Micro- End of Unit Blog Assignment

We've just wrapped up our unit on Product Markets and Market structures.

It's also NCAA Final Four Weekend, one week from the NCAA Frozen Four (Hockey's equivalent of the Final Four, but they can't call it that for copyright reasons), the Employment situation report released today showed the US unemployment rate rising to 8.5% and another 663,000 jobs lost--- including one CEO of GM, Rick Wagoner at the urging of the White House.

Your blog for this unit can take one of two directions-- 1) you can comment on the economics of the Final Four-- look at the enormous revenue of the NCAA v. the value of the scholarships paid. What allows the NCAA to generate such enormous revenues? Is this a moral approach?

Or, you could look at the Financial Crisis. What are the types and sizes of firms that have gone out of business or demanded relief in the form of subsidies from the Federal Government? How did market power contribute to the crisis?

Or, you could pick your own topic to show the relationship of market structure to profits and jobs.

Macro- A couple of other sources to consider

Remember that your summation of events that pushed the US and the world into the "Great Repression of 2008" are due sometime on Monday. I'll read them and post some of my own comments to them throughout next week.

A couple of other resources that may be helpful to you have flashed either in my mind or across the screen.

Some folks are asking "Is this the End of Capitalism" as a way to inflame the passions of the day, but Henninger raises a great point about the proper response in the link.

Reading this reminded me of something from my old life. In 2002, PBS put together a 6 hour documentary, Commanding Heights which traced the global economy from the end of World War I to the present-- which for them was 2002. Episode Three: The New Rules of the Game is particularly relevant as a foreshadow for the present mess. If you visit that site, be sure to look at the power players of the time closely as well. It's an amazingly comprehensive site and impressive as a 2002/3 website goes, if I do say so myself.

Between the end of B period and now (9:50), I also came across this from Martin Wolf-- Seeds of its Own Destruction, which looks at globalization and de-regulation with a critical eye.

Keep in mind, too, what I got on my soapbox A period today about-- We've seen tremendous growth which may have been unsustainable for 30 years. Some people want to blame that on something, but remember, we must have some sort of balance in the world. AD must equal AS. If wages were flat, the difference had to come from somewhere... And everyone around the world grabbed the lifelines that they saw-- rent, interest, and profit income.

Finally, as you all are researching/writing this weekend, I encourage you to share resources with each other via the blog. There's so much stuff out there that could be helpful, and we all only have so much individual bandwidth (to use a phrase that I detest when used to describe people), so share with each other, and with my students for the next couple of years because I'm sure this is something I going to be obliged to teach for quite some time.

Macro- Two New Articles in Today's Mailbox to help with your analysis

When I opened my mailbox this afternoon, I discovered two additional resources that can help with your analysis of how we got into this mess.

In the Atlantic Monthly, Simon Johnson of MIT, and former chief economist at the IMF pens a piece called "The Quiet Coup" which compares the American economy today to some of the problems faced by emerging economies in Russia, Asia, and others during the 1990s. It's a long piece and the first "page" of this link may not be as helpful as I'd like, but if you keep going, he really delves into the intracacies of our financial markets and calls attention to the excesses of the last several years.

Time Magazine has shorter piece, "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?" which takes a little more of a cultural look at the current situation.

In these papers, I want you to pay attention to any and all factors that may be out there. Look at the list I passed out in class today which was your evidence that we were in a recession on January 9. As you read and research, think about what caused the evidence you described. Figure out how to use the terminology and ideas that we've been discussing to bring that to life.

And, now I'm going to return to my Friday night activity-- watching blow-out basketball games...

Macro- Fiscal and Monetary Policy blog assignment

As we've done at the end of each unit all year, it's time to write a blog about the main topic of the unit.

This time, I want your blog to be a little different. The link above is to Anna Quindlen's editorial which appears in the back of this week's Newsweek. In it, she makes several interesting points about what got the United States into this melluvahess that we're in on March 25, 2009. It's easy (and somewhat satisfying) to point fingers, assign blame, castigate and pillory. However, that does nothing to "fix it." or shed light on what happened.

Everyone seems to be taking a shot at explanations of how we got here, and offering recommendations. South Park, and Rolling Stone, even have interesting new interpretations.

