UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Economics 100B: Economic Analysis Macroeconomics

Professor Steven A. Wood

Administrative Detail:
Class Sessions:

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m., 155 Dwinelle

Textbook:

Frederic S. Mishkin
Macroeconomics: Policy and Practice
Custom Edition
Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014
ISBN: 126-969110-4

OR

Frederic S. Mishkin
Macroeconomics: Policy and Practice
2nd edition (Hardback)
Pearson, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-13-342431-7

The custom edition is a subset of the full textbook.

This is the second edition of the textbook. There are a number of important improvements
from the first edition. Although I will cover the new material in class, if you use the first
edition you will not have the textbook to fall back on for additional explanation.
Required Supplies: Yellow highlighter (for exams)
Set of colored pens or pencils (black, red, blue, and green)
Office:

F502-H Haas School of Business

Office Hours:

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:45 p.m. 1:45 p.m. and by appointment.

E-mail Address:

[email protected]

Prerequisites:

Economics 1, Economics 2 or PENR 1, and Math 1A or 16A.

Course Description:
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 simple models that can be usefully applied to generate realistic explanations about the
behavior of important macroeconomic variables such as output and income, employment 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 macroeconomic developments
including monetary and fiscal policy choicesand to make predictions about future macroeconomic
events, primarily in the industrialized countries.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Discussion Section:
Discussion section is important. Lectures move quickly. Discussion section with your GSI is a key part of
learning the material. Your GSI will go over the material in the text and from the lectures and answer any question
you may have. News articles may also be discussed in section. Your active participation in section will enhance
your understanding of the course material which should be helpful on problem sets and exams.
For your first discussion section, please write a letter of introduction to your GSI. This should include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Your name (and a picture),

Your year,
Your major or intended major,
Why you are taking this course, and
Any other information that you would like your GSI to know about you.

This letter will help your GSI to get to know you better and more quickly.

Attendance:
Attendance will NOT be taken in class. You do not need to contact either me or your GSI if you will miss class.
Attendance WILL be taken at the first 2 discussion sectionseven if the class has not yet met. You MUST be
present at BOTH meetings or have an excused absence from the instructor. Otherwise, you WILL be
dropped from the course in order to make room for someone on the waitlist.
If you want to change discussion sections, wait until AFTER the first week. All official section changes must
be done through Tele-Bears.

Waitlist / Adding the Class:

I CANNOT add you to the class. Enrollment is handled automatically by Tele-Bears. The waitlist will stopped
being processed after week 5. It is unlikely that the entire waitlist will be able to be enrolled. The Departments
procedures
for
adding
students
on
the
waitlist
to
the
class
can
be
found
at
http://www.econ.berkeley.edu/econ/ugrad/enrollmentproc.shtml.
Instructor Approval requests are handled exclusively by the Economics Departments Head GSI who can be
contacted at [email protected].
Students on the waitlist who are eventually added to the class are still responsible for all assignments due before
they are formally admitted into the class. Therefore, you should participate in Problem Set #1. Your participation,
however, does not guarantee that you will be admitted to the class.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Economics Tutoring:
The Department of Economics Tutoring webpage offers information on tutoring options for students. The
Department offers tutoring services to undergraduates taking core courses: Econ 1, 2, 100A/B, 101A/B, 140, and
141. The Student Learning Center (SLC) offers Study Group and Drop-in Tutoring as well as Exam Reviews for
Econ 1 and 100A/B. Also, a number of graduate students are available as tutors-for-hire.

Website:
We will use bCourses as our course website. This site will include this syllabus, my lecture notes, problem set
assignments and answers (after the fact) for this semester, problem sets and answers from the previous semester,
exams and answers (after the fact) for this semester, exams and answers from the previous semester, and any other
information relevant to the class.

Slidecast:
This course is being slidecast, allowing you to listen to the lectures and review the slides (including my
annotations) after class. You can access the slidecast through bCourses, through the Webcast sidebar.

Classroom Etiquette:
Class is from 2:10 p.m. 3:30 p.m. I will make every effort to begin class promptly and to end class on time. If you
arrive late and/or leave early, please make every effort to do so quietly. In consideration of your fellow students and
the instructor, please refrain from talking with your neighbors during class.

