Personal Philosophy:
Economics is the most important course you will take in high school. I say this with true sincerity. It is a year-long course where we learn how to think like economists. It is challenging and fast-paced, and always dynamic. I challenge you to bring in the front page of a real newspaper any time during the year with no economics on it and I will pay you $5.00 - in the past 10 years I have paid up only twice. (I refused to pay on September 12, 2001). Students are expected to bring articles into class that apply to the topics we are learning. We create a bulletin board of political cartoons and those from the comics that illustrate economic concepts. Students create journals of major units using newspaper articles they have collected independently. I know that I have reached you when you come into class and declare that you have experienced consumer surplus at the HOG last night, or if they start the day asking why the stock market tanked the day before (sadly, I can never answer that one). Economics is fun if you remember that it’s real. You know much more than you think and will learn much more than you would imagine is possible by the time you leave.
COURSE OUTLINE
2005-2006
I. INTRODUCTION: A. Course Description
B. Course Requirement
C. Assessments
A. Course Description:
A.P. Economics is a college level, full year course designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of the principles of economics that apply to the functions of consumers and producers within the economic system (microeconomics), as well as an understanding of the economic principles which operate within the economic system as a whole (macroeconomics). The course will integrate the role of the government in promoting greater efficiency and equity in the economy. A.P. Economics will emphasize the study of national income, economic performance measures, economic growth and international economics. The aim of A.P. Economics is to provide the student with a learning experience equivalent to that obtained in a typical college introduction level economics course. Students will learn to think like economists – to question, to evaluate marginal costs and marginal benefits, to explore the many ways that one action will cause secondary actions.
1. MICROECONOMICS - SUMMARY OUTLINE
Percentage Goals
Content Area for Examination
I. Basic economic concepts...............................................8-12%
A. Scarcity: the nature
B. Opportunity costs and production possibilities
C. Specialization and comparative advantage
D. The functions of any economic system (what, how, and for whom
to produce)
II. The nature and functions of product markets..................60-70%
A. Supply and demand (15-20%)
1. Price and quantity determination
2. Basic manipulation of supply and demand, including ceilings
and floors
3. Elasticity
B. Models of consumer choice (5-10%)
1. Consumer choice behind the demand curve
2. Consumer Surplus
C. Firm production, costs, revenues (10-15%)
1. Marginal product and diminishing returns
2. Average and marginal costs and revenues
3. Long-run costs and economies of scale
D. Product pricing and outputs, both in the individual firm and in the
market (25-30%)
1. Perfect competition
a. Monopoly
b. Oligopoly
c. Monopolistic competition
E. Efficiency and government policy toward imperfect
competition (5-10%)
III. Factor markets..........................................................10-15%
A. Derived factor demand
B. Determination of wages and other factor prices
IV. Efficiency, equity, and the role of government..................8-12%
A. Market failure
1. Externalities
2. Public goods
B. Distribution of income
2. MACROECONOMICS - SUMMARY OUTLINE
Percentage Goals
Content Area for Examination
I. Basic economic concepts..................................................5-10%
A. Scarcity: the nature of economic systems
B. Opportunity costs and production possibilities
C. Specialization and comparative advantage
D. The functions of any economic system
(what, how, and for whom to produce)
E. Demand, supply, price determination
II. Measurement of economic performance....................8-12%
A. Gross national product, gross domestic
product, and national income concepts
B. Inflation and price indices
C. Unemployment
III. National income and price determination..............70-75%
A. Aggregate supply (8-12%)
1. Short-run and long-run analysis
2. Sticky versus Flexible wages and prices
3. Supply side policies
B. Aggregate demand (25-35%)
1. Circular flow
2. Components
3. Multiplier
4. Fiscal policy
5. Monetary policy
C. Money and banking (10-15%)
1. Definition of money and its creation
2. Tools of central bank policy
D. Fiscal-monetary mix (10-15%)
1. Interaction of fiscal and monetary policies
2. Monetarist-Keynesian controversy
3. Government Budget Policies
E. Trade-offs between inflation and unemployment (8-10%)
1. Long run versus short run
2. Supply shocks
3. Role of expectations
IV. Economic Growth 4-6 %
V. International Finance, exchange rates and balance of payments………… 4-6%
A. International trade and policy
B. International finance, exchange rates and balance of payments
B. Course Requirements:
1. This course meets every day for one year. A.P. Economics integrates two senior level courses, Economics and Participation in Government, which are required for graduation.
2. Students will be required to take both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics A.P. exams which are offered on the same day. Each exam is approximately 2 hours long. Students pay one fee for both courses. The Advanced Placement Exam is on Thursday, May 11, 2006
3. Students will be required to purchase APIP workbooks from the campus bookstore. These will be used for most homework and lab assignments. They are $26.00 each. We will begin with Macroeconomics. You will be expected to bring the books to class each day. They will ultimately become your review book.
