Academic Year 2013-2014

AP Macroeconomics Academic Year 2013-2014 Mrs. Stephanie Foy Room 321 School Telephone Number: (770) 684-5432 Voice Mail Extension: 7321 Email Address: [email protected]

Course Description AP Macroeconomics is a college-level course that focuses on the decision making of individuals, businesses, and the government. Students will study a variety of economic theories and analyze their practical application in the real world. This year-long course will cover macroeconomics. Macroeconomics focuses on the economy as a whole, including economic measures, economic growth, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and international economics. Students are expected to take the AP exam in May. This class will prepare you for college and potentially allow you to earn 3 university credits upon passing the AP exam. Extensive math skills are not required; however, the ability to analyze graphs and charts is essential.

Course Objectives 1. Students will be able to apply ECONOMIC ANALYSIS to a variety of real world situations to improve their personal and civic decision-making skills. 2. Students will prepare for their future educational and career goals by meeting COLLEGE-LEVEL EXPECTATIONS and practicing skills for life-long success.

Print Resources • Krugman, Paul and Robin Wells. Krugman’s Economics for AP. New York: Worth Publishers. Second Edition. 2011. • Wheelan, Charles. Naked Economics:Undressing the Dismal Science. New York: Norton. 2010.

Electronic Resources 1. Students will be allowed to bring in their own electronic devices on specified class days if they have signed and turned in a BYOD agreement form. 2. Remind101 text alerts will be used periodically for important reminders. 3. An Edmodo web page will be used for online economic topic posts. In addition, students will be able to access class resources from this site. An additional sheet will be provided for access instructions. 4. Mrs. Foy's PSD web site will be used to provide a calendar and information on topics and assignments throughout the year. Please go to www.polk.k12.ga.us. Select Rockmart High School in the top right-hand corner. Choose “Teacher Websites” from the menu on the left-hand side. Choose Stephanie Foy.

Course Requirements This course can be broken down into three major grading areas, adapted to comply with Polk School District grading policy: 1.Classwork, Quizzes, and Homework- 20% 2.Unit Exams– 60% 3.End of Course Test -20%

Classwork, Quizzes, and Homework • Graded classwork will primarily be problem sets, though we will be engaging in many more classroom practice activities while we are learning the course material. • Problem sets are essentially assignments that require you to explain and apply the concepts discussed in your class and in your book. They are essential practice for ensuring that you understand and can use the concepts being discussed. • Problem sets are expected to be TYPED, double-spaced, 12 font size, with reasonable margins. ALL GRAPHS SHOULD BE HAND DRAWN. (Special cases will be excused upon request) • Concept quizzes will be given two to four times per unit to gauge your understanding of the material covered in class. These will be a combination of multiple choice and short answer. They will have double the weight of problem sets. • Socratic Seminars will involve discussion over articles and chapters assigned in class. Students must participate in two for the year. They will also be weighted twice. • Homework will include the following types of activities. • Watching flipped videos on material to be practiced in class the next day. • Reading text modules and chapters from Naked Economics. • Finishing problem sets not completed in class. • Edmodo posts and responses to Edmodo strands. (5 required per semester) • Occasional short assignments to practice simple concepts.

Unit Exams • Unit exams include in between 30 to 40 multiples choice questions. • Approximately 25% of the questions are actual AP questions given on previous exams. • Each exam will also feature 2 to 3 FRQs that focus on the concepts learned. • The FRQ section constitutes one third of your exam score. • All exams will be given over two class periods, FRQ on Day One, followed by the Multiple Choice section on Day Two.

End of Course Test • You will have a state-mandated End-of Course-Test the Week of May 19th. This test serves as your final exam and will count as 20% of your grade.

Other Activities

Simulations and Socratic Seminars • This year you will participate in several activities or simulations that will allow you to “learn by doing”. • For example, you will analyze shortages and surpluses in an activity called The Pearl Exchange. In this activity you will be divided into buyers and sellers that negotiate prices and respond to changes in the pearl market. • The more you participate, the more fun these activities will be, and the more you will learn. No ANCHORS.

Practice Exams Our 54-minute class period does not allow us to truly get the experience of taking a full AP exam. We will have a practice AP exam in the week following Spring Break. Students are strongly recommended to attend.

Other Expectations • Students must focus on their LEARNING and not just their letter grade. • You must COME PREPARED and contribute to class discussions. • All assignments are due on assigned days. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS. • Please leave all FOOD or OPEN CONTAINERS (except for water) outside class.

Class Policies/Rules

All policies of the Polk School District Board of Education and student handbook will be enforced in this classroom.

Extra Credit/Extra Help: Students may have the opportunity to earn bonus points in test reviews. Otherwise extra credit assignments will not be given unless it is an assignment offered to all students in the class.

Each student will have the opportunity to earn five bonus points on each unit exam by completing corrections. These corrections will be done in class. Sting Tutoring is one of RHS’s after school tutoring programs. This tutoring program will begin shortly. Specific dates, times, and teachers scheduled for tutoring will be made available soon. You may contact the guidance office, an RHS administrator, or visit our website for more information. Late Assignment Policy: Students are expected to turn in all completed assignments at the time scheduled by the teacher. Any project turned in late will result in a ten-point per day late in the grade.

Homework Policy: Homework is expected on the stated due date. Late homework is not accepted. Students will only receive credit for the homework if it is turned in when it is due.

Tardies and Leaving Class I will close the door when the bell rings and students are tardy if they are not in the room. Students are expected to go to the restroom and get water during class change. Students will only be permitted to leave class in the case of an emergency.

General Rules • Do not talk when your teacher is talking. • Be on time… time is a scarce resource and we need to maximize its use. • Be respectful of your teacher and classmates (it is a two-way street). • Bring materials to class each day (i.e. notebook with paper, pen, pencil). • Come to class prepared to discuss all assignments.

______

Please detach and sign below and return to Mrs. Foy to indicate you read and understand this syllabus.

Students, please sign below

Name: ______Date: ______

Parents, please sign below to indicate you read and understand this syllabus

Name: ______Date: ______

BEST PHONE NUMBER AND TIME TO REACH YOU:______Macroeconomics Course Outline

Unit I: Basic Economic Concepts (Modules 1,3,4, Krugman and Wells)

A. Founding Principles • Scarcity, the economizing problem • Tradeoffs and Opportunity Cost • Allocation and factors of production B. Types of Economics • Microeconomics vs. macroeconomics • Positive economics vs. normative economics C. Production Possibilities Graph • Straight vs. bowed PPF • Underutilization, full employment, and unattainable • Law of increasing opportunity cost • 3 shifters of the PPF • Consumer goods vs. capital goods D. Specialization and Trade • Absolute advantage • Comparative advantage

Unit II: Economic Systems (General for AP but more in depth for EOCT) Overview: Students will understand that how a society answers the three basic economic questions of what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce, determines the society's economic system. We will examine incentives within both market and command economies, and understand the role of government in a mixed economic system. We will focus on how government seeks to protect private property rights, provide public goods and services, redistribute income, and correct market failures. (Modules...... )

A. Economic Systems • Three basic economic questions • Market Economies (Adam Smith, Laissez Faire) • Circular Flow of a Market Economy • Command Economies • Mixed Economies B. Broad Social and Economic Goals • Economic Freedom • Economic Growth • Economic Equity • Economic Stability • Economic Security • Economic Efficiency C. Government Involvement in Market-based economies • Protecting Private Property Rights • Redistribution of Income • Resolving Market Failures • Providing Public Goods and Services

Unit III: Supply and Demand – (Modules 5,6,7,8,9, Krugman and Wells) Overview: Though the basic supply and demand curves are primarily microeconomic features, students will receive a thorough introduction to the tools and concepts of supply and demand to better understand the functions of the free market.

A. Demand (graph) • Law of demand • Market demand curve • Determinants of demand • Normal vs. inferior goods • Substitutes and complements B. Supply (graph) • Law of supply • Market supply curve • Determinants of supply. C. Equilibrium and Efficiency (graph) • Equilibrium price and quantity • Disequilibrium: surplus and shortages (graphing) D. Government Policies (graphs) • Price floors and Price ceilings • Excise taxes, Subsidies, Tariffs, Quotas E. Elasticity of demand and supply

Unit III: Measurement of Economic Performance- 5 weeks (Modules 2,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, Krugman and Wells) Overview: Since the performance of the economy as a whole is usually measured by trends in gross national product, gross domestic product, inflation, and unemployment we will learn about how these are measured and used. This unit covers the components of gross income measures and the costs of inflation and unemployment. It will make clear the distinction between nominal and real values, and give us some exposure to the use of price indices to convert nominal magnitudes into real magnitudes. We will look at the actual levels of U.S. inflation, unemployment, gross national product, and gross domestic product, as well as the ways that changes in one may affect the others.