The Use of Electronic Devices in Class:

Laptops and tablet computers may only be used in class for academic purposes related to this course. They
should not be used for sending or receiving emails, surfing the Internet, checking Facebook or other social media,
or any other activities not directly related to the class.
Cell phones should be turned off (or be on silent mode) and put away during class.

Email Policy:
Your first point of contact for questions regarding course material is your GSI. I am available to answer questions
about course policy and course material. If you email me you should identify that you are taking Econ 100B. I will
try to respond within 48 hours of receiving your email (which means that it is unlikely that I will respond in a
timely manner to questions asked the day of an exam).

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Learning Goals:
As part of Berkeley's Undergraduate Student Learning Initiative (USLI), the Economics Department has developed
learning goals for the Economics major. See http://emlab.berkeley.edu/econ/ugrad/ugrad_goals.shtml\
The specific learning goals for this course aims to achieve are:
CT1. Apply economic analysis to evaluate everyday problems.
CT2. Apply economic analysis to evaluate specific policy proposals.
CT3. Compare two or more arguments that have different conclusions to a specific issue or problem.
CT4. Understand the role of assumptions in arguments.
PS1. Solve problems that have clear solutions.
CS1. Communicate effectively in written, spoken, and graphical form about specific economic issues.
LL2. Know how to locate and use primary data sources
LL3. Understand and evaluate current economic events and new economic ideas.

Responsibilities and Expectations:

1.

As the instructor, my responsibilities are to come to class prepared to teach; to organize and present the
material in a manner that facilitates your learning; to respond to and encourage questions; to oversee grading of
assignments; to be available during office hours and for scheduled appointments; and to stimulate an
enthusiasm for economics and for learning.

2.

As a student, your responsibilities are to come to class prepared to learn and to participate in lectures and
discussions; to complete the assigned readings before class (allowing time to re-read difficult material); to
complete 6 problem set assignments on time, and to take 3 exams.

3.

You are also responsible for complying with the UC Berkeley Honor Code. This Code requires each student to
act with honestly, integrity, and respect for others in all academic activities. Lying, cheating, or plagiarism of
published work, work posted on the Internet, or work done by professors or other students WILL NOT BE
TOLERATED.

4.

Actions that have negative effects on others WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the classroom.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

UC Berkeley Campus Honor Code / Assignment Affirmation:

As a member of the UC Berkeley community, I act with honesty, integrity, and respect for others.
Collaboration and Independence: Reviewing lecture and reading materials and studying for exams can be
enjoyable and enriching things to do with fellow students. This is recommended. However, unless otherwise
instructed, homework assignments are to be completed independently and materials submitted as homework
should be the result of ones own independent work.
Cheating: A good lifetime strategy is always to act in such a way that no one would ever imagine that you
would even consider cheating. Anyone caught cheating on a quiz or exam in this course will receive a failing
grade in the course and will also be reported to the University Center for Student Conduct. In order to
guarantee that you are not suspected of cheating, please keep your eyes on your own materials and do not
converse with others during the quizzes and exams.
Plagiarism: To copy text or ideas from another source without appropriate reference is plagiarism and will
result in a failing grade for your assignment and usually further disciplinary action. For additional information
on plagiarism and how to avoid it, see, for example: http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/misconduct/preventplag.html.
Academic Integrity and Ethics: Cheating on exams and plagiarism are two common examples of dishonest,
unethical behavior. Honesty and integrity are of great importance in all facets of life. They help to build a sense
of self-confidence and are key to building trust within relationships, whether personal or professional. There is
no tolerance for dishonesty in the academic world, for it undermines what we are dedicated to doing
furthering knowledge for the benefit of humanity.

Your experience as a student at UC Berkeley is hopefully fueled by passion for learning and replete with
fulfilling activities. And we also appreciate that being a student may be stressful. There may be times when
there is temptation to engage in some kind of cheating in order to improve a grade or otherwise advance your
career. This could be as blatant as having someone else sit for you in an exam, or submitting a written
assignment that has been copied from another source. And it could be as subtle as glancing at a fellow
students exam when you are unsure of an answer to a question and are looking for some confirmation. One
might do any of these things and potentially not get caught. However, if you cheat, no matter how much you
may have learned in this class, you have failed to learn perhaps the most important lesson of all.