4. Participation is a key element in this course. Your grade will depend on your effort and participation. This will include involvement in class activities, seminars and labs.
5. Attendance will be important for your success. An excellent attendance record will help ensure your success. Students who are late will meet with me after school to complete missed work
6. Students are expected to maintain a topically well-organized binder and spiral. The binder must be divided into five organized divisions:
1. daily class notes - in spiral. The spiral notebook will have vocabulary for each chapter
and all assigned key questions.
2. supplemental readings
3. handouts, worksheets
4. full written responses to each APIP workbook unit-end short and long essays.
5. ALL evaluative materials (tests, papers, exams and written graded assignments).
7. Homework will be a significant part of the course. All assignments will be expected on the day that they are required and late assignments will not be given credit. Class work will depend upon your careful preparation of each assignment. Homework will count for 1/3 of the first quarter grade but will be worth less the following quarters. There is often material covered in the textbook reading that cannot, due to time constraints, be covered in class.
8. You will be required to follow current public policy topics using current events sources. You need to have access to NEWSWEEK, BUSINESS WEEK, FORBES, FORTUNE or some other weekly news magazine as well as daily access to the Wall St. Journal and New York Times.
9. At times your work will be with others in a group. You will be expected to participate fully in the assigned group work. Cooperative work will be very important in this class.
10. Students who are experiencing difficulties in the course or who seek additional instruction and discussion are encouraged to see me immediately. To make contact, see me during class to set up a time. I am available before and after school and during my posted planning times.
C. Assessments:
Students will be expected to work independently. Some homework will be collected and graded.
No late work will be accepted. Grading will be determined by performance in the following tasks:
1. Class participation
2. Homework
3. Unit Tests
4. Quizzes
5. Midterm
6. Journal Assignments
a. Supply and Demand Journal (first quarter)
b. Macro Economics Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy Journal (second quarter)
7. Participation in Government Public Policy Project and Presentation (required for graduation).
GRADING
Submitted work (Quizzes, Tests, Papers, Notebooks, Journals and Exams)
Each piece of work submitted to me for grading will receive either a 5,4,3,2, or 1. (See explanation below.)
GRADING EXPLANATION
A five (5) or A (95) or A-(92) is awarded to a student who has demonstrated superiority. His/Her work accurately address and answers all questions with breadth and depth. He/She has given full and appropriate illustrations to support arguments.
A four (4) or B+ (87), B (85), or B- (82) is given to a student who has demonstrated competence and, while his/her explanations, arguments and illustrations indicate breadth and depth, they are uneven. He/She must indicate a solid and accurate understanding of the questions asked.
A three (3) or C+ (77), C (75), or C- (72) is issued to a student who has suggested competence and who has indicated comprehension and understanding of the question but who has failed to develop answers.
A two(2) or D (65) or D- (62) is given to a student who has suggested incompetence, who has suggested inadequate understanding of the questions, and who has made only minimal and confused explanations.
A one (1) or F (55) is issued to those few students who have demonstrated incompetence, who have failed to demonstrate a comprehension of the question and who have dealt only slightly and in an irrelevant way with the questions and issues.
EFFORT GRADES
Effort Grades are: Exemplary, Good, Satisfactory, Needs Improvement, or Unsatisfactory. Students who perform their work fully, who take their own initiative to seek knowledge beyond the assigned work and who do so well, and who take an active and regular part in class discussion will receive an Exemplary effort grade. Those who take an active but inconsistent part in class discussion and who perform all the work assigned with care and thoroughness but do not take the initiative to go beyond the scope of the assigned material will receive a Satisfactory effort mark. Those students who do not accomplish the assigned work and who do not take an active and regular involvement in class will receive an effort mark of Needs Improvement. Finally, those who do not do the assigned work and who do not take part in class, and who are disruptive will receive a mark of Unsatisfactory.
II. MAJOR JOURNAL ASSIGNMENTS:
A goal of A.P. Economics is for you to become a well-informed citizen who is able to analyze the issues and problems facing our country and to apply economic principles to the decision-making process. However, analysis is only the first step in the process of responsible citizenship. You need to make decisions about how these problems should be solved. The purpose of this journal assignment is to analyze and make decisions about issues facing our nation. You will maintain a journal all year, divided into three categories.
Step I. Collect Information
Collect as many articles which deal with the following categories
Journal #1: Supply and Demand
Journal #2: Role of Government in Economics: Fiscal and Monetary Policy
Step II. Summaries/Applications/Reactions
Cut out each article and put them in your journal. Identify each article by title, date, and source. You may use newspapers, news magazines, business magazines. There are copies of newspapers and magazines in the library and the Social Studies Resource Center.
