EC 102 – INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS II
2024-2025 SPRING
SYLLABUS
Course Description
This course aims to endow students with the knowledge and understanding of main
macroeconomic concepts at an elementary level. Throughout the semester, starting with the
most important macroeconomic indicator - GDP per capita (the most widely used proxy of
average standards of living) students will get familiar with various major concepts ranging
from nominal/real economic variables, economic roles of technology to price indexes,
inflation, unemployment, short-run economic fluctuations and counter-cyclical monetary and
fiscal policies. Concept will be introduced first in both abstract and real-life contexts, then
will be used in the context of basic mathematical models and finally will be used to explain
real-life economic phenomena.
Course Outcomes
Successful completion of the course is expected to give students the following skills:
Formally analyze economic behavior at macroeconomic scale
Understand how various markets and macroeconomic variables are interconnected
with each other
Ability to compare real examples of macroeconomic phenomena with benchmark
theoretical economic models
Course Structure
This course has two weekly components: a two hour face-to-face main lecture and an
asynchronous one-hour online recitation/problem-solving session. Main lectures will be held
in order to have a detailed theoretical discussion of the respective week's topic. After these
lectures, students are expected to follow asynchronous online recitation hours, for which
instructors will upload various types of audio-visual supplementary material.
Textbook
Economics with MyEconLab, Global Edition, 2/E Daron Acemoglu, David Laibson, John
List (Available at University bookstore on Santralistanbul campus).
Grading
Overall scores will be calculated as the weighted average of the scores of two exams, namely
the midterm exam and the final exam. The weights of these exams are as follows:
Midterm: 45%
Final: 55%
Attendance
According to Istanbul Bilgi University Credit System Regulation "[1] Students are obliged to
attend all classes, practical sessions, laboratory work, and any examinations and other
academic activities required by their registered courses...."
Office Hours
Each lecturer will hold weekly office hours. The time and place of these will be announced
later. You can ask your questions during these office hours.
Communication
E-mail is the primary method of communication outside online lectures and problem-solving
sessions. You can find the contact information of your instructor using the following link:
https://rehber.bilgi.edu.tr/
Tentative Course Outline
The following constitute the tentative (tentative means that the list of subjects may be
changed if needed – such as in the case of time constraints) list of subjects that are aimed to
be covered during the semester:
Chapter 19: The Wealth of Nations: Defining and Measuring Macroeconomic
Aggregates
Chapter 20: Aggregate Incomes
Chapter 23: Employment and Unemployment
Chapter 24: Credit Markets
Chapter 25: The Monetary System
Chapter 26: Short-Run Fluctuations
Chapter 27: Countercyclical Macroeconomic Policy
Course Policy
1) Students who are taking this course are responsible for reading student regulations. These
regulations are summarized in the following link:
(Turkish) https://bit.ly/3cPMOsu
(English) https://bit.ly/2Gn1svs
2) Students are advised to contact their instructor(s) using the Bilgi email account provided
by our institution. E-mails that are not written in accordance with the rules of professional
e-mail etiquette (i.e., students should state their student id number and course section, use
a clear and informative e-mail title, pay attention to the usage of proper salutations, etc.).
3) Academic misconduct (see https://sa.berkeley.edu/conduct/integrity/definition for the
definition and types of academic misconduct) will not be tolerated under any
circumstances.
4) If a student is unable to participate in the midterm exam due to a valid excuse (see Article
30 of undergraduate regulations that can be accessed using the aforementioned links), then
they can submit an extenuating circumstance form to the secretary of the department of
economics. Students who submit such a form are also required to attach official
documents (medical reports describing the operation(s) and test(s) the student underwent,
death certificate if their absence is due to the loss of a close relative, etc.) supporting their
excuse. Submission of an extenuating circumstances form does not automatically grant
the student the eligibility to participate in the make-up exam as make-up applications will
then be evaluated by the business faculty’s make-up exam committee. After the evaluation
of the make-up exam committee, eligible students will be informed by the course
instructors. In the case of missing the final exam due to a valid reason, final exam make-
up applications have to be submitted to the office of student affairs. The list of students
eligible to take the make-up of the final exam will be notified by the office of student
affairs.
5) Letter grades will be determined based on the statistical distribution of overall scores after
the final exam.
