Academic Catalog

ECON 1A: PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2023
Units: 5
Hours: 5 lecture per week (60 total per quarter)
Prerequisite: Elementary Algebra or equivalent.
Advisory: Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249; Intermediate Algebra or equivalent.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Area IV: Social & Behavioral Sciences
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Employ the supply and demand model to predict market responses to shocks.
  • Illustrate and explain unintended consequences resulting from government interference in well-functioning markets.
  • Illustrate and critically assess the aggregate economy using a macroeconomic model or models.
  • Analyze and critically assess the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy and their relationship to inflation, unemployment, and the overall business cycle.

Description

Fundamental economic concepts; determination of national income and employment; income fluctuation; money and the banking system; government monetary and fiscal policies; current economic problems; economic development; international trade. ECON 1A and 1B may be taken in either order.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Understand basic economic concepts of scarcity, opportunity cost, and self-interested behavior
  2. Analyze the interrelationship of economics with other social sciences
  3. Demonstrate understanding of the determinants of total output, employment, and economic growth
  4. Apply macroeconomic models to understand the economy
  5. Understand current economic statistics
  6. Demonstrate understanding of the workings and controversies surrounding monetary and fiscal policy
  7. Recognize and apply the importance of cultural sensitivity in economics

Course Content

  1. Fundamental economic concepts
    1. Definition of economics
    2. Economic resources defined
    3. Opportunity cost
    4. Marginal analysis
    5. Production possibilities curves
    6. Command vs. market economies
  2. Supply and demand model
    1. Law of demand
    2. Law of supply
    3. A change in supply (demand) vs. a change in quantity supplied (demanded)
    4. Equilibrium
    5. Price ceilings
    6. Price floors
  3. Introduction to macroeconomics
    1. Unemployment
    2. Inflation
    3. National income accounting
    4. Economic growth
    5. Business cycles
  4. Aggregate demand and supply
    1. Long-run AS vs. short-run AS
    2. Shifts in the curves
    3. Short-run equilibrium vs. long-run equilibrium
    4. The Great Depression and John Maynard Keynes
  5. Fiscal policy
    1. Expansionary vs. contractionary fiscal policy
    2. Strengths and weaknesses
  6. Monetary policy
    1. The nature of money
    2. The banking system and the creation of money
    3. The Federal Reserve System
    4. The tools of monetary policy
    5. Strengths and weaknesses

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

When taught as an online distance learning section, students and faculty need internet and regular email access.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Midterm examinations
Final examination
Written assignments
Computer homework assignments

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Weekly formal lectures
Class discussions
Electronic discussions/chat
Computerized assignments (e.g., experiments)

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Colander, David. Macroeconomics. 2020.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. College level readings from primary and secondary sources
  2. College level writing assignments based on primary and secondary source reflection and/or analysis

Discipline(s)

Economics