Here's what your blog(s) should do. I don't want you to "fix it" yet. I just want you to able accurately and concisely shed light on what has happened to the American economy since the summer of 2006:

1. Explain the current situation. Include data points about growth, unemployment, and inflation.
2. Explain the different players. What was the role of commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds, insurance companies, regulators, and regular Americans in getting us into this "repression" as Anna Quindlen calls it.
3. Your blog should not look to "lay blame," but be analytical about causes and effects.

Your post should be no longer than 1000 words or 4 typed double-spaced pages. It should be written for an audience of non-economists so that they can understand what's happened and Anna Quindlen can get some answers to her challenge of what this crisis is about.

Please post your blog as a comment to this blog by Monday, April 6. We can't fix it, until we know what caused it because our fix should address the causes, not just be a shopping list of things we want.

AP Micro Assignment for Friday, March 27

I'm sorry to have disappointed you all in not giving you the chance to game the test, but hopefully, our exercise illustrated why collusive arrangements tend to fail-- Self-interest trumps group interest. We'll finish up talking about oligopoly and game theory on Friday because there's a little more to it than that, and there's also a recognition that self-interest does, in fact, lead us closer to the socially optimum combination of output and price.

For Friday, I want you all to do Activity 42 which is a summary activity about all of the market structures we have studied so far. You may struggle with a couple of questions (4 and 12). If you get stuck, think about your rules-- Profit-Maximizing firms should produce where MR = MC to maximize profits. Find corresponding prices on the demand curve. Per unit Profit = P - ATC. Total profit = Q(P - ATC). Imperfect Competition creates deadweight loss and is not socially optimum. You can boil all of this material down to a few key phrases that will really help you "get it," so you can "fix it."

Microeconomics for Tuesday, March 24

For the most part, you all did a good job on the quiz on perfect competition and monopoly on Friday. There are a couple of little mistakes that we'll address today, but you're generally in good shape if you remember your rules-- produce quantity where marginal revenue = marginal cost. Charge the corresponding price on the demand curve.

Biggest struggle was in recognizing that per unit profit = Price - Average Total Cost.

We study market structures and their outcomes by looking at the extremes of perfect competition and monopoly-- which are rare in the real world. This week, we'll look at the two types of market structures where most of you sell your factors of production and buy your products-- monopolistically competitive markets and oligopolistic markets.

Your assignment tonight (if all goes well in class) will be to complete Activity 40

For your edification, here's what my version of today's notes might have looked like had I been able to get the technology to work:

Class_Notes_3_24.pdf

Remember they rules... people and all will go well. And remember, Monopolistic competitors are like monopolies in that they underproduce and overcharge-- relative to the social optimum, but in the long run, they are like perfect competitors in that they earn ZERO long-run economic profits.

By the end of today and tomorrow, we'll understand why.

Microeconomics Plan for March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We started down the path of understanding monopoly power yesterday, and hopefully activity 34 was relatively painless. The notes from yesterday are here, although my smart board notes do not include graphs. One of you will have to offer yours up to me so I can post them.

At the end of class yesterday we were talking about the power of monopolistic firms (and to some extent monopolistically competitive firms) to engage in a practice called price discrimination. We also said at the end of class yesterday that monopolies can also be subjected to regulations by government in order to achieve socially optimum output (productive efficiency) and socially optimum price (allocative efficiency). We'll go into a little more depth about what those ideas and concepts are today and you will complete Activity 36 for homework for our block tomorrow. I've included 36 and 37 in the pdf, and we'll be doing this for Friday.

Class notes from today are here.

These activities will probably take you a full 45 minutes, so don't wait until the absolute last minute to get them done.

Macro 20 Questions for Block Day on 3/18 or 3/19

As we were going over the test yesterday, it was painfully clear to me that some are struggling to differentiate between expansionary and contractionary policies and fiscal and monetary policies, so hopefully, last night's 20 questions was helpful to you in putting those answers into your brains and getting comfortable with them.

The other thing that emerged to me yesterday as a problem area is the Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand analysis, so that will be our focus for our 20 questions this evening.

