Section D

What is Macroeconomics?

Course Goals and Outline

Teaching Assistants

Tutorials

Course Materials

Student Evaluation and Assignment Information

Previous Years' Assignments, Midterms and Finals

Discussion Board

Links to Other Useful Sites

What is Macroeconomics?

Macroeconomics is the study of the structure and performance of national economies and of the policies that governments use to try to affect economic performance.

Macroeconomics arose as a field of economics because traditional economic analysis could not explain the protracted period of high unemployment during the Great Depression. Macroeconomic theory grows out of the desire to put a large number of market activities into simple aggregated frameworks which can be used to examine important empirical issues. Thus macroeconomics is also an applied subject. We'll study detailed applications alongside the theory. And we'll be asking and answering questions such as: What effect do changes in world oil prices have on the economy? What determines interest rates? Why has productivity growth slowed down during the past twenty years? Are business cycles made in Canada? What are the problems with fixed exchange rates? Can macroeconomic policy combat both inflation and unemployment? How does the Bank of Canada influence the economy? Is government debt a burden for future generations?

• To acquire an understanding of the terminology used in discussing national economic issues.
• To acquire some understanding of economic modeling.
• To appreciate the predictions of models in response to shocks.
• To understand the implications of various policies of the Federal government and the Bank of Canada.
• To understand the implications of the world economy on the Canadian economy.
• To research and understand the empirical structure of the Canadian economy.
• To research current economic trends in Canada.

Course Outline:

Topic	Chapter	Week	Comments
What is Macroeconomics?	1	1
Measurement and Accounting	2	1-2	Assignment 1 due: Wednesday, January 24th, 2001 in the appropriate assignment box
Productivity, Employment, and Growth	3, 6.1 (8.5)	2-3
Savings and Investment	4	4	Assignment 2 due: Monday, February 12, 2001
Current Account	5	5
Money and Inflation	7	6	Midterm:Thursday, February 15th, 7-8:30pm, HUM 102
Business Cycles	9	7	MIDTERM SOLUTIONS are now available HERE
IS-LM-AD-AS Model	10, 13.3	8	Assigment 3 due: Wednesday, March 21, 2001
Exchange Rates and Macroeconomic Policy	11	9
Unemployment and Inflation	10	10 continued	Assigment 4 due: Thursday, April 5, 2001
Monetary Policy and the Bank of Canada	15	11
Fiscal Policy, Deficits and Debt	11 continued	12

Every effort will be made to cover all the material listed in the course outline. In case time runs short, chapters 14 and 16 will not be covered.

Teaching Assistants:

Several teaching assistants are available throughout the term to help you learn the course material and understand the assignments. They have office hours scheduled at various times during the week when you can drop by to ask questions or talk about the course. Look below to find out how to get in touch with a particular t.a.

The coordinating t.a. for all sections of this course is Kate Beynon.
Please contact her by either e-mail or telephone for any specific inquiries about ECON-222.

Kate Beynon

Phone: 533-6000, extension 77827

Exam Office hours: Thursday 4pm-6pm (except on April when tutorial is 4-5pm in MCB201)

E-mail: beynonk@qed.econ.queensu.ca

There are two other teaching assistants to help you as well. They are:

Paul Judson

Phone: 533-6000, extension 7413

Office hours: Mondays, 9:15am-11:15am

E-mail: judsonp@qed.econ.queensu.ca

Kory Kroft

Phone: 533-6000, extension 74104

Office hours: Wednesdays, 1:00pm-3:00pm

E-mail: kroftk@qed.econ.queensu.ca

Course Materials:

The TEXTBOOK for this course is Macroeconomics: Second Canadian Edition by Abel, Bernanke and Smith (Don Mills: Addison-Wesley, 1999). This book may be purchased in the campus bookstore. To go to the informative homepage for the second edition, click HERE.

A set of ANSWERS TO TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS for Economics 222 is available (on reserve) to copy at Stauffer Library.
Two copies of the TEXTBOOK are also available on reserve at Stauffer Library.

Additional Course Notes:

For Section D, additional notes are available in PDF format. Students from Section C may also find these notes useful. These course notes should not be considered a substitute for attending class and taking lecture notes for either section.

Course outline, and notes to chapters 1 and 2 can be accessed by clicking HERE.

Chapter 3 notes are now available HERE.

Remarks on Depreciation be accessed by clicking HERE.

Corrections to class notes may be accessed by clicking HERE.

Chapter 9 notes are now available HERE.

Slides used in the section D lectures are available below.

slide1 slide2 slide3

slide4 slide5 slide6 slide7 slide8 slide9

Chapter 7 slides are available below

slide 1 slide 2 slide 3 slide 4 slide 5 slide 6 slide 7 slide 8

**Note: students from Section C may also find the course notes useful. However, for both sections C and D, these course notes should not be considered a substitute for attending class and taking lecture notes**

MIDTERM SOLUTIONS

Student Evaluation and Assignment Information:

Student Evalutation for Sections C&D:

**Please note: the assignments and exams for each section will be exactly the same; however, the assignment box for each section will be different in order to facilitate returning of assignments to the appropriate class**

WINTER 2001 Assignments:

All assignments must be submitted either in class or using the ASSIGNMENT BOX located on the third floor of Dunning Hall at the top of the circular stairwell. Please be sure to put your assignment in the appropriate box for your section. Assignments that are late will be marked without penalty if handed into the assignment box BEFORE 3:30pm on the day AFTER the official due date.

Assignment answers will be posted on this site immediately after this time. Once answers are posted, no more assignments will be accepted.

Choose below for the assignment or answer guide you seek: