econ 102 assignment 1

Introduction to Macroeconomics Fall 2022 ECON 102

Published Sep 07, 2022

Class Schedule

Instructor & ta (teaching assistant) information, course description.

This course introduces students to the measurement and behaviour of key macroeconomic variables both in Canada and around the world. Topics include national accounts, inflation, interest rates, wages, international balance of payments, business cycles, growth, employment, unemployment, poverty, and inequality.

Additional information about the course:

The main goals of this course are to provide a good understanding of key macroeconomic concepts and aggregates, the interaction between different agents and sectors in the economy, how economies operate at the aggregate level, and the challenges policymakers face when setting policy.

The course will introduce important concepts in macroeconomics such as the determinants of output and employment, the causes and costs of inflation, the types and reasons for unemployment, the role of government, the central bank and financial institutions in the economy, the determinants of the exchange rate and the importance of fiscal and monetary policy. 

Although this course will primarily focus on short-run fluctuations and closed economies, students will also learn about the determinants of economic growth and issues related to the open economy. We will apply the concepts learned in class to understand macroeconomic events in Canada and around the world.

Students are strongly encouraged to attend all lectures, participate in class discussions, and attempt the quizzes and sample questions that will be posted on LEARN. 

Learning Outcomes

Tentative course schedule.

Lecture notes and readings will be posted before each class on UW LEARN (https://learn.uwaterloo.ca). You are required to read ahead all the lecture notes and required materials. It will be easier for you to follow the class if you read the lecture notes before coming to class. Below is a list of topics I intend to cover in class. 

I: Introduction and basic concepts? (Week 1) 

• What is macroeconomics?
• What do macroeconomists do?
• What tools do macroeconomists use

Readings :  Lecture notes chapter 1 and MSL chapter 1,

II: The Data of Macroeconomics and Why We Use Them (Weeks 2, 3)

• Gross Domestic Product:  determinants and measurement
• The consumer price index and inflation
• The unemployment rate and the LFS

Readings :  Lecture notes chapters 2a, 2b, and 2c and MSL chapter 2

III: The Canadian Financial System (Week 4)

• Financial markets and financial intermediaries: Why are they important?
• Banking and financial system in Canada
• Financial crises and the financial system

Readings :  Lecture notes chapter 3, MSL chapter 4 (section 4.2), chapter 18

IV: Money and inflation (Week 6)

• What is money?
• Why is money special as an asset?
• What are the costs of inflation?

Readings: Lecture notes chapter 4, MSL chapters 4 (section 4.1) 5 (section 5.1. 5.2, 5.3, 5.5, 5.6)  

V: Monetary Policy and the Bank of Canada (Week 7)

• Role and functions of the Bank of Canada
• Instrument and implementation of monetary policy in Canada
• Transmission of monetary policy in Canada

Readings: Lecture notes chapter 5, MSL chapter 4 (sections 4.3)   

VI: The Government and Fiscal Policy (Week 8)

• Government’s revenue and expenditure
• Public debt and budget balance
• Fiscal policy in Canada

Readings: Lecture notes chapter 6, MSL chapter 17 (sections 17.1 – 17.4)

VII: Unemployment and The Labour Market (Week 9)

• Demand and supply of labour
• Categories of unemployment
• Causes of unemployment

Readings:   Lecture notes chapter 7, MSL chapter 7

VIII: The Exchange Rate and the Balance of Payments (Week 10)

• Foreign exchange market and exchange rate policy
• Balance of payments
• Open-economy monetary and fiscal policy

Readings:   Lecture notes chapter 9, MSL chapter 6 (sections 6.1, 6.3)

IX: Economic Growth (Week 11)

• Stylized facts about economic growth
• Technology and economic growth

Readings:   Lecture notes chapter 10 

Texts / Materials

I will make copies of my lecture notes available on UW-LEARN. In addition to the lecture notes and book chapters, there are several required readings for this class. I will post these readings on LEARN throughout the term, and I will let you know which readings are compulsory or not.  The lecture notes on LEARN are your primary source of material for the course. The textbook will be used to supplement the slides posted on LEARN.

Student Assessment

All assignments will be posted on Learn at least 7-10 days before the deadline. Please submit your assignments in the appropriate Dropbox. The dropbox will remain open until the deadline.  Collaboration on assignments is allowed. Still, you are required to answer all the assignment questions independently. You must also indicate the names of the persons you collaborated with on any assignments.  

Given that only one TA is assigned for this course, all assignments will be marked as either 0/100, 50/100 or 100/100. You will receive a grade of zero if you do not submit the assignment on time or if the submitted work is blank or very poorly executed. You will receive a grade of 50/100 if the assignment is submitted on time but is incomplete and not up to expectations. You will receive full marks if the work is submitted on time, appropriately done, and meets expectations. The first five assignments will be worth 4% each, and the last assignment will be worth 5%. I will not provide any make-up or bonus work if you miss any assignments.

The midterms will not be cumulative. I will indicate in class which topics will be covered on each midterm. The midterms will be conducted during regular class hours. The format of the midterm will be multiple-choice. 