You hopefully can answer these from memory, but if you can't or would like to read a textbook chapter, check out Krugman's Chapter 10.

A. Short-Run Aggregate Supply
i) Why is the Short-Run Aggregate Supply Curve upward sloping?
ii) What are the four components of the Short-Run Aggregate Supply curve?
iii) What exogenous (outside) pressures would cause Short Run Aggregate Supply Curve to shift to the left?
iv) What conditions allow the Short Run Aggregate Supply Curve to shift to the right?
*v) What is entailed in supply-side economics policies?

B) Aggregate Demand
i) Why is the Aggregate Demand curve downward sloping?
ii)What are the four components of the Aggregate Demand curve?
iii) What fiscal and monetary policy changes cause the aggregate demand curve to shift to the right?
iv) What fiscal and monetary policy changes cause the aggregate demand curve to shift to the left?
v) Why did Keynes focus on policy shifts in his economic analysis?

C) Long Run Aggregate Supply
i) What shape does a Long Run Aggregate Supply Curve take?
ii) Why is the Long Run Aggregate Supply Curve shaped like this?
iii) What factors or events would likely cause Long Run Aggregate Supply to shift to the right?
iv) What factors or events would likely cause Long Run Aggregate Supply to shift to the right?

D) Putting Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand Analysis Together
i) Draw and Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand curve illustrating an economy that is in a deep recession.
ii) What metrics would show that an economy is in a deep recession? Give specific examples.
iii) Draw and Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand curve illustrating an economy that is suffering from serious Demand-Pull inflation.
iv) What metrics would show that an economy is suffering from serious Demand-Pull inflation? Give specific examples.
v) Draw and Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand curve illustrating an economy that is in long-run equilibrium (three-way happy place).
vi) What metrics would show that an economy is in long-run equilibrium? Give specific examples.

Please type out everything, but the graphs in part D. I should be able to give you the (miserable) tests back during the block tomorrow or Thursday if we finish up going over multiple choice and free response today.

Micro- The Next Three Weeks

What we're doing in Structure and Function of Product Markets right now is crucial. Depending on the year, how markets work is usually about 75% of the actual AP Exam in May, so rather than giving you full out assignment sheets at the beginning of each week, I'm going to play things a little more by ear, with the goal of taking our unit test for this material on Wednesday, April 8.

Before Spring Break, we were looking at the ideal market for consumers-- Perfectly Competitive Markets. This is the ideal market for consumers because producers produce the socially optimum output (are productively efficient) and charge the socially optimum price (are allocatively efficient). Perfect Competitors achieve this socially optimum outcome by producing a level of out where Marginal Revenue = Marginal Cost.

This week (and part of next week), we're going to look at the market that is ideal for the Producer-- a monopolistic market. Non-Regulated Profit-Maximizing monopolists operate according to some of the same basic rules as Perfect Competitors-- including producing at an output where MR = MC. However, the outcomes are very different.

Tonight, you're going to compare some of these differences by completing Activity_34.pdf.

From here, we'll move into more of the consequences of monopoly power and why monopoly is beneficial to the producer, but harmful to consumers and society generally.

AP Macroeconomics-- The Next Two Weeks

The test results were pretty brutal. I could wax eloquent about what happened, but the bottom line is that we all failed. I have done a poor job of teaching you all the basics of fiscal and monetary policy and how they interact-- at least as far as how the College Board tests your understanding of these concepts. And, the majority of you did not do well on the test, so I interpret that as you all have failed to learn it. So, we're going to take what we have of the next two weeks to do some serious review and drill, with the expectation that you all will have a second test on similar concepts on either Wednesday, March 25 (A Period) or Thursday, March 26 (B Period).

Your assignment this evening is to craft answers to these questions. Type them out and prepare to turn them in:

A.Fiscal Policy
i) Whose responsibility?
ii)What is expansionary fiscal policy?
iii) What is the objective of expansionary fiscal policy?
iv) What are the negative unintended consequences of expansionary fiscal policy?
v)When is expansionary fiscal policy appropriate?
vi)What is the objective of contractionary fiscal policy?
vii)What happens when Congress and the President pursue contractionary fiscal policy?
viii)What are the positive unintended consequences of contraction any fiscal policy?
ix) Give two examples of automatic fiscal stabilizers.
x) Give two examples of discretionary fiscal stabilizers.
xi) Why is the inside lag long and the outside lag short for fiscal policy?

