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Economics 100B: Economic Analysis – Macroeconomics

This is a course in intermediate macroeconomics with an emphasis on real world applications.

There are two main objectives for this course.

1. To develop models that can be usefully applied to generate realistic explanations about the behavior of important macroeconomic variables such as output and income, em-ployment and unemployment, interest rates, the government budget balance, exchange rates and the current account balance, and inflation.

2. To apply these models to understand and interpret current and historical macroeco-nomic developments – including monetary and fiscal policy choices – and to make predictions about future macroeconomic events, primarily in the industrialized coun-tries.

Prerequisites for this course are Economics 1 or 2 and Math 1A or 16A. You will need a application like Excel for some of the homework assignments.

Requirements

The course requirements are (i) ten problem sets, (ii) two midterm exams, and (iii) a final exam. Some of the problem sets will involve data work. Your course grade will be determined from the scores you receive on these items as follows:

Problem Sets       20%

Midterm 1           20%

Midterm 2           20%

Final                   40%

The first midterm will be on Tuesday, October 5th and the second midterm will be on Tuesday, November 2nd. The final exam will be on on Tuesday, December 14th. All exams will be online and timed. Each exam needs to be completed within a 12-hour time window that begins at the lecture time for midterms and at the final-exam time for the final. We reserve the right to use Zoom for remote proctoring.

Meeting Times, Sections and GSIs

The lecture portion of the class will be given live and recorded on Zoom. The Zoom session for the lecture will begin at 3:30 p.m. PDT. In keeping with the tradition of “Berkeley time,” the first 10 minutes will be open for questions and not recorded. At 3:40 p.m. PDT the video recording of the lecture will begin and continue until the lecture ends at 5:00 p.m. PDT. After the lecture I will be available for questions. The video of the lecture will be posted later the same day in the Lecture Videos subfolder of the Files folder on the bCourses site.

You are not required to attend the Zoom meeting. The course is designed to be equally accessible to those who attend the lecture and those who watch the recording of the lecture. I will hold “drop in” office hours on Zoom from 1:00 p.m. PDT to 2:30 p.m. PDT on Monday.

Sections will review background material, amplify & extend concepts introduced in the lectures, and explain analytical & computational techniques. Your GSI will also hold weekly office hours.

The primary form of communication for this course is Piazza. By posting your questions on Piazza, everyone – instructors and students – has the opportunity to answer and to learn from the Q&A. If you do send email to your GSI or Prof. Hawkins, please put “Econ 100B” somewhere in the subject line so your email is routed correctly.

Texts

The recommended textbook for the course is

● Macroeconomics: Policy and Practice, by Frederic S. Mishkin.

There are two domestic editions and at least two non-domestic (e.g., global, international, etc.) editions of the book. Any edition of the text can be used for this course and the least-expensive option is your best choice. Each slide deck will include the associated readings that cover the material covered in the lecture.

The textbook is not required. It does, however have useful information on the macroeconomy that can help to round out your understanding of this field. The lecture slides, memos, and papers cover the course material. The models we will develop in this course differ – sometimes substantially – from those in the textbook. The exams will not cover material in the textbook that does not appear in the lecture slides, memos, and papers.

Course Outline

Important Class Policies

1. The 15-Minute Rule. Since the live version of the lecture relies on broadcast tech-nology that can fail (e.g., wifi failure, rolling blackouts, Zoom crashing, etc.), the 15-minute rule applies. If the Zoom session does not begin within 15 minutes of the start time of the lecture then you can assume that there has been a failure somewhere in the technology link and that there will not be a live lecture that day. Similarly, if the broadcast drops in the middle of a lecture and it does not resume within 15 minutes, consider the live version of the lecture to be finished for the day. In either case a video of the lecture will be made and posted as soon as technology permits.

2. Code of Ethics. You are expected to know the Berkeley Campus Code of Conduct and to conduct yourself in this class accordingly. In particular, “all forms of academic misconduct including but not limited to cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, or facilitating academic dishonesty” will not be tolerated. Please review the definitions of cheating posted at The Center for Student Conduct.

Any evidence of cheating will result in a score of zero (0) on that assignment or exam. Cheating on the final exam will result in an “F” for the course. Incidences of cheating will also be reported to Student Judicial Affairs.

