ECO1RIG: Recessions, Inflation and Economic Growth (previously ECO1IMA)

Weekly problem sets/assignment (maximum 1,000 words) - 25%

Each week there will be a problem set with various questions about the week's material. In tutorials, you will be randomly assigned questions from the problem set to discuss to the class in groups. This process is totally random so it's absolutely essential you come to class having completed ALL questions.

The 25 marks of the tutorial assessment will be allocated in the following way: 11 will be based on your written work, 8 will be based on your presentation/participation in the tute, and 6 will be based on the quizzes.


1-hour mid-semester exam - 15%

There will be a Mid Semester exam in week 6 held in the Union Hall next to the Eagle bar (i.e. in lecture time but NOT in the usual lecture venue). It is a one-hour exam which serves as a great revision tool imo. The exam will test your understanding of the material covered in both lectures and tutorials held up to that point. Those who have been attending lectures and doing the tute work (in the right way) can be confident as all questions will relate to issues that have been addressed in the problem sets and/or the lectures. Let me stress that while the questions will be of a similar type to those in the PS, they will not necessarily be exactly the same. They may require that you apply your understanding in a slightly different situation or context. You will be able to keep the exam sheet. Re-doing the exam questions will constitute a part of the problem set for the following tutorial, and will be assessed to make sure that all students are on top of the material.

(Reading time: 10 minutes, Writing time: 1 hour)
Structure: 4 True/false (1/2 mark), 4 Multiple choice (1 mark, 5 options each), 3 Short answer questions (3 marks).

2-hour final examination - 60%

It will cover the material of the whole semester, not only the second half. Like the midterm, the final exam will NOT test how well you can memorize. They are not interested in that at all. Instead it will examine the things that really matter, i.e. your
(1) understanding of the material at a deeper level,
(2) ability to communicate this understanding, and
(3) ability to apply this understanding

(Reading time: 15 minutes, Writing time: 2 hours)
Structure: 6 True/false questions (each worth 1 mark), 16 (unambiguous) Multiple choice questions (worth 1.5 marks each, having 5 options including ‘None of the Above’ to minimize guessing), and 5 Short answer questions (each worth 6 marks).


Hurdle requirement: Students must achieve at least 40% in the final examination as well as an overall total of 50% to pass the subject.

This subject is a fantastic introduction to macroeconomics. The cohort is largely populated by non-science/tech students but it's a popular elective as well.


Jan uses simple models to help explain the driving forces of phenomena such as inflation, unemployment, economic growth, foreign debt, and current account deficit, and their effect on our well-being. Importantly, the effectiveness and desirability of policymakers’ responses to various economic situations via monetary and fiscal policy will be discussed in detail. For example, issues such as why some countries are ‘rich’ whereas others are ‘poor’, whether and when should the central bank change the interest rate, whether the government should run surpluses or deficits, the causes and consequences of the global financial crisis of 2008, and many other real world relevant questions are discussed.

Personally the main learning objective for me was being able to independently think about the real world economy and policy.

During the first few minutes of each lecture, Jan likes to have an informal chat about the subject, i.e. you will have a chance to express your comments, suggestions, and problems. For your convenience the lecture slides for each week (both lectures) will be posted on LMS (under materials) by Thursday 8pm the preceding week. In order to save paper I suggest that in the printing options under ‘page scaling’ you use ‘multiple pages per sheet’ and select 4 or 6. The slides are, however, not exhaustive – instead they contain open questions that will be discussed in the lecture to guide you in your preparation. Therefore, attending the lectures and taking some notes will still be necessary.

Macro revolves around the tutorials. Your preparation for tutorials is a crucial part of the subject. Every week by Thursday 8pm Jan posts the problem set for the following week. The problem sets will be related to current macroeconomic developments, and will be very relevant to the exams. There will be two parts, A and B. They will have 6 and 3 questions respectively, where the latter will also have some sub-questions, and the last question will relate to some external material (e.g. a newspaper article or online video). Each question in part A and sub-question in part B will be worth the same in the assessment. The objective is to make sure you are doing the work throughout the semester rather than cramming before the exam.

It is important to note that the problem sets will NOT be marked solely in terms of the correctness of your answers, but also reflect the effort you’ll put in. This is effort in terms of the quality of your answers, not in terms of the quantity or formal presentation. There will often not be a right/wrong answer, the questions are designed to improve your ability to discuss an issue and develop an argument. If you are unsure how to deal with a problem, provide a discussion of what exactly it is that you are having difficulties with, or how you think about it. This will be valued more than just stating the answer without explanations. So the bottom line is: you put in the work, you score high in the tutes, and you learn effectively.

This claim can be demonstrated by the striking degree of correlation between the tutorial mark and the exam score occurring every semester. Out of the students who score full marks in tutes over 80% of them commonly get an A on the exams. In contrast, out of those who score less than 1/3 of the available tutorial marks over 80% commonly fail the exams, and the subject.

The tutorial will consist of the following two main activities. First, the tutorial will start with you discussing the tute work in small groups of 3-4 students for around 10 minutes. You will be able to form the groups yourselves and keep or change them throughout the semester. The tutor will assign each group with selected questions from the problem set. This assignment will be random – you will not be able to choose your questions. Second, after your team discussion the tutor will ask each team to present their work in front of the class, and all members of the team have to share this presentation equally.


The tutor will be a ‘facilitator’ rather than a ‘teacher’ that only delivers the answers. S/he will steer your presentation into the right direction and invite other groups to make comments and ask your group questions. So you do not have to be afraid, this will be a rather informal presentation that will usually lead into a general discussion - interaction is encouraged. Learning to engage in such discussions will be very useful in your further study at Uni as well as in the workplace.


To enable you to get engaged (rather than hectically write down the ‘correct answers’), the solutions to the problem set will be posted on LMS by Thursday 8pm of the same week. You should download the solutions and make sure you are able to reproduce them on your own. If you still have any questions about the problem set make sure you post them on the LMS discussion board.


There will be several 10 minute quizzes throughout the semester, held at the end of the tutorial. Each quiz will consist of several questions based on the material of that tutorial, very similar to the questions you have done at home, so those who did the work have nothing to be afraid of. Some will be done in your group, and some individually. You are not told in advance when the quizzes will occur, or how many of them there will be - to ensure that you do the work every week.

Jan is the best lecturer I have had at LTU thus far. It is no surprise that he has won many awards in university education. I literally did not meet one student who said they didn't like his style of lecturing. Jan also runs a series of guest lectures by prominent economists / central bankers / educators. These are all posted on his YouTube account.

Topics:

* Ten Lessons From Economics - Thinking Like an Economist

* Measuring a Nation’s Income and the Cost of Living

* Production and Growth

* Saving, Investment and the Financial System

* The Natural Rate of Unemployment

* The Monetary System

* Inflation: Its Causes and Costs

* Open-economy Macroeconomics

* Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply

* The Influence of Monetary and Fiscal Policy

* The Short Run Trade-off between Inflation and Unemployment

* The Global Financial Crisis

Yes, with screen capture.

Dr Jan Libich (excellent)

No. Sample questions are provided.

5/5

CSE2DBF (Database Fundamentals)
CSE1IS (Information Systems)
CSE2DES (System Design Engineering)

Yes, there is a prescribed textbook.

Principles of Macroeconomics, Pacific Rim (the 5th edition, but 4th is also fine)
AUTHORS: Stonecash, Gans, King, and Mankiw
PUBLISHER: Cengage; ISBN: 0170191710

2 X 1hr lectures per week
1 X 1hr tutorial per week

Semester 2, 2012

92 (A)