbook chapter 4): balanced-growth paths, and how quickly an economy approaches them. Problem Set 3 issued.
Section: Problem Set 2 due; go over Problem Set 2. Answers to Problem Set 2.
September 11 Lecture: History of Economic Growth (textbook chapter 5): Malthus and pre-industrial economic "growth".
Section: Cover Kremer (1993) QJE: was an industrial revolution inevitable? Additional reading: Michael Kremer (1993), "Population Growth and Technological Change: One Million B.C. to 1990," Quarterly Journal of Economics 108:3 (Aug 1993), pp. 681-716. (Alternative link.)
September 16 Lecture: The Industrial Revolution (textbook chapter 5): great mysteries as to why. Mock Midterm issued.
Section: Problem Set 3 due; go over Problem Set 3.
September 18 Lecture: Post-Industrial Revolution Divergence in the World Economy (textbook chapter 5); why is today's world so unequal?
Section: Cover DeLong (2003): growth with falling prices of investment goods. Additional reading: J. Bradford DeLong (2003), "Productivity Growth in the 2000s," NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2002.
September 23 Lecture: Review and Questions
Section: Review and Questions
September 25 Lecture: Police-the-Reading and Professor-Reality-Check Midterm Exam.
No section.
September 30 Lecture: The Flexible-Price Short Run: Consumption, Investment, Net Exports (textbook chapter 6).
Section: go over Midterm Exam.
October 2 Lecture: Equilibrium in the Flexible-Price Short Run (textbook chapter 7). Problem Set 4 out.
Section: Behavioral theory of consumption.
October 7 Lecture: Money and Inflation (textbook chapter 8).
Section: Problem Set 4 due; go over Problem Set 4. Problem Set 5 issued.
October 9 Lecture: The Sticky-Price Short Run: The Multiplier (textbook chapter 9).
Section: Comparative statics and the flexible-price equilibrium; examples of money and inflation.
October 14 Lecture: Investment and Interest Rates: The IS Curve (textbook chapter 10). Additional reading: Economic Report of the President, chapter 2.
Section: Problem Set 5 due; go over Problem Set 5.
October 16 Lecture: Exchange Rates; Aggregate Demand and Supply (textbook chapter 11 (skip LM curve)). Problem Set 6 out.
Section: The term structure of interest rates, and the stock market...
October 21 Lecture: The Phillips Curve, the Natural Rate of Unemployment, and Expected Inflation (textbook chapter 12). Additional reading: Economic Report of the President, chapter 3.
Section: The Natural rate of Unemployment and the Phillips Curve. Additional readings: James Galbraith (1997), "Time to Ditch the NAIRU," Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 11, No. 1. (Winter), pp. 93-108. Joseph Stiglitz (1997), "Reflections on the Natural Rate Hypothesis," Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 11, No. 1. (Winter), pp. 1-8.
.October 23 Sick...
Section: Problem Set 6 due; go over Problem Set 6.
October 28 Lecture: Stabilization Policy (textbook chapter 13). Optional reading: Alan Blinder (1999), Central Banking in Theory and Practice (Cambridge: MIT Press: 0262522608). Problem Set 7 out.
Section: Liquidity Traps
October 30 Lecture: Financial Crises and Deflation (textbook chapter 13).
Section: Review and Questions
November 4 Lecture: Questions and Review
Section: Problem Set 7 due; go over Problem Set 7.
November 6 Lecture: Second Midterm Exam
No Section.
Posted by DeLong at November 17, 2003 12:28 PM | TrackBackNovember 13 Lecture: Budget Deficits and National Debt (textbook chapter 14). Problem Set 8 out. Additional reading: Economic Report of the President, chapter 5.
Section: Go over Midterm Exam.
November 18 Lecture: International Economic Policy Regimes (textbook chapter 15). Additional reading: Economic Report of the President, chapter 6. Additional reading: Analytics of International Financial Crises.
Section: Political business and budget cycles. Additional reading: Alberto Alesina (1987), "Macroeconomic Policy in a Two-Party System as a Repeated Game", Quarterly Journal of Economics 102:3, pp. 651-78.
November 20 Lecture: International Currency Crises (textbook chapter 15). Writing Assignment 9 out.
Section: Problem Set 8 due; go over Problem Set 8.
November 25 Lecture: Where We Have Been? The 1990s (Optional reading: Alan Blinder and Janet Yellen (2001), The Fabulous Decade (New York: Twentieth Century Fund: 0870784676).
Section: Drawing a balance sheet on the costs and benefits of globalization and international capital mobility.
December 2 Lecture: Where We Are Going? The 2000s
Section: Problem Set 9 Due. Go over problem set 9.