On every problem set, you will be asked to sign the following assignment affirmation: On my honor, the
answers on this problem set are entirely my own work. I neither copied from the work of others nor allowed
others to copy from my work.
Failure to sign this affidavit will result in a zero for that problem set.

On every exam, you will be asked to sign the following test affirmation: On my honor, the answers on this
test are entirely my own work. I neither gave nor received any aid while taking this test. I will not discuss the
questions on this test until after [end of exam period] on [date of exam].
Failure to sign this affidavit will result in a zero for that examination.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Grades and Grading:

There are four (4) graded assignments during the semester with the following weights.
Problem Sets:
Exam #1:
Exam #2:
Exam #3:

25%
20%
25%
30%

Note that Exam #1 is scheduled for AFTER the deadline to drop classes.
Your problem sets and exams will be graded by your GSI. Your answers are graded solely on their content and not
on their intent. This means that we do not grade what you meant to say but what you actually write, even if you
knew the answer but just could not say it right. This also means that answers that are illegible, rambling, or
poorly organized will not receive high scores.

Problem Sets:
There are 6 problem sets of which the highest 5 scores will count toward your final course grade. Problem sets
will be posted on bCourses in Word format and you must complete your problem set on that template.
Problem set solutions are due at the BEGINNING of class on the due date. There is a 10-minute grace period.
1.

Problem sets submitted after the grace period will NOT be accepted.

2.

Problem sets MUST be word-processed although you may do graphs and equations by hand.

3.

Problem sets MUST be stapled and have your name (last name first), SID number, and GSIs name in
the upper right hand corner.

Although you may work on problem sets with your classmates, the answers which you hand in are
expected to be your own effort.
Each student MUST submit only his or her own work; copying and/or editing another persons work from disk
or paper are NOT permitted. In general, you should use study groups to figure out how to solve a problem, to
make sure you have made your calculations correctly, and to discuss the answers to questions that ask you to
summarize or draw conclusions from the exercise. On your own, you should write up your answers, making
sure you understand how to solve the problem step-by-step and answering non-quantitative questions in your
own words.
Graded problem sets will be returned in discussion section. Problem set scores will be posted on your GSIs
bCourses site. It is your responsibility to make sure that they are correct. Any discrepancies should be
reported to your GSI immediately.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Exams:
Exam #1 is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24th in class; you will have the entire class time to complete it.
Exam #2 is scheduled for Thursday, April 2nd in class; you will have the entire class time to complete it.
Exam #3 is scheduled for Monday, May 11th at a location still to be determined; you will have from 3:00 p.m.
to 6:00 p.m. to complete it.
If you have or anticipate a conflict with the final exam schedule, you should DROP this course now
and retake it in another semester. Conflicts include other exams, nonrefundable airline tickets,
weddings, or other commitments that require you to leave campus before the end of Exam #3.
Each exam will cover the materials assigned for that section of the course (including the lecture immediately
before the midterm exams). Although the exams are not intentionally cumulative, macroeconomics is, by its
very nature, cumulative. The exams, and answers, from last semester are posted on bCourses.
Exams will be closed book and closed notes and are to be done without any outside help. No calculators,
laptops, beepers, cell phones, other electronic devices, or cheat sheets are allowed during exams. You
should not bring scratch paper into exams; it will be provided. However, you will need a set of colored
pens or pencils and a yellow highlighter.
There should be no communications between students during exams, either one way (peeking at or copying
someone elses work) or two-way (sharing answers with or helping out another student).
There are no scheduled make-up exams. Students who miss an exam for any reason must communicate with
me by email or phone no later than the start of the exam. You will need to provide valid medical and/or legal
documentation explaining why you were unable to take the exam on schedule. Except under the most extreme
circumstances, if you do not have an excused absence before the exam starts and you do not take the exam,
you will receive a zero (0) on the exam.
Graded exams will be returned in discussion section. Exam scores will be posted on your GSIs bCourses
site. It is your responsibility to make sure that they are correct. Any discrepancies should be reported to
your GSI immediately.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Exam Re-grade Requests:

The GSIs take great care in grading exams. However, if you believe there has been an arithmetic error in
adding up the points on your exam, simply point this out to your GSI at the end of section when you
receive your exam back. If you believe that there has been an error in the GRADING of your exam, here
are the steps you must follow.
1.

