First class, and Chapter 1 Link to syllabus Chapter 1

Textbook, study guide, tutors Course Arrangements Roll – class list Office Hours Grade: Exams, curve, extra credit Syllabus E-mail list server M.T.’s homepage for syllabus, old exams, and lecture notes in .pptx or .docx format. Also on C-Tools and CANVAS. Textbook, study guide, tutors Math pre-requisite. Good to read newspaper Different interests of students, by majors. People who’ve had 202. Freshmen. Bring pencil and calculator to exams – no scantrons. Note: Econ 201 is Macro at UMD. Different at UM-AA Roll, Adds/Drops E-mail list server Office Hours Syllabus. My homepage Textbook, study guide, tutors Grade: Exams and quizzes, curve, extra credit Math pre-requisite Different interests of students, by majors. Freshmen .

Characteristics of this course: 1. Moves quickly, hitting main points of text, frequent efforts at relating to current events 2. Will use PowerPoint presentations. Advisable to bring textbook to class; try to skim it beforehand. Bring a tape recorder if you like. TURN OFF CELLULARS!! 3. Anything in the text is fair game on exams. Virtually nothing from outside the text on exams. Not much math, but lots of graphs. 4. After each exam, students will be asked if the exam was fair, and if it repaid studying. Graded exams returned the next class day (hopefully). Characteristics of course: 1) Moves quickly, frequent efforts at relating material to current events 2) Advisable to bring textbook to class. Try to skim it beforehand. Will use Powerpoint 3) Anything in text is fair game. Not much math, lots of graphs 4) After each exam, students will be asked if the exam was fair, and if repaid studying 5) Some effort to use web 6) Note that some parts of the text not covered. Major issues: Government intervention liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican, left/right, interventionist&`progressive, free market (laissez faire) Deficits (debt) Depression Globalization Supply side economics Monetary issues Not stock market Definition of economics: Study of efficient use of limited resources to achieve maximum satisfaction of human wants. 5. Some effort to use the web; syllabus, extra credit, and previous exams on my webpage, and listserver for the class. 6. Some parts of text omitted from this course.

Definitions of Economics Study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services Efficient use of limited resources to achieve maximum satisfaction of human wants. Differences between macro and micro Positive (value free) vs. Normative (reflects values of the speaker) [p 37-8]

Overview of Macro: Overview of Macro: study of factors determining unemployment and inflation Producers—respond to wages, price of oil, technology, capital stock, regulations, taxes. Purchasers (consumers)—respond to business investment, government spending and taxes, foreign trade, and monetary policy. [or, buyers and sellers]

Unemployment Rate, US Source: US Dept. of Labor http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000

Inflation in the U.S. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&graph_name=CU_cpibrief

Main Macroeconomic issues for this course: Government intervention: Left/right; liberal/conservative; interventionist/free market (laissez faire) Democrat/Republican Government Deficit (and the National Debt) Depression of the 1930s. Current Crisis (2009) Globalization: tariffs or free trade, migration, exchange rates Main Macroeconomic issues for this course: Supply Side Economics—lower taxes, reduce government regulation Monetary issues, relating to the Federal Reserve Banks, and finance Very little on the stock markets.

In a free market society, individuals, acting out of their own Adam Smith: (1723-1790) Prominent Scottish Philosopher. The Wealth of Nations 1776 In a free market society, individuals, acting out of their own self interest, will be guided, as if by an invisible hand, to make socially beneficial economic decisions. Discussed on page 2. Adam Smith: Individuals acting out of their own self interest, will be guided, as if by an invisible hand, to make socially beneficial economic decisions. Also, benefits of free trade, and criticism of mercantilism. Also: benefits of free trade, criticism of mercantilism. Discussed in chapter 2

David Malthus, 1766-1834 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population Overpopulation; economics as “the dismal science” Incidentally, Malthus’s ideas had a big impact on Charles Darwin. Malthus. Overpopulation. Economics as dismal science

John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873 Perhaps better known as a philosopher, he made important contributions to economics, as well, among which are the theory of Infant Industry Tariffs, which we do in chapter 5. His father was the head of the East India Co., and he was given an elite, rather isolated childhood education. He was an early promoter of rights for women, which many attribute to the influence of his wife. John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873 Perhaps better known as a philosopher, he made important contributions to economics, as well, among which are the theory of Infant Industry Tariffs. His father was a leader of the East India Co., and he was given an elite, rather isolated childhood education. He was an early promoter of rights for women, which many attribute to the influence of his wife.

Karl Marx, 1818-1883 Communist Manifesto, Worked with Engels on Das Kapital Criticized capitalism. Class exploitation Revolution, led by the workers Marx: class exploitation under capitalism, socialist revolution led by workers

Argued that unemployment during 1930s Depression John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946). General Theory (1936) Argued that unemployment during 1930s Depression could be cured by gov’t. spending and deficits Keynes Keynes: unemployment can be cured by government spending and deficits.

Milton Friedman, 1912-2006 Most prominent advocate of a return to free market/non- governmental policies. Influence concretized under President Reagan. Also: leading ‘monetarist’ and a Nobel Prize winner. Friedman: resurgence of free market economics. Monetarism Link to Friedman’s bio http://www.hoover.org/bios/friedman

The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner. Extra Reading: Many economists first got interested in this field by reading The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner.

US Inflation