3. Honor Code. The student community at UC Berkeley has adopted the following Honor Code: “As a member of the UC Berkeley community, I act with hon-esty, integrity, and respect for others.” The Honor Code, as distinct from the Student Code of Conduct, is intended to provide a vehicle for campus-wide awareness and discussion of issues of academic integrity. You can find more information on the Honor Code website.

4. Problem sets are due as indicated on the assignment. Problem sets will be submitted online using Gradescope. You must submit your own work. Copied work will receive a score of zero (0). Graded problem sets will be available online.

5. DSP exam accommodation. If you are entitled to special accommodation on exams let me know as soon as possible; preferably no later than the end of the second week of the semester.

6. Missed Exams. There are no make-up exams. If you miss a midterm you must contact me before the exam with an excuse that meets University standards. Failure to sit any midterm without having received approval from the instructor before that exam will result in a zero (0) on that exam.

7. Regrade requests. Your GSIs takes great care in grading your problem sets and exams . If you believe there was an error in adding up the points, simply point this out to your GSI via email. If you believe there to be an error in the grading, here are the steps you must follow:

(a) Within 7 days of the time that your graded exam or problem set is released online, email your GSI your request listing the question(s) you think should be regraded and an explanation of why.

(b) Your GSI reserves the right to regrade your entire exam or problem set, not just the question(s) mentioned in your regrade request. Scores on any question can be changed (increased or decreased). It is possible for you to end up with fewer points at the end of the regrade than you had originally.

(c) I have advised your GSI to reject any regrade request that is for fewer than 1 point per question.

Note: regrade requests are only accepted for midterm exams and problem sets: re-grades on the final exam are limited to missed answers.

8. Course Grading. Your course letter grade will be determined solely from the weighted-average percentage of your graded assignments & exams using a curve. Final exams cannot be re-evaluated once grades are submitted to the Registrar’s Office.

9. P/NP Option. Students taking the course under the P/NP option must earn at least a C– to pass the course.

10. Recording of Lectures. You are expected to be familiar with the UC Berkeley policy regarding Course Note-Taking and Materials and to conduct yourselves accordingly. In particular:

● Students are to use any recording for their own study purposes only.

● Students are not authorized to post any lecture recording to the Internet.

Important Campus Policies and Guidelines

1. ACCOMMODATION OF RELIGIOUS CREED

In compliance with Education code, Section 92640(a), it is the official policy of the Uni-versity of California at Berkeley to permit any student to undergo a test or examination, without penalty, at a time when that activity would not violate the student’s religious creed, unless administering the examination at an alternative time would impose an undue hardship that could not reasonably have been avoided. Requests to accommo-date a student’s religious creed by scheduling tests or examinations at alternative times should be submitted directly to the faculty member responsible for administering the examination by the second week of the semester.

Reasonable common sense, judgment and the pursuit of mutual goodwill should result in the positive resolution of scheduling conflicts. The regular campus appeals process applies if a mutually satisfactory arrangement cannot be achieved.

2. CONFLICTS BETWEEN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AND ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

The Academic Senate has established Guidelines Concerning Scheduling Conflicts with Academic Requirements to address the issue of conflicts that arise between extracur-ricular activities and academic requirements. They specifically concern the schedules of student athletes, student musicians, those with out-of-town interviews, and other students with activities (e.g., classes missed as the result of religious holy days) that compete with academic obligations. The guidelines assign responsibilities as follows:

● It is the instructor’s responsibility to give students a schedule, available on the syllabus in the first week of instruction, of all class sessions, exams, tests, project deadlines, field trips, and any other required class activities.

● It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor(s) in writing by the second week of the semester of any potential conflict(s) and to recommend a solution, with the understanding that an earlier deadline or date of examination may be the most practicable solution.

● It is the student’s responsibility to inform him/herself about material missed be-cause of an absence, whether or not he/she has been formally excused.

Disclaimer

This syllabus is a living document and subject to revision. Whenever the syllabus is revised it will be posted to bCourses and an email will be sent to all class participants informing them of the posting and indicating what has been revised. This version of the syllabus was generated on August 20, 2021.