B. Monetary Policy
i) Whose responsibility?
ii)What are the three ways that the Federal Reserve can pursue expansionary monetary policy?
iii) What is the objective of expansionary monetary policy?
iv)When is expansionary monetary policy appropriate?
v)What is the objective of contractionary monetary policy?
vi)What are the three tools that the Federal Reserve uses to pursue contractionary monetary policy?
vii) Why is the inside lag long and the outside lag short for fiscal policy?
viii) What is the Federal Funds Rate?
ix.) Which of the Fed's monetary policy tools impacts the Fed Funds Rate?
x.) Use 3 graphs to graphically show how the Fed's open market operations affect interest rates in the economy?

I'll post assignments for this week this way with a daily blog post after class, but keep the dates of the 25th or 26th on your calendar for when you'll have a "re-test." Answers to all of these questions should be in your notes, in the Chart, or on wikipedia pages.

Why Activity 44 Matters

President Obama released his 140 page outline to the Congress today about his budget plan for the Fiscal Year 2010. In his plan, all of the headlines indicate that we will have an expected budget deficit in FY 2010 of $1.75 Trillion.

I'm a little afraid of the law of large numbers here, so let me spell this out for you. The expected budget deficit for FY 2010 alone will be:

1,750,000,000,000. That is a lot of zeroes... And let's divide that by each of the 300,000,000 American people... That's $5,833.33 per person.

Keep in mind that this is a ONE-YEAR deficit. This will add to the almost $11 Trillion on National Debt that has already been accumulated.

I don't mean to be alarmist, but think about the math here. The numbers are a little frightening... As you're working through Activity 44 tonight, I beseech you to take this exercise seriously.

As you get to questions 4 and 5 on this Activity, think about what is required of the Federal Reserve to ACCOMODATE the expansionary fiscal policies of today. And, then, use your judgment as a citizen of the United States to contemplate the long-run consequences of what you see today...

Feel free to comment on this blog as a bonus to your class grade.

Microeconomics Plan for Week of February 24

Reading through your answers to Activity 23 today was not pretty... It brought tears to my eyes and NOT in the good way. As a result, you'll see the assignment sheet above is blank as far as homework assignments goes for tonight and tomorrow. I want to see where we are after class today and tomorrow before assigning homework, so check back here after class each day to make sure you get the proper assignment.

Normally, I like to have my weeks planned a little bit better in advance, but clearly some stuff is not sinking in, so we need to play the time between now and Spring Break a little more by ear. You'll also notice I'm pushing the Unit exam back until the second Wednesday after Spring Break. Because (other than Brittany and Drew) we only have 1 AP to review for, I can adjust my semester plan back by two weeks-- which I've done.

Macroeconomics Plan for Week of February 24

Tough week ahead with a few tough weeks in our rear view mirror. Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the retreats and planning as much (or more) as I enjoyed my professional development and preparation.

The assignment sheet for the week is also in the link above. I'm hoping that our vocabulary is filling in a little bit and that you're getting a better sense of the truly complicated mess that the US and the world face today.

Hopefully, we'll get a chance to review all of the lingering homework assignments-- Activities 38, 40, and 42. My plan is to spend time on what I see as the tougher question in each case, but I expect you to look at the whole thing.

I also want you to watch President Obama's address to Congress on Tuesday night. Most of it will be focused around "fiscal responsibility," something of an oxymoronic speech given our plans to spend $778 billion BEFORE we even talk about a $3 Trillion budget for the coming year. In Activity_44_Macro.pdf for Friday, you'll be looking at the impact of "Crowding Out" on economic activity, and with Activity 45, you'll be examining the interactions of fiscal and monetary policy.

Next week, we'll talk about the Phillips Curve on Monday and then we'll dive into international economic affairs after Spring Break. Busy times, but fun-- and a little scary.

If you're an optimist, this is a great opportunity... If you're a cynic, this is pretty miserable.

