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17.10: Course Contents at a Glance

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    47240
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    The following list is a summary of the topics covered in this macroeconomics course.

    Module 1: Economic Thinking

    • Understanding Economics and Scarcity
    • The Concept of Opportunity Cost
    • Labor, Markets, and Trade
    • Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
    • Economic Models
    • Purpose of Functions
    • Solving Simple Equations
    • Creating and Interpreting Graphs
    • Interpreting Slope
    • Types of Graphs

    Module 2: Choice in a World of Scarcity

    • Budget Constraints and Choices
    • Calculating Opportunity Cost
    • The Production Possibilities Frontier
    • Productive Efficiency and Allocative Efficiency
    • Rationality and Self-Interest
    • Marginal Analysis
    • Positive and Normative Statements

    Module 3: Supply and Demand

    • Economic Systems
    • What Is Demand?
    • Factors Affecting Demand
    • What is Supply?
    • Factors Affecting Supply
    • Equilibrium, Surplus, and Shortage
    • Changes in Equilibrium
    • Finding Equilibrium
    • Changes in Supply and Demand

    Module 4: Applications of Supply and Demand

    • Price Ceilings
    • Price Floors
    • A Closer Look at Price Controls
    • Trade and Efficiency
    • Consumer & Producer Surplus
    • Inefficiency of Price Floors and Price Ceilings
    • Labor and Financial Markets

    Module 5: Elasticity

    • Elasticity of Demand
    • Examples of Elastic and Inelastic Demand
    • Calculating Elasticity and Percentage Changes
    • Calculating Price Elasticities Using the Midpoint Formula
    • Categories of Elasticity
    • Price Elasticity of Supply
    • Income Elasticity, Cross-Price Elasticity & Other Types of Elasticities
    • Elasticity and Total Revenue
    • Elasticity, Costs, and Customers
    • Tax Incidence

    Module 6: Macroeconomic Measures: GDP and Economic Growth

    • The Macroeconomic Perspective
    • What is Gross Domestic Product?
    • Calculating GDP
    • Alternative Ways to Measure the Economy
    • The Difference Between Nominal and Real Measurements
    • Comparing Nominal and Real GDP
    • Converting Nominal to Real GDP
    • Business Cycles
    • GDP and Standard of Living
    • Labor Productivity and Economic Growth
    • Measuring Productivity and Growth Rates
    • The Power of Sustained Economic Growth
    • Relatively Recent Economic Growth
    • A Healthy Climate for Economic Growth

    Module 7: Macroeconomic Measures: Unemployment and Inflation

    • Who Counts in Unemployment?
    • Calculating the Unemployment Rate
    • Patterns of Unemployment
    • Cyclical Unemployment
    • Frictional and Structural Unemployment
    • The Natural Rate of Unemployment
    • Inflation
    • Calculating Inflation with Index Numbers
    • The Consumer Price Index
    • Shortcomings of the Consumer Price Index as a Measure of the Cost of Living
    • The GDP Deflator and Other Major Price Indices
    • Problems with Inflation
    • Benefits of Low Inflation

    Module 8: The Aggregate Demand-Aggregate Supply Model

    • The Aggregate Demand-Aggregate Supply Model
    • Building a Model of Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand
    • Interpreting the AD-AS Model
    • Shifts in Aggregate Demand
    • Shifts in Aggregate Supply
    • Business Cycles and Growth in the AD–AS Model

    Module 9: Keynesian and Neoclassical Economics

    • Aggregate Demand in Keynesian Analysis
    • The Core of Keynesian Analysis
    • The Expenditure Multiplier Effect
    • Keynesian Economic Policy
    • The Neoclassical Perspective
    • The Neoclassical Perspective and Potential GDP
    • Flexible Prices and Graphing in the Neoclassical Model
    • Speed of Macroeconomic Adjustment
    • Policy Implications of the Neoclassical Perspective
    • Say’s Law versus Keynes’ Law
    • Neoclassical and Keynesian Perspectives in the AD-AS Model
    • Balancing Keynesian and Neoclassical Models

    Module 10: Keynesian Economics and the Income-Expenditure Model

    • The Key Role of Aggregate Expenditure
    • Aggregate Expenditure: Consumption
    • Aggregate Expenditure: Investment, Government Spending, and Net Exports
    • Equilibrium in the Income-Expenditure Model
    • Finding Equilibrium Using Algebra
    • Recessionary and Inflationary Gaps in the Income-Expenditure Model
    • Real Aggregate Supply in the Income-Expenditure Model
    • The Spending Multiplier in the Income-Expenditure Model
    • The Spending Multiplier and Changes in Government Spending

    Module 11: Fiscal Policy

    • Fiscal Policy and the Federal Budget
    • Government Spending
    • State and Local Government Spending
    • Taxation
    • Federal Budgets and National Debt
    • The Question of a Balanced Budget
    • Automatic Stabilizers
    • Expansionary and Contractionary Fiscal Policy
    • Neoclassical Fiscal Policy and Supply-Side Economics
    • Fiscal Policy, Investment, and Crowding Out

    Module 12: Money and Banking

    • Defining Money by Its Functions
    • Measuring Money: Currency, M1, and M2
    • Credit
    • Financial Markets and Assets
    • Financial Markets, Supply and Demand, and Interest
    • The Commercial Banking System
    • Banking Assets and Liabilities
    • How Banks Create Money

    Module 13: Monetary Policy

    • Banks, Loan Finance, and the Payments System
    • The Federal Reserve System and Central Banks
    • Bank Regulation
    • Monetary Policy
    • Monetary Policy and Open Market Operations
    • Monetary Policy and Interest Rates
    • Monetary Policy and Aggregate Demand
    • Federal Reserve Actions and Quantitative Easing

    Module 14: Policy Applications

    • Viewpoints on Government Policy
    • The Phillips Curve
    • Policy Implications: No Phillips Curve Tradeoff in the Long Run
    • Rational Expectations
    • Ricardian Equivalence
    • Practical Problems with Discretionary Fiscal & Monetary Policy
    • Policy Implications: Dampening Business Cycles vs. Laissez-Faire
    • Policy Implications: Supply Shocks and Economic Growth

    Module 15: Globalization and Trade

    • Absolute and Comparative Advantage
    • Comparative Advantage and the Gains from Trade
    • Intra-Industry Trade
    • Demand and Supply Analysis of International Trade
    • Protectionism
    • The Tradeoffs of International Trade
    • The Role of the GATT in Reducing Barriers to Trade
    • Trade Policy: Organizations and Agreements

    Module 16: Exchange Rates and International Finance

    • The Foreign Exchange Market
    • Strengthening and Weakening Currency
    • Demand and Supply Shifts in Foreign Exchange Markets
    • Macroeconomic Effects of Exchange Rates
    • Exchange-Rate Policies

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