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ECON 201 Macroeconomics

This course focuses on the economy as a whole and studies how government can affect the economy. After starting with principles of markets, the price system and supply and demand, the course covers national income accounting, business cycles, inflation, unemployment, fiscal policy, monetary policy and the Federal Reserve System, different approaches to economic growth, and the foundations of international trade.

Prerequisites

3 Undergraduate credits

Effective August 24, 2002 to present

Meets graduation requirements for

Learning outcomes

General

  • Explain the basic economic problem (scarcity, opportunity cost, choice)
  • Explain markets and price determination (determinants of supply and demand)
  • Explain measurements of aggregate economic performance (GDP and its components, real vs. nominal values, unemployment, inflation, income and expenditure approaches to GDP, and limitations)
  • Apply the model of aggregate supply and aggregate demand. (potential GDP, economic growth and productivity, determinants and components of AS and AD, the multiplier effect)
  • Explain money and financial markets (money, money creation, financial institutions, financial instruments)
  • Explain monetary and fiscal policies (tools of monetary policy, automatic and discretionary fiscal policies, public debt)
  • Explain policy debates (policy lags and limitations, rules vs. discretion, long run vs. short run, expectations, sources of macroeconomic instability)
  • Explain elements of International Economics (balance of payments, exchange rate systems, open-economy macroeconomics).

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum

Goal 5: History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
  • Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures.
  • Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories.
  • Develop and communicate alternative explanations or solutions for contemporary social issues.