The Federal Reserve's Recent Activity

I've sent you all a few emails this morning with links to minutes from the January FOMC meeting, a New York Times Article on Chairman Bernanke's speech and question and answer session at the Washington Press Club-- a first for the Fed in terms of taking questions from journalists, and I was browsing my news here during D period, I came across this article from Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.

With Milbank's piece, I encourage you to look at comments at the end of the Milbank piece. Some of them are scary. Some are insightful. Use all possible options in crafting your comment and get it up here by 7 AM tomorrow, please.

MICRO Plan for Week of February 17

We're a little off schedule, but I also realize that since most of you are underclasspersons who do NOT have to review for both Micro AND Macro this year, I have a little more time to actually teach than I normally do. Hoo-ray. So, we're going to push forward and take our time and make sure we know what's happening.

You all will get your first paychecks this week-- after we look at the impact of taxes and how the elasticity of supply and demand affects markets and tax revenue. At the end of this week, we'll begin to look at market structures and business decision-making.

The assignment sheet should give some shape to our week and I am determined to hold to it!

MACRO Plan for Short Week of February 17-20

We're a little off schedule. I feel like we have an understanding of the current economic crisis, some of the roots of it, and what some of the proposed solutions are to as Austin Rogers would say, "FIX IT." However, I feel like we have some gaps in our knowledge in the fundamentals of the Fed, its tools, and whether or not any of the proposed solutions will actually work. I hope that we'll get on the right page this week with the gap between fundamentals and the current crisis. The assignment sheet and what we do in class should help get us there.

I'd also encourage you to read Chapter 13 from Krugman to really shore up the vocab gaps.

I'm also hoping that at the end of the week, we'll be able to have a good discussion about the overall direction of the Government and Federal Reserve. Please post your Friday assigned blogs as comments to this assignment.

AP MICROECONOMICS Plan for February 9-13

Now that we've learned how the ROTTEN TRIBE makes Shift happen, one shift at a time, now it's time to look at ways that government intervenes in markets and how markets strike back.

Some may think that I am anti-government intervention into the market always. That's just not true. I'd prefer though to look at appropriate and legitimate government interventions into markets and I'd also like us to consider the secondary consequences of well-intentioned government interventions into markets. Whether we like it or not or admit, all economic activity takes place in markets-- whether it's the obvious things like buying and selling houses, or the less obvious things, like buying and selling our labor. We must concern ourselves not with making some people better off or worse off, but with how we make the WHOLE better off, and the whole includes both producers and consumers-- individual families and businesses.

This is tough work, but we can and we must do it. Assignment sheet for the week is at the link in the title of the post.

AP Macro- Week of February 9

Assignment sheet link is above. Interesting week ahead. This may be subject to chnage at any point as Congress debates the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I've thought about having you guys all play the role of the Conference Committee and then debating revising the bill, but that seems like it could either be great-- or really painful.

Then I looked at the calendar between now and Spring Break and realized that we only have 4 day weeks each of the next 3 weeks-- President's Day, Retreat Day, and Spring Break, so I ruled that option out.

We're going to start this week with a study of different types of policies that can be pursued by Congress and the Fed. It is important, as I read your Fed blogs, that you differentiate between Fiscal Policy (Congress and the President's responsibility) and Monetary Policy (the Federal Reserve's duty) and that you not confuse the two. They both have the same goals-- stabilizing the economy-- but the tools and methods are VERY different. We're going to keep that in mind as we go on this week and next.

H Period Microeconomics Contract

Folks-

Everyone (except Brittany and Drew) is new to economics, so welcome to the blace where you will find most of the information for this class.

In case you lose it, I've posted an electronic copy of the paper contract which I will have handed out in class today and the outline of the course content for the semester. They are in one pdf document at the link below.

APMicroSyllabus_Spring_09.pdf

I've also posted an assignment sheet for this week which you can find here:
APSchedWeek1_Micro.pdf

Embedded in that assignment sheet are links to other assignments.

Let's have a good semester and I'll get your Circle of trust posted before class on Wednesday.

A and B Periods Macroeconomics Syllabi and Week 1 Assignments

It's been awhile since I've had to do this. I may have forgotten how to post to the blog...

Below you will find the appropriate PDF file of the syllabus and content outline for your course.

