Overview

ECON 248: Macroeconomics, in conjunction with ECON 247: Microeconomics, provides a basic introduction to the entire discipline of economics. The study of microeconomics, macroeconomics, or both can help all students to understand our society better. While microeconomics deals with individual decision makers in households, firms, and governments, macroeconomics deals with aggregates. ECON 248 looks at economy-wide issues such as inflation, unemployment, balance of international payments, and the way that government policies affect these variables.

ECON 248 deals with both economic theory and economic policy. For the future economist, the theory is absolutely essential, because senior economics courses will assume that you have already mastered certain analytical tools that economists routinely use.

In order to develop this understanding of economic issues and theories, you will need to learn:

• economic definitions (e.g., how economists use terms like investment, money, and unemployment);
• economic facts (e.g., what the powers and responsibilities of the Bank of Canada are); and
• analytical tools (e.g., how economists determine the relationship between investment and unemployment).

Economics is a quantitative discipline. By its very nature, it deals with numbers and requires some understanding of mathematics. This fact should not alarm students who are weak in math, but if you fall into this category, you may need to review the appropriate sections in the course textbook and the corresponding study notes in the Course Guides.

Outline

Evaluation

To receive credit for ECON 248, you must receive a grade of at least 50 percent on the final examination as well as achieve an overall grade of at least “D” (50 percent). Your final grade is determined by a weighted average of the grades you receive on the activities listed below. The weightings for each of these activities are as follows:

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbooks

Bade, R., Parkin, M., & Lyons, B. (2004). Foundations of Macroeconomics. (2nd ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education Canada Inc. ISBN 032124298X

Shearer-Gillmore, J. (2004). Study Guide: Foundations of Macroeconomics (2nd ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education Canada Inc. ISBN 0321243005

Other Materials

All other course materials will be accessed online.