Economics 132
Spring 2019
This course will explore issues in macroeconomics from the perspective of the policy maker by examining specific case studies. We will learn about national income determination, the role of monetary and fiscal policy, balance of payments accounting, and exchange rate theory. All the cases are 20th and 21st century experiences from around the world. We will discuss U.S. cases, but also cases from other countries and continents. We will also have class debates on three macroeconomic policy issues.
We will use the case method in this class. Students will be asked to grapple with exactly the kinds of decisions and dilemmas policy makers confront every day. The class will work together to analyze and synthesize conflicting data and points of view, to define and prioritize goals, to persuade and inspire others who think differently, and to make tough decisions with uncertain information.
Class rarely ends with a tidy solution to the policy maker's dilemma, but more often with a deep appreciation of the complex factors at play, a clear idea of how to apply appropriate techniques to analyze and assess the problem, and new insights into how to deal with the untidy uncertainties of the real world.
The course is taught at the intermediate level and is aimed at sophomores and juniors majoring in economics (although students in other majors are welcome). All students are required to have successfully studied a year of introductory macroeconomics and introductory microeconomics (Econ 51 and 52 or the equivalent).
The course meets on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2:45-4:00pm. The course requirements are class attendance, class participation, one midterm exam and a take-home final exam. Attendance will count for 15%, class participation for 35%, the midterm exam for 20% and the final exam for 30% of the final grade. There are no problem sets! The midterm exam will be held in class on Thursday 7 March. The take-home final exam will be due at 5pm on Monday 13 May. Senior finals are due Thursday 9 May. You will have a week to complete the take-home final exam.
The textbook for the course is Michael Rukstad, Macroeconomic Decision Making in the World Economy, 3rd edition, Dryden Press, 1992. Please purchase this book online.
My office and office hours for the spring are as follows:
Fletcher 216
Mondays 12:35-1:35, Tuesdays 4:00-5:00pm, Fridays 11:00-12noon and by appointment.
I will also have office hours over lunch every Friday from 12 noon to 1pm in
McConnell Dining Hall.
Office number: 607-3769
Email: lyamane@pitzer.edu
1. U.S. Financial Crisis of 1931
2. Paul Volcker and the Federal Reserve: 1979-81
3. Can the Eurozone be Saved?
4. Japan: Betting on Inflation
5. Bolivia: Globalization, Sovereignty, and Democracy
6. India's Demonetization: Purging Black Money?
7. Debates I
II. Fiscal Policy
1. Keynesian Cure for the Depression
2. The Reagan Deficits
3. Barack Obama and the Bush Tax Cuts
4. Management of Fiscal Policy: Greece's Achilles Heel
5. Privatization in the United Kingdom
6. Debates II
III. The International Economy
1. The United Kingdom and the Gold Standard: 1925
2. Kennedy and the Balance of Payments
3. Breaking Bad: Argentina Defaults, Inflates, 1997-2015
4. U.S. Current Account
5. China "Unbalanced"
6. Angola and the Resource Curse
7. Debates III