A Period's Contract is here:APMacroSyllabusSpring09A.pdf

B Period's Contract is here: APMacroSyllabusSpring09B.pdf

Some folks have moved from B to A period and vice versa and in A period, we have at least three new people who did not take Micro. You will be invited to post to the blog today once I know for sure who is here.

For homework tonight, you simply need to sign your contract and have one of your parents sign it as well.

For Friday, January 9, I would like you write a post to the blog on the Broad Social Goals of Economic Systems. From the link below, you can see a copy of the handout:

BroadSocialGoals.pdf

Your post should focus on the goal you think is the most important and lay out a maximum of 300 word rationale on why you think that goal is the most important.

For Monday, January 12, you should come prepared with any proposed amendments to the "Circle of Trust."

Let's have a good semester. No Senior Slump, seniors...

Macroeconomics Plan for Week of November 17

We're about a day behind, but we're still in good shape, timing-wise, to finish the semester by December 5.

Assignments for the week are at the link above. You're completing an Aplia assignment tonight. It's set up as a practice assignment so it will grade it for you as you go. Come prepared with questions tomorrow about things you may not have understood as you were doing it.

I've made a pdf out of last week's power point which I'm sending by email because it's a huge file, and I'll post our scribe's notes before the end of the week.

As we mostly finish the international sector this week, we're going to spend next week and the week after Thanksgiving circling around how domestic and international factors interact.

Microeconomics Plan- Week of November 17

As always, the assignment sheet for the week is posted at the link above.

We're going to be looking at imperfect factor markets for the rest of the week, and hopefully this site will not have the same problems this week that we had last week. My wife informed me that she lots of mp3's and videos "buried" on the site and that may have been slowing things down...

This week will be the final week of Factor Markets, and as you work through Activity 47 this evening and Activity 49 for the block period on Wednesday or Thursday, keep your eyes on Activity 51 which is the end of unit review activity on Factor Markets. In fact, if you're using your 30-45 minutes of homework time wisely this week, scan through Activity 51 for Friday to see which of those questions you can answer from the other activities.

Beginning next week, we're going to look at the role of government, and I confess to a curiosity about your answers to the blog assignment for next Monday. I realize that this is a normative question, but I do want to know which of those things listed are public goods in your respective minds.

Finally, I've posted last week's class notes. They're my notes from the smart board. Sorry scribes. I'll get yours up, too-- when I get a chance.

AP Macroeconomics Plan for November 10-17

After spending the last monthish getting our arms around the basics of Fiscal and Monetary Policy, the last unit of AP Macroeconomics deals with the International Sector and how Fiscal and Monetary Policy interact with each other.

We're going to take the circular approach to this unit by starting to look at the International Sector first, spending this week and next week looking at how nations find their comparative advantage in developed (non-barter) economies, how governments intervene in markets to mess with free trading between people, and how currency markets reflect these different ideas and values.

From there, we're going to circle back into the domestic sector and look at how Fiscal and Monetary Policy affect Currency Markets and affect trade between nations.

I caution you it's a bit circular, but fun and relevant, too!

Please be sure to click on the assignment sheet in the link for this post so you stay up to date on your assignments on a daily basis.

AP Microeconomics Plan for November 10-17

It's been awhile (almost 2 weeks) since I posted anything up here. I think that says something about the monopolistically competitive market in which we live and do business.

The assignment sheet is linked to the title of this post above. I'm going to give you a chance to earn up to $5,000 for your performance on some make up questions tomorrow. One will be a Free Response Supply and Demand and Government Intervention Question. The other will be a game-theory question.

We're going to turn our attention for the remaining 3+ weeks of the semester to Factor Markets and the Role of Government. I traditionally combine these two units because the Factor Markets unit deals with wages, rent, interest, and profits, and the Role of Government unit deals with what government can (and should) do to regulate the markets where people earn their wages, rent, interest, and profits. It also deals with how government spends the tax revenue that it collects and the principles that it uses to tax its people for earning wages, rent, interest, and profits. There could be a better way to do this than the way in which government currently does this and we will likely explore that.

Please read the Key Ideas for blocks on Wednesday and Thursday. These should give you a broad overview of what this unit is all about and complete Activities 44 and 45 for Friday.