If you miss a midterm, please contact me within 48 hours so we can determine what documentation you will need to submit (self-declaration of illness form or VIF). If you miss at least one of the midterms,  you will be required to take a make-up midterm at the end of the year. The date for the make-up midterm will be determined by the Department of Economics and usually takes place after the exam period.

Assignment Screening

No assignment screening will be used in this course.

Administrative Policy

Intellectual property.

Students should be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of their instructor, TA, and/or the University of Waterloo. 

Intellectual property includes items such as:

• Lecture content, spoken and written (and any audio/video recording thereof);
• Lecture handouts, presentations, and other materials prepared for the course (e.g., PowerPoint slides);
• Questions or solution sets from various types of assessments (e.g., assignments, quizzes, tests, final exams); and
• Work protected by copyright (e.g., any work authored by the instructor or TA or used by the instructor or TA with permission of the copyright owner).

Course materials and the intellectual property contained therein, are used to enhance a student’s educational experience. However, sharing this intellectual property without the intellectual property owner’s permission is a violation of intellectual property rights.  For this reason, it is necessary to ask the instructor, TA and/or the University of Waterloo for permission before uploading and sharing the intellectual property of others online (e.g., to an online repository).

Permission from an instructor, TA or the University is also necessary before sharing the intellectual property of others from completed courses with students taking the same/similar courses in subsequent terms/years.  In many cases, instructors might be happy to allow distribution of certain materials. However, doing so without expressed permission is considered a violation of intellectual property rights.

Please alert the instructor if you become aware of intellectual property belonging to others (past or present) circulating, either through the student body or online. The intellectual property rights owner deserves to know (and may have already given their consent).

Chosen/Preferred First Name

Do you want professors and interviewers to call you by a different first name? Take a minute now to verify or tell us your chosen/preferred first name by logging into WatIAM .

Why? Starting in winter 2020, your chosen/preferred first name listed in WatIAM will be used broadly across campus (e.g., LEARN, Quest, WaterlooWorks, WatCard, etc). Note: Your legal first name will always be used on certain official documents. For more details, visit Updating Personal Information .

Important notes

• If you included a preferred name on your OUAC application, it will be used as your chosen/preferred name unless you make a change now.
• If you don’t provide a chosen/preferred name, your legal first name will continue to be used.

Mental Health Support

All of us need a support system. The faculty and staff in Arts encourage students to seek out mental health support if they are needed.

Due to COVID-19 and campus closures, services are available only online or by phone.

• Counselling Services:  [email protected] / 519-888-4567 ext. 32655
• MATES :  one-to-one peer support program offered by the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) and Counselling Services

Off campus, 24/7

• Good2Talk :  Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-925-5454
• Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749-4300 ext. 6880
• Here 24/7 : Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247
• OK2BME : set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning teens in Waterloo.  Phone: 519-884-0000 extension 213

Full details can be found online on the Faculty of Arts website

Download UWaterloo and regional mental health resources (PDF)

Download the WatSafe app to your phone to quickly access mental health support information.

Territorial Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometres on each side of the Grand River.

For more information about the purpose of territorial acknowledgements, please see the CAUT Guide to Acknowledging Traditional Territory .

Academic freedom at the University of Waterloo

Policy 33, Ethical Behaviour states, as one of its general principles (Section 1), “The University supports academic freedom for all members of the University community. Academic freedom carries with it the duty to use that freedom in a manner consistent with the scholarly obligation to base teaching and research on an honest and ethical quest for knowledge. In the context of this policy, 'academic freedom' refers to academic activities, including teaching and scholarship, as is articulated in the principles set out in the Memorandum of Agreement between the FAUW and the University of Waterloo, 1998 (Article 6). The academic environment which fosters free debate may from time to time include the presentation or discussion of unpopular opinions or controversial material. Such material shall be dealt with as openly, respectfully and sensitively as possible.” This definition is repeated in Policies 70 and 71, and in the Memorandum of Agreement, Section 6

Cross-listed courses

Please note that a cross-listed course will count in all respective averages no matter under which subject code it has been taken. For example, a PHIL/PSCI cross-list will count in a Philosophy major average, even if the course was taken under the Political Science subject code.

Economics Department Deferred Final Exam Policy

All deferred Final Exam requests for economics courses are administered by the Economics Undergraduate Office. Please consult the Deferred Exam Policy at 

https://uwaterloo.ca/economics/undergraduate/resources-and-policies/deferred-final-exam-policy.

University Policy

Academic integrity : In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.]

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4 . When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for their actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.] A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline . For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties .

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals .

Note for students with disabilities: AccessAbility Services , located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

Turnitin.com: Text matching software (Turnitin®) may be used to screen assignments in this course. Turnitin® is used to verify that all materials and sources in assignments are documented. Students' submissions are stored on a U.S. server, therefore students must be given an alternative (e.g., scaffolded assignment or annotated bibliography), if they are concerned about their privacy and/or security. Students will be given due notice, in the first week of the term and/or at the time assignment details are provided, about arrangements and alternatives for the use of Turnitin in this course.

It is the responsibility of the student to notify the instructor if they, in the first week of term or at the time assignment details are provided, wish to submit alternate assignment.