A. Summarize each article in your own words.
B. Apply economic concepts learned in class to the article. Use graphs whenever possible.
AP ECONOMICS
Mrs. Brazill
2004-2005 Course Outline and Assignments
Required Texts:
Economics 15th Ed.
C.R. McConnel, S.L. Brue
McGraw Hill, Inc., 2002
Advanced Placement Economics
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
Student Activities,
J.S. Morton
(to be purchased in Book store at $26.00 each, referred to below as APIP)
The following outline will be followed closely. Students are expected to read the chapters and take notes. Complete the “Quick Quiz” sections while reading. Always read the “Last Word” section. APIP assignments will be completed when assigned. Define the vocabulary in your notebooks and write out answer to “Key Questions.” You will be expected to discuss your answers in class, and you may be called upon to present and discuss your answers. APIP Unit Tests and Essays will also be assigned and discussed in class. There will also be supplemental readings provided.
“[Economics] is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus
of the mind, a technique of thinking...”
John Maynard Keynes
Topics Text Reading Assignments
INTRODUCTION: NATURE AND METHOD OF ECONOMICS (3 days)
1. Economics and its relevance Chapter 1, Appendix
2. Economic Goals
3. Economic Choices
4. Models and Methodology
Vocabulary: Define the following in your notebook:
economics positive economic
economic perspective normative economics
induction/deduction economic goals
ceteris paribus inverse and direct relationship
microeconomics slope
macroeconomics tangent
marginal analysis fallacy of composition
tradeoffs
APIP Exercises: #1
Key Questions: (pg. 14), #1,7,8,9
Appendix Assignment: Take home assignment (working with graphs and liner equations)
UNIT I: THE BASIC ECONOMIC PROBLEM (2 weeks) Chapters 2 and 4
1. Scarcity: The nature of Economic System
2. Production Possibilities and Opportunity Costs
3. The Functions of Economic Systems
4. Alternative Economic Systems
5. Economic Way of Thinking
Vocabulary
scarcity allocative efficiency
choice productive efficiency
opportunity cost circular flow model
marginal benefits capital goods
marginal costs production possibilities frontier (curve)
economic resources competition
pure Capitalism law of increasing opportunity costs
money product and resource market
consumer sovereignty economic costs
utility economic profits
consumer goods market system
command system
APIP Exercises: #2,3,4,5,6,7,8,11 9 (from Morton, Micro book, 2nd edition, I will provide), multiple choice, free response
Key Questions: p 38, #6,9,11,17 p 70, #7
Quick Quizzes: p. 26, p. 35
UNIT II: NATURE AND FUNCTION OF MARKETS (4 weeks)
“Teach a parrot to say supply and demand, and you have
an economist.”
A. Demand Chapter 3 (p. 40-46)
1. Relationship between price and quantity demanded
2. Determinants of Demand
3. Changes in Quantity Demanded Vs Change in Demand
4. Law of Demand
Vocabulary
law of demand market demand schedule
change in quantity demanded demand curve
substitute ceteris paribus
complement diminishing marginal utility
income effect normal goods, inferior goods
substitution effect inverse relationship
APIP Exercises: #3,4,5,6,7,8, and others f rom Micro workbook (I will provide)
Key Questions: p.56, #1, 2
B. Consumer Choice and Individual Consumer Demand Chapter 21 (p. 394)
1. Introduction to consumer Behavior
2. Marginal Utility Analysis
3. Consumer Choice
Vocabulary
income effect law of diminishing marginal utility
substitution utility maximizing rule
utility
marginal utility
Key Questions: p.406, #2,4,5
Quick Quiz: p. 396
C. Supply Chapter 3 (p. 46-50)
1. Relationship between price and quantity supplied
2. Determinants of supply
3. Changes in the quantity supplied vs. change in supply
4. Law of Supply
Vocabulary
law of supply
supply schedule
supply shift
resources
Key Questions: p. 57, #5
D. Equilibrium Chapter 3 (p. 50-56)
1. Why price and quantity move toward Equilibrium
2. Shifts in supply and demand
3. Surpluses and shortages
4. Real World Applications
5. How Markets Allocate Resources
Vocabulary
equilibrium equilibrium quantity
equilibrium price rationing function of prices
surplus shortage
Key Questions: p. 57 - 7,8.
Quick Quiz: p. 51
E. Elasticity of Supply and Demand Chapter 20 (p. 374-391)
1. Demand
a. Price Elasticity of Demand
b. Coefficient Method
c. Total Revenue Method
d. Determinants of Elasticity of Demand
e. Applications
2. Supply
a. Time Periods
b. Applications
Vocabulary
elasticity price elasticity of supply
price elasticity of demand short run/long run
unit elastic cross-elasticity
inelastic demand price ceiling
total-revenue test price floor
Key Questions: p. 392, #4,5,6,10,11.