In each case, remember the guiding rule of Microeconomics -- continue an activity as long as Marginal Benefit is greater than or equal to Marginal Cost. I do these assignments ahead of time and then allocate them out accordingly. I expect you to spend between 30 and 45 minutes to complete this assignment for Friday. If it takes less time than that, spend time reflecting on what you did. If it takes more, think about what's missing and why it's taking you longer than that and be prepared to ask me questions on Friday. On Activity 45, #2, don't sweat too much time plotting points. Be sure you can recognize shapes and go from there in your drawing.

AP Microeconomics Change in Plans

Our Unit Test on Product Markets, Supply, Demand, and Market Structure was supposed to be on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, but I did some persuing of the calendar and see some futility in that, so I'm postponing the test until next Tuesday for B period and next Wednesday for A Period during the block.

I'm going to be away from school next Tuesday attending the Powell Center's National Conference for AP Economics Teachers learning how to be a better economics teacher. And, since this unit test is 62% of your semester test grade (worth up to $22,500), I figure no one will object to having one more week to work through the material on this exam.

For Wednesday for A Period and Thursday for B Period, I've created an Aplia assignment on Game Theory. YOU MUST COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT BY 7 AM on THURSDAY. In A Period, you really must do it by 7 AM on WEDNESDAY to get credit for doing it. For those of you still struggling with your Aplia login or password, I've pdf'ed the questions and reading assignment that accompany it, so email me if you're struggling with the technical part of Aplia and I'll send you the questions and article.

For Friday, I'm going to email you a sample test to work through. I'd like you to work through that for homework so you can see the types of questions you're likely to see next week and we'll go over that.

Next Monday for review, we'll play a game like the board game "Catchphrase" to review for Tuesday's or Wednesday's test.

Your final blog for this unit will be in response to something I'm currently writing on the deadweight loss in the monopolistically competitive college admissions process. It may upset you, or offend you, but I'd like you to respond in a thoughtful way to what I'm going to say. That should be posted by the end of the week and I'd like to read your response by Friday, November 7.

Perfect Markets and Truth

The graphs may be confusing some folks, and graphs in general may just be confusing, but I was searching the internet this evening in preparation for Tim Harford's visit to Senior Seminar on Monday, November 3.

Mr. Harford is a columnist for Slate magazine and the author of two books on economics-- The Undercover Economist and The Logic of Life. The link above will take you to Chapter 3 from The Undercover Economist and the first few pages deal with Fletcher Reade from the movie, Liar, Liar which offers a great explanation for the difference between perfectly competitive markets and monopolistic ones.

I love Google Books... I'm not sure how publishers feel about it, but free access to this world is awesome!

MACROECONOMICS Plan for Week of October 20

Last week, we looked at Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply and looked at what the government can and should (or should not) do to move an economy closer to its goals of:

1) Steady, Sustainable Economic Growth (GDP increases between 2-4% annually)
2) Full Employment (Unemployment rate between 4.5% and 5.5%)and
3) Price Stability (Price Level Increases by 1-2 % annually).

We can put all three of our metrics above on an Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand graph. Remember Full Employment is represented by the VERTICAL LONG-RUN AGGREGATE SUPPLY CURVE which is a visual way of depicting a "limit" or line of capacity.

For the last two weeks, we've been looking at what government can do through its fiscal policy tools of taxing and spending tax dollars to adjust Aggregate Demand in order to move an economy closer to its long-run equilibrium.

This week, we'll be looking at what the Federal Reserve can and should do to move an economy closer to its long-run equilibrium.

The assignment sheet is in the title link or this link.

Tonight, please read the Krugman Chapter on the Fed. It will help immeasurably.

Plan for AP MICRO -- October 20

This is our last full week before our Unit 2 test on Supply and Demand and market structures. It may seem to you like we're cramming the last three market structures into this last week, but if you understand the cost curves (MC bisects AVC and ATC at their minimums), the rules (firms looks to profit maximize and profit maximization occurs when firms produce where MR = MC), and that competition means ZERO LONG-RUN profits (non-competitive or collusive firms have the capacity to earn long-run profits), you'll be in really good shape.

