Teaching

Created 8/30/1996
Go to Brad De Long's Home Page

Economics 100b (Spring 1996)

Brad De Long

Introduction

Aggregate Economic Activity and Economic Policy
Macroeconomics, chapter 1.

• Economic instability--in production, employment, and prices--and economic policy (January 17)
• Economic growth and economic policy (January 19)

Measuring National Income
Macroeconomics, chapter 2.

• Measuring economic activity: expenditure, income, production (January 22)
• Making index numbers (January 24)
• Samples, surveys, and data revisions (January 26)

Production and Distribution of National Income
Macroeconomics, chapter 3.

• Factors of production and the production function (January 29)
• Income distribution (January 31)
• Types of demand for goods and services (February 2)

Business Cycles: Output, Prices, and Employment

Inflation
Macroeconomics, chapter 6.

• The quantity theory of "money" (February 5)
• Inflation and its consequences (February 7)

Fluctuations in Aggregate Demand
Macroeconomics, chapters 9 and 10, appendix to chapter 10.

• The "IS" and "LM" Curves (February 12)
• Shifting and Tilting the "IS" and "LM" Curves (February 14)
• Short-term and long-term, and real and nominal interest rates (February 16)
• Case study: the Great Depression (February 19)

Aggregate Supply
Macroeconomics, chapter 11.

• Inflation, unemployment, and the Phillips curve (February 21)
• The slope of the aggregate supply curve (February 23)
• Case study: the Volcker disinflation and the "sacrifice" ratio (February 26)

Macroeconomic Policy

Domestic Macroeconomic Policy
Macroeconomics, chapter 12.

• Financial markets, "Tobin's q," and the bridge from the short to the long run (February 28)
• Rules for managing a Phillips-curve economy (March 1)
• Case study: the 1993 deficit-reduction program (March 4)

First Midterm

• Review (March 6)
• Midterm (March 8)

Unemployment
Macroeconomics, chapter 5.

• "Frictional" and "wait" unemployment (March 11)
• Labor market patterns and the incidence of unemployment (March 13)
• Policies to reduce the "natural" rate of unemployment (March 15)

Open Economy Macroeconomics

International Macroeconomic Policy
Macroeconomics, chapter 13.

• The exchange rate and the business cycle (March 18)
• Fixed and floating exchange rates (March 20)
• Case study: the Mexican peso in 1994 (March 22)
• What to do after the peso collapses (April 1)

International Trade and Investment
Macroeconomics, chapter 7.

• International trade and productivity (April 3)
• International trade and the trade balance (April 5)
• Trade balances, international investment, and the exchange rate (April 8)
• Case study: the U.S. exchange rate in the 1980s (April 10)

Second Midterm

• Review (April 15)
• Midterm (April 17)

The Long Run

Long-Run Economic Growth
Macroeconomics, chapter 4.

• Capital accumulation and population growth (April 19)
• "Technological" progress (April 22)
• The productivity slowdown (April 24)
• Savings, social security, and growth (April 26)

What Should the Federal Deficit Be?
Macroeconomics, chapter 16.

• Measuring the Budget Deficit (April 29)
• Deficit Policy (May 1)

Conclusion

The Current Situation

• What should the Federal Reserve be doing now? What should Congress be doing now?

Final Review

• Review (May 6)

Teaching

Created 8/30/1996
Go to Brad De Long's Home Page

Associate Professor of Economics Brad DeLong, 601 Evans
University of California at Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
(510) 643-4027 phone (510) 642-6615 fax
delong@econ.berkeley.edu
http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/