Within 7 days of the time that exams are first returned in section (which will be less than 7 days
from the time you receive your exam if you missed section when exams were first returned), give
your GSI your exam and a written (i.e., word processed) request of what question(s) you think
should be re-graded and an explanation of why. Do not change the answers on your exam; type
out your request separately and give both your request and your original exam to your GSI.

2.

Your GSI reserves the right to re-grade your entire exam, not just the question(s) mentioned in
your re-grade request. Scores on any question can be changedincreased or decreased.
Therefore, it is possible that you could wind up with fewer points at the end of the re-grade than
you had originally.

3.

I have advised the GSIs to reject any re-grade request that is for only 1 or 2 points per question.
It is simply not a good use of anyones time. If you are spending your (and your GSIs) time
challenging the grading of anything less than 3 points, please get out your principles textbook and
study the section on opportunity cost.

It is important to remember that exams are not just assessment tools, they are also learning tools. I hope
you will learn from the exams. You are welcome to talk with your GSI or with me about what concepts
you missed or were confused about so that we can help you be clear on the material. Just remember that
the reason for the conversation is not about changing points, its about helping you understand the
material.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Course Letter Grades:

Your course letter grade will be determined solely from the weighted average percentage of your graded
assignments -- the 5 highest scores on your problem sets and all 3 exam scores.
In determining their contribution to your final course grade, the scores from your problem sets and exams are
converted to percentages. Each graded assignment percentage is then weighted by the weight for that
assignment. There are no alternative weightings of graded assignments. There are no extra credit
assignments.
Great care is taken to ensure that the SAME QUALITY OF WORK will, at the end of the semester, receive
the SAME LETTER GRADE, regardless of who graded the work. Uniformity of grading standards (i.e.,
making sure that the same quality of work receives the same letter grade) is ensured by having students letter
grades determined within their GSIs discussion sections. This way, we are giving the SAME LETTER
GRADE for the SAME QUALITY of work, rather than for the SAME NUMBER OF POINTS. This means
that you do not have to worry if your GSI has lower scores than other GSIs because the course letter grades
depend upon the quality of your work and not on the number of points you have scored. Experience shows that
this process works!
There is no pre-set or common scale whereby a certain number of points corresponds to a certain letter grade.
Nor is there a fixed curve dictating what share of students will receive a particular letter grade. The distribution
of grades that I have given in previous semesters for Econ 100B and UGBA 101B is given below.

GradeDistribution:Econ100BandUGBA101B
2006 2014
25

Percent

20
15
10
5
0
A+

B+

C+

Students taking the course under the P/NP option must earn at least a C- in order to pass the course. Please note
that if you are fulfilling a requirement for the economics or business administration majors, you cannot take
this course P/NP.
You will be able to retrieve your final exam score, your course weighted average score, and your final course
letter grade on bCourses. Course letter grades will also be available on BearFacts.
Your final exam will be held by the Economics Department for 12 months. Final exam scores cannot be reevaluated once grades are submitted to the Registrars Office. You can look at your graded exam in 508-1
Evans Hall, generally beginning about 3 weeks after the end of the semester.
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

Tentative Reading, Problem Set, and Exam Schedule:

The class-by-class reading, problem set, and exam schedules follow. The reading assignments are from the assigned
text and are provided for both the Custom and Hardback editions of the book.
You are strongly urged to read the assigned materials in advance of the lectures. Additional handouts concerning
current applications of macroeconomic theory and policy may be assigned and discussed as well. You are
responsible for ALL assigned materials. Lectures will generally follow the textbook but NOT cover all of the
material. In addition, I WILL add lecture material that is not in the textbook.
On occasion, the lectures will extend and/or modify the textbook material and handouts. Where differences
occur between lecture and textbook or handout materials, the lecture will be deemed correct for grading
purposes.
You should also read the business section of a major newspaper and/or weekly periodical to stay abreast of current
macroeconomic issues. Recommended newspapers include the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the
Financial Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Recommended weekly periodicals include
Business Week and The Economist.