D. Gross domestic product and national income concepts. • Components of GDP • Calculating GDP using the Expenditure and Income Approach • Real vs. Nominal GDP • Per Capita GDP • Shortcomings of GDP E. Unemployment and the Business cycle • Four phases of the business cycle • Measuring Unemployment • Types of Unemployment • Natural rate of Unemployment, actual rate of unemployment F. Inflation and price indices. • Calculating Consumer Price Index (CPI) • Types of Inflation • Consequences of inflation • Real vs. nominal income/ interest rates

Unit IV. National Income and Price Determination –5 Weeks (Modules 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 37, 38, 39, Krugman and Wells) Overview: In this next unit We will learn about national income and aggregate price levels. This is done through a general discussion of the nature and shape of the aggregate demand and supply curves. You will look at the differences between the Keynesian and classical views of the shape of the aggregate supply curve and the importance of the shape in determining the effect of changes in aggregate demand on the economy.

A. Aggregate Demand Graph • Circular flow model • Determinates of aggregate demand • Multiplier B. Aggregate Supply Graph • Determinants of aggregate supply • Short-run vs. Long-run analysis (AD/AS model) • Classical analysis • Keynesian analysis C. Macroeconomic equilibrium • Real output and price level (graph) • Short run vs. long run output • Actual vs. full employment output • Income-Consumption and Income-Savings Model • Average Propensity to Consume/Save • Marginal Propensity to Consume/Save • Real interest rate-investment relationship • Investment Demand Curve (graph)

Unit V. Financial Sector and Stabilization Policies – 3 Weeks (Modules 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, Krugman and Wells) Overview: As gas is to the automobile so is money to the economy. In this unit we will learn how money is “created” and the functions that it performs. We will look at the role that the central bank plays in controlling the money supply to achieve certain economic goals.

A. Money and banking • Definition of money and its functions • Measurements of the money supply • Banks and the creation of money • Money market B. Role of the central bank and the money supply • Tools of the central bank • Expansionary vs. contractionary monetary policy • Real vs. nominal interest rates C. Fiscal policy • Expansionary vs. Contractionary fiscal policy • Demand-side vs. supply side economics • Budget deficits/surpluses • Automatic stabilizers and crowding out D. Fiscal and monetary mix • Interaction of fiscal and monetary policies • Monetarist-Keynesian controversy

Unit VI. Macroeconomic Debates – 3 Weeks (Modules 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, Krugman and Wells) Overview: John Maynard Keynes once remarked, “In the long run we are all dead.” In this next unit we will apply some of the macroeconomic tools that have been learned to help produce some insights relating to aggregate supply and economic growth over time. We will look at the debates over the causes of macro instability and the stabilization policies

A. Trade-offs between inflation and unemployment • Unemployment-inflation relationship and the Phillips Curve • The long-run Phillips Curve (graph) B. Economic growth • Production possibilities analysis of growth (graph) • U.S. Economic growth rates • Accounting for growth C. Disputes over macro theory and policy • Classical view vs. Keynesian view • New classical view of self-correction

Unit VII. International Trade and Finance – 3 Weeks (Modules 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, Krugman and Wells) Overview: The formulation of macroeconomic policy has important ramifications for international economics, domestic growth, and gross domestic product. In this Unit we will learn that the combination of monetary and fiscal policies used in addressing problems of inflation and unemployment has an effect on domestic growth and on international factors such as exchange rates and the balance of payments. We will also learn the reverse: that international forces, often beyond a country’s control, affect a country’s exchange rates, which in turn affect a country’s interest rates, inflation, unemployment, and level of output.

A. Comparative advantage revisited as to why nations trade • Supply and Demand analysis of Exports and Imports • Trade Barriers: Tariffs, Quotas, & Embargoes • Protectionism vs. free trade arguments B. International finance • Balance of payments, Current account, Capital Account • Flexible vs. fixed exchange rates • Currency appreciation/depreciation • U.S. trade deficit

AP Exam Review –3 Weeks (Following Spring Break in April)