Intermediate Microeconomics

Release Date: 2017-09-21

Basic Information

1. Course Type: Compulsory Major Courses

2. Class Hours: 54

3. Credits: 3

4. Suitable for: Graduate Students of Finance

Preliminaries

This is an intermediate macroeconomics course. The basic theory of microeconomics is required for this course as the preliminary knowledge, calculus is also essential for the course.

Course Objectives

This course focuses on long term economic growth and short term economic fluctuations, and it aims to assist students to comprehend basic models of modern macroeconomics and master the relating methods of analyzing macroeconomic policy. First of all, we will introduce some basic macroeconomic indicators and important theories of economic growth. We will introduce models, like the traditional IS-LM-AD-AS model, and various modern macroeconomic cycle theories which are based on micro foundation, in order to make the students comprehend and master the periodicity of macroeconomic variables, including the concept of output, consumption, price, employment, interest rate, etc.. We will also discuss the formation mechanism and effectiveness of fiscal policy and monetary policy. Ultimately, we will further discuss the intrinsic connection of related macroeconomic variables under the condition of open economic.

Outline of Course Content and Class Hour Distribution

Class	teaching content
1-3	Introduction; Key Macroeconomic indicators: output, price and unemployment rate.
4-12	Theories of economic growth.
13 - 19	IS-LM Model: Short-term effects of monetary and fiscal policy under the IS-LM framework.
20 - 21	Labor market in traditional Keynes model.
22 - 30	AD-AS Model; medium-term effects of monetary and fiscal policy under the AD-AS framework.
31 - 33	Classwork.
34–45	Modern macroeconomic model based on micro foundation: one period model and two period model.
46–52	Open economic: Mundell Fleming Model.
53 - 54	Review, Q&A.

Teaching Material

[1] N. Gregory Mankiw, Macroeconomics, Worth Publishers, 2009,7th edition.
[2] Robert J. Barro, Macroeconomics: A Modern Approach, South-Western College Pub, 2007, 1st edition.
[3] Olivier Blanchard: Macroeconomics, Pearson, 2010,5th Edition.
[4] Stephen D. Williamson: Macroeconomics, Pearson, 2010,4th Edition.

Course Requirements and Grading

The assessment of this course is based on ordinary homework and one final exam. The final result of this course's assessment consists of two parts:

Homework: 30%

Final exam: 70%

Ordinary homework is essential to comprehend the knowledge, please finish it independently. Delay to hand in would not be accepted.

Academic Integrity

No homework plagiarizing, no exam cheating is allowed. If anyone is found to plagiarizing or cheating, his or her score would be 0, and the teacher will report this to the graduate student department.