This course has an assignment that is due by 11:55 pm Central Standard Time on Wednesday night of the first week of class. Failure to complete this assignment will result in your removal from the course for non-participation.

Text: Mankiw, N. Gregory. Macroeconomics. 10th edition. New York: Worth Publishers, 2019.

Required to purchase: Sapling Plus Learning access (online course materials) which includes an eBook: This can be paid for directly at the course web site for the class once the course begins

It is possible to purchase a Sapling Plus Learning Access Card through the bookstore that can be used to pay for access to the course (ISBN 9781319106072). 

It also possible to purchase a loose-leaf copy of the textbook that is bundled with the Sapling Plus Access (ISBN 9781319258900).

Online access to SaplingPlus Learning is required for this class.

Sapling Learning is an online website providing an e-textbook as well as online homework assignments. NOTE: Sapling Learning is NOT “optional:” the Sapling Learning exercises make up 25% of the total course grade. It would be next to impossible to pass the course without Sapling Learning access. Most students find the e-textbook adequate for the course. With the e-book, students can bookmark and print out as much of the textbook as they want. For an extra fee, students can order a print copy of the textbook through Sapling Learning.

The information needed to sign up for immediate access to Sapling Learning is provided under handouts (on the Resources and Materials page of the course after the course opens.)

This course builds on the material covered in EC201.  After reviewing basic macroeconomic concepts, it looks at different models of how the aggregate economy functions in both the short-run and long-run (including Keynesian, monetarist, supply-side, and real business cycle models).  It also looks at the use of monetary and fiscal policies to stabilize the economy.  Prerequisites: EC201 and EC202.

Upon successful completion of the course, each participant should be able to:

1. understand the long-run behavior of the economy in terms of the forces that determine the level of real output at any point in time and its rate of growth over time;
2. be familiar with the nature of the business cycle in the American economy and aware of the different theories concerning the determination of equilibrium output in the short-run;
3. be aware of the implications of these different theories for the conduct of macroeconomic policy;
4. have improved their research and writing skills.