Tentative Reading, Problem Set, and Exam Schedule

January 20, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #1: The Policy and Practice of Macroeconomics
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 1 13; Hardback edition: Chapter 1.
January 22, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #2: Measuring Macroeconomic Data, Part 1
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 17 31; Hardback edition: Chapter 2, pp. 19 33.
January 27, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #3: Measuring Macroeconomic Data, Part 2
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 31 41; Hardback edition: Chapter 2, pp. 33 43.
January 29, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #4: Aggregate Production and Productivity
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 48 67; Hardback edition: Chapter 3.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

February 3, 2015 (Tuesday)

Class #5: Saving and Investment in Closed and Open Economies, Part 1
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 71 87; Hardback edition: Chapter 4, pp. 73 84.
February 5, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #6: Saving and Investment in Closed and Open Economies, Part 2
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 87 95 and pp. 99 104;
Hardback edition: Chapter 4, pp. 84 97 and Chapter 4 Appendix (at
www/pearsonhighered.com/Mishkin)
February 10, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #7: The Sources of Growth and the Solow Model, Part 1
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 154 163; Hardback edition: Chapter 6, pp. 146 156.
Problem Set #1 due.
February 12, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #8: The Sources of Growth and the Solow Model, Part 2
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 163 179; Hardback edition: Chapter 6, pp. 156 171.
February 17, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #9: Drivers of Growth: Technology, Policy, and Institutions
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 194 205; Hardback edition: Chapter 7, pp. 178 189.
Problem Set #2 due.
February 19, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #10: Money and Inflation
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 107 127; Hardback edition: Chapter 5.
February 24, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #11: EXAM #1
February 26, 2015 (Thursday)
Class # 12: Business Cycles: An Introduction
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 221 240; Hardback edition: Chapter 8.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

March 3, 2015 (Tuesday)

Class #13: The IS Curve
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 245 261; Hardback edition: Chapter 9.
March 5, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #14: Monetary Policy and Aggregate Demand
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 265 283; Hardback edition: Chapter 10.
March 10, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #15: The Money Supply Process
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 131 147; Hardback edition: Chapter 5 Appendix.
March 12, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #16: Aggregate Supply and the Phillips Curve
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 295 309; Hardback edition: Chapter 11.
March 17, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #17: The Aggregate Demand and Supply Model, Part 1
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 313 325; Hardback edition: Chapter 12, pp 299 - 307.
Problem Set #3 due.
March 19, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #18: The Aggregate Demand and Supply Model, Part 2
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 325 337; Hardback edition: Chapter 12, pp. 307 - 322.
March 24, 2015 (Tuesday)
Spring Recess, No Class
March 26, 2015 (Thursday)
Spring Recess, No Class
March 31, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #19: The Financial System and Economic Growth
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 406 421; Hardback edition: Chapter 14.
Problem Set #4 due.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

April 2, 2015 (Thursday)

Class #20: EXAM #2
April 7, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #21: Macroeconomic Policy and Aggregate Demand and Supply Analysis, Part 1
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 361 376; Hardback edition, Chapter 13, pp. 327 342.
April 9, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #22: Macroeconomic Policy and Aggregate Demand and Supply Analysis, Part 2
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 377 398; Hardback edition, Chapter 13, pp. 343 364.
April 14, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #23: Fiscal Policy and the Government Budget, Part 1
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 425 453; Hardback edition: Chapter 16.
Problem Set #5 due.
April 16, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #24, Fiscal Policy and the Government Budget, Part 2
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 425 453; Hardback edition: Chapter 16.
April 21, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #25, Exchange Rates and International Economic Policy, Part 1
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 461 477; Hardback edition: Chapter 17, pp. 459 475.
April 23, 2015 (Thursday)
Class #26, Exchange Rates and International Economic Policy, Part 2
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 477 488; Hardback edition: Chapter 17, pp. 475 486.
April 28, 2015 (Tuesday)
Class #27, The Role of Expectations in Macroeconomic Policy
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 501 521; Hardback edition: Chapter 21.
Problem Set #6 due.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Department of Economics

Econ 100B Course Outline

Spring 2015

April 30, 2015 (Thursday)

Class #28: Where do Macroeconomists Agree and Disagree?
Reading Assignment: Custom edition: pp. 525 535; Hardback edition: Epilogue.
May 11, 2015 (Monday)
FINAL EXAM, 3:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m. at a location still to be determined.

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