Economics 110, Section 1: Introduction to Economic Theory

Professor Christiaan Hogendorn
Spring 2009

Syllabus

SW = Joseph Stiglitz and Carl Walsh, Economics, 4th Edition, Norton, 2006, or 3rd Edition.
Chapter numbers are from 4th edition, with 3rd edition in [brackets].
Items marked with # are not yet available.

Course Policies and Grading

I. Introduction
Jan. 21 W 1. A Brief History of Economics
SW: 1 [1]
Review: SW: 2 Appendix [2 Appendix]
Jan. 26 M 2. Money, Inflation, and "Why is Economics the Dark Side?"
SW: 28 pp. 615-620 [25 pp. 518-523]
SW: 23 all [23 pp. 472-479]
BLS Consumer Price Index Data
Online reserve: Jerry Muller, The Mind and the Market, Chapter 1

II. Economic Policy Using Supply and Demand
Jan. 28 W 3. Markets for Goods and Services
SW: 3 [4]
EIA International Petroleum Monthly
Feb. 2 M 4. Analysis in the Supply and Demand Model
SW: 4 [5]
Feb. 4 W 5. Consumer and Producer Surplus
SW: 10 [10] read up to General Equilibrium
Feb. 9 M 6. Price Controls and Taxes
Tax Rates
Feb. 11 W 7. International Trade
SW: 19 [18]
Uri Dadush and Julia Nielson, "Governing Global Trade," Finance and Development, December 2007, Volume 44, Number 4.
Feb. 16 M 8. Externalities and the Environment
SW: 18 [21]

III. Firms
Feb. 18 W 9. The Nature and Value of a Firm
SW: 9 [9]
Feb. 23 M 10. Production and Costs
SW: 6 [7]
Feb. 25 W 11. The Perfectly Competitive Firm
SW: 7 [8]
Mar. 2 M FIRST MIDTERM
Covers classes 1-9, problems sets 1-4.
Mar. 4 W 12. The Labor Market
SW: 8 [9]
SPRING BREAK
Mar. 23 M 13. The Capital Market and the Real Interest Rate
SW: 39 [17]
Mar. 25 W 14. Monopoly
SW: 12 [12]
Problem Set 5 due. Answers.
Note: problem set due on a Wednesday.

IV. Introduction to Macroeconomics
Mar. 30 M 15. Introduction to Macroeconomic Models
SW: 21, 22 [22, 23]
BEA GDP Data
Nationmaster GDP Data
April 1 W 16. A Simple Long-Run Macro Model
SW: 24 [24]
April 6 M 17. Savings, Investment, Government
SW: 25, 26 [26]
IMF Savings and Investment Data
April 8 W 18. Growth
SW: 27 [27]
Eswar Prasad, Raghuram Rajan, and Arvind Subramanian, "The Paradox of Capital," Finance and Development, March 2007, Volume 44, Number 1.
BLS Productivity Data
April 13 M SECOND MIDTERM EXAM
Covers classes 10-16, problem sets 5-7.

V. Fluctuations
April 15 W
Tax Day		 19. Central Banks
SW: 28 pp. 618-632 [25 pp. 518-528]
April 20 M 20. Money and the Real Economy
SW: 28 and 34 [25 and 34]
Article: Phil Davies, "Right on Target: A behind-the-scenes look at open market operations, the Fed's big stick of monetary policy, " The Region, December 2004: 39-48.\
April 22 W 21. Unemployment and Business Cycles
SW: 29 [28]
NBER Business Cycles
BLS Unemployment Data
April 27 M 22. Aggregate Demand and Inflation
SW: 31 [30]
April 29 W 23. Inflation and Unemployment
SW: 37 [31]

May 4 M 24. Household Choices Revisited
SW: 5 Appendix [6 Appendix]

Review Session

May 11 M FINAL EXAM
2-5 pm