F. The Role of the Government Chapter 5 (p. 79-90)
Chapter 30 (p. 588-607)
“The outstanding faults of the economic society in
which we live are its failures to provide full employment
and its arbitrary and inequitable distribution of wealth
and income.”
John Maynard Keynes
1. Providing Public Good
Vocabulary (chapters 5 and 30)
market failure public good
externalities transfer payments
spillover costs exclusion principle
spillover benefits fiscal federalism
free-rider tax incidence
Coase theorem progressive tax
tragedy of the commons regressive tax
special-interest effect proportional tax
ability-to-pay principle
APIP Exercise: p.229, #[62,63,64,65,66,67]*(Morton, 2nd edition – I will provide),multiple choice, free response
Key Questions: Chapter 5 (p. 91 ,#7, 9, 10,11,15.
*- We will choose some of these exercises.
2. Correcting Market Failures
3. Redistribution of Income
a. Overview
b. Effects of Taxation on Income Distribution
1. Progressive taxes
2. Regressive taxes
3. Proportional taxes
Key Questions: Chapter 30, p. 609 #1,2,3,4.
UNIT IV: INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMICS
MEASURING ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE (2 weeks) Chapters 7,8
A. The Circular Flow of National Income
B. Gross Domestic Product/National Income
1. Calculations
2. Application
C. Unemployment
1. How it is measured.
2. Types of unemployment.
D. Inflation and Price Indices
Vocabulary: Chapter 7
national income expenditures approved price index
gross national product income approved CPI
gross domestic product net exports GDP deflator
final goods personal expenditures nominal GDP
intermediate goods disposable income real GDP
APIP Exercises: # 10,11, 12, 13, 17
Key Question: p. 134, #3,11,12,13.
Vocabulary: Chapter 8
business cycle natural rate of unemployment
peak, trough labor force
recession, recovery Okuns Law
unemployment: rule of 70
frictional, structural inflation:
cyclical, seasonal demand pull, cost push
full employment COLA
APIP Exercises: #13,14,15, 16, 17, multiple choice, free response
Key Questions: p.157, #2,4,6,8.
Student Research project: (see below)
[Note to my students: This is the very heart of Macroeconomics. We will need to read all 4 chapters at least twice. They truly should be considered as a whole!]
UNIT V: AGGREGATE DEMAND AND AGGREGATE SUPPLY (4 weeks)
Chapters 11,9,10,12
“The whole purpose of the economy is production of goods
and services for consumption now or in the future. The
burden of proof is on those who would leave idle people,
machines or land that could be used...such waste...”
James Tobin
A. Aggregate Demand
1. Circular flow
2. Components of Aggregate Demand
3. Multiplier
4. Government Intervention-fiscal policy
5. Monetary Policy
B. Aggregate Supply
1. Short-run and long-run analysis
2. Sticky versus flexible wages
3. Supply-side polices
C. Multiplier
Vocabulary: Chapter 11
aggregate demand (AD) horizontal, vertical, intermediate ranges
wealth effect of AS
interest rate effect equilibrium price level
determinants of AD demand-pull inflation
aggregate supply (AS) cost-push inflation
determinants of AS ratchet effect
productivity equilibrium real-domestic output
APIP Exercises: #23, 24, 25, 28, 29
Key Questions: p. 222, #5,7,8,9 – very important questions
Quick Quiz: p. 214
Vocabulary: Chapter 9 (building aggregate expenditure model)
Say’s Law investment demand curve
Keynesian economics equilibrium GDP
consumption schedule 45-degree line
savings schedule aggregate expenditures
average propensity to consume/save planned Vs actual investment
marginal propensity to consume/save
APIP Exercises; #21 or 22,(2nd edition of Morton) and 19, 20, 22
Key Questions: p.179, #2,3,5,9.
Quick Quiz: p. 168
Quick Quiz: p. 175
Vocabulary: Chapter 10 (The multiplier)
multiplier
net exports
balanced-budget multiplier
recessionary gap
inflationary gap
APIP Exercises: #20, 21,
Key Questions: p.200,201 #2,4,8,9,10.
Quick Quiz: p. 195
Vocabulary: Chapter 12 (Fiscal Policy)
fiscal policy crowding out effect
expansionary fiscal policy full-employment
contractionary fiscal policy net export effect
budget deficit built-in stabilizer
budget surplus
APIP Exercises: #27, 20 31, 32, 33,multiple choice, free response
Key Questions: p. 240,241, #2,3,10.
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