December 4 Questions and Review
December 12 5-8 PM: Final Exam (short: two hours). Place: 242 Hearst Gym.
What is the grading balance if an exam is dropped? Do the other exams count for more or does everything else expand to fill up the missing proportion?
Posted by: Newt on August 25, 2003 01:10 PMAs this is the "go-faster" version, are you going to assign this other textbook by Brad DeLong:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0873648919/104-7517109-6450326?v=glance
;)
Posted by: Tom on August 25, 2003 02:05 PMmmmm... macro...
honestly -- sounds like a really good class. You know better about grading, of course, but would not that mean that if I was planning to take a C in 100b I would be better off taking your class and get a C at the worst and possibly a B?
We used your Macro text at the University of Texas. I thought it was an excellent book.
Posted by: andrew on August 25, 2003 07:26 PMI'm not sure this really fits here, but seeing an Econ syllabus and finding myself about to teach human problem solving in the classic Carnegie Mellon vein, I was reminded of two (near) quotes from Herbert Simon. One of them was uttered at an informal talk at Yale in the early 80s, while the other one I only know from it being on a fellow-student's office door in the late 80s. In any case...
[about the Reagan recovery] "I think it's clear this was perfectly Keynesian. I'm pretty sure I could create an appearance of prosperity if you let *me* kite $200 billion worth of checks."
[during an interview about teaching economics] "So how does the world survive? We teach students economics and hope that it will make them wise about money. Well, I've got a Nobel Prize in Economics, and I don't know from beans whether interest rates should go up or down. I might have some prejudices now and then, but I wouldn't want to defend them against a well-informed attack."
I really wish I could claim to have exact wording on these, but I really know I don't, and I've googled the second to no avail.
Posted by: Jonathan King on August 25, 2003 07:46 PMOn the subject of textbooks-
I never took any economics in college, and now I regret that. I could theoretically sign up for an intro course through UC extension, but I work full-time and don't have the time to attend lectures.
Can you recommend a few books for someone in my position?
Posted by: Zack Weinberg on September 1, 2003 11:26 PMFor micro, read Varian's book, 'Intermediate Microeconomics'. I read that after looking at most of the rest of the (undergrad) micro books in a university library. It was extremely well-written, standing out from the rest of them. I'd also recommend 'Information Rules', by Varian.
Posted by: Barry on September 2, 2003 04:09 AMThis looks like a great class.
Professor DeLong, I hope that you will post all of the assignments/answers and exam materials on your site so your loyal blog readers can get a refresher on their macro.
Thanks!
"Professor DeLong, I hope that you will post all of the assignments/answers and exam materials on your site so your loyal blog readers can get a refresher on their macro"
Loyal readers should also do what Pooh just did and order the following:
Macroeconomics By: Delong
http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0071123261.html
An Electonic Companion to Intermediate Macroeconomics (CD-ROM, Individual Version) with Workbook (Electronic Companion)
Brad DeLong, Alan S. Blinder, John Boykin (Editor)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580320090/ref=sr_aps_books_1_2/026-6707637-8518838
So someone could ace all of the exams and still get an 80%, and someone who knew seventy-five percent as much and always did his homework would put up the same score?
Proof that Delong is a socialist, right here...
Posted by: Bob Dobalina on September 2, 2003 10:40 AMBob, rather that Brad is a Marxian, subscribing to the Labor Theory of Value. Whether that leads to socialism is in the details.
Posted by: Newt on September 2, 2003 02:25 PMNewt-
You are correct. I'm ashamed of my sloppiness.
For alternative textbooks why recommend the 2nd edition of Blanchard rather than the 3rd ? Do you feel that the 3rd is a regression in quality ?
Posted by: George Colpitts on September 28, 2003 08:04 AMFor alternative textbooks why recommend the 2nd edition of Blanchard rather than the 3rd ? Do you feel that the 3rd is a regression in quality ?
Posted by: George Colpitts on September 28, 2003 08:06 AMI don't have a copy of the third edition of Blanchard...
:-0
Posted by: Brad DeLong on October 7, 2003 05:55 AMBrad’s grading policy explains the (honest) mechanism of grade inflation (the unprofessional explanation is cowardice or self-doubt by professors, which would not I guess be his problem). By Gresham’s Law, easy courses drive out hard ones. Econ 100b (which I know nothing about and am not criticising) corresponds to the new debased currency. To attract bright students to a harder rival, he must offer easier grading to equate the marginal transcript utility for study effort. This is absurd. The answer would be to weight courses by difficulty, as with competitive diving.
Posted by: James on October 10, 2003 12:44 AM