I encourage you to spend some time on reffonomics.com. You can start at the basic site and the microeconomics text book which is here.

Direct links to the Mr. Reff's power points on Perfect Competition and Monopoly markets are below:

Perfect Competition
Monopoly

You can do this, but you have to commit to understanding the graphs. Just graph it, gang, and the rest will flow from here.

Macroeconomics Plan for Week of October 14

Interesting week ahead with the final presidential debate scheduled for Wednesday... As you watch, be thinking about how what the candidates and their parties propose will likely affect Aggregate Demand, Short-Run Aggregate Supply, and Aggregate Demand.

The full assignment sheet is linked as the title to this post.

Keep in mind as we plug on that Macro tends to be circular. We're concerened with "stabilizing the economy," as characterized by sustainable economic growth (GDP grows 2-4%), full employment (an unemployment rate of between 4.5% and 5.%), and price stability (an inflation rate of 1-2%). These are our goals. Policy affects them and underlying conditions affect them. Which one has a greater impact-- the underlying conditions or the policy choices? This will be our focus for the next couple of weeks.

MACROECONOMICS PLAN for October 6 - October 13

Plan for the week is posted at the link above. I'm going to start into new stuff today and tomorrow and circle back on the test and some older stuff during our block on Thursday. I want us to go through the test pretty thoroughly and that will be easier and more efficient if we do it during a block period.

We're going to start probing policy choices and policy differences this week. The last 5 units of Macro can be taught in any order and can be sort of circular, so buckle up and pay attention. It's going to get interesting. This is why I want you developing "flash cards" with definitions and examples. You have to understand the terms we're about to use and be able to define and apply in your own words-- or you'll be lost.

MICROECONOMICS Plan for October 6-13

Now that we're relatively comfortable with a basic understanding of Supply and Demand and the principles under which the law of supply and the law of demand work, and we understand that a ROTTEN TRIBE makes Shift Happen, and that a shift in the Supply Curve causes a Change in Quantity Supplied (or vice versa), that government intervention in markets causes deadweight loss, that markets maximize total consumer and producer surplus, that the burden of taxes falls on the side of the market that is more inelastic, and some other basics, now we have to understand more about how firms operate in their product markets.

For the next 4 weeks, we're going to be zeroing in on market structures and how they affect costs curves and profit-making ability of companies. Some of what we will study the next few weeks will make you a little uncomfortable, but we're looking solely at the positve value of explaining what happens-- not the normative side of market structures.

We also have a cool new tool at our disposal via aplia. This will be yet another place to find assignments. Make sure you check your Collegiate email and get registered with the right course key.

The Assignment Sheet for the week is at the link above. What I'd really like you to do this evening (Monday) is create your own flash cards with definitions, pictures, and examples of the words listed. The twelve terms listed on the assignment sheet are going to be huge determinants of how firms operate in markets and having working definitions in your own words will be very helpful. I will post the best, most accurate, and most helpful in this space tomorrow.

Macroeconomics Plan for the Week of September 22

It's test week, so you're only written assignment for this week is to complete Activity 18 for this evening.

We're finishing up our conversation about business cycles today and doing an activity related to them. I've also posted Friday's notes.

I'd also like you to do a blog on the Vice Presidential Debate on Thursday night. Please keep your blog focused on the issues that the candidates raise and the likely impact of their fiscal policy proposals on economic growth, the labor market, and price stability. Leave the personal attacks to the candidates and the media.

Keep what they and you have to say in mind, too, as you read Krugman's Chapter 12 on Fiscal Policy as well.

Soon, I'll be asking you to think about different economic philosophies and wondering if we've all become Keynesians...

Microeconomics Plan for the Week of September 29

I'm impressed with your blogs about the debate. I'm more impressed that you all are being inquisitive curious citizens and asking for more details about each candidate's respective plan. You're raising one of the fundamental issues of the confluence of economics and politics. What are the consequences of choices made by these folks? Why are they so vague.

I'll post our graphs of the President's speech and price floors and ceilings later today, so you have them for your own edification.

We're going to spend this week addressing more government intervention in markets. This evening for homework, I want you to complete some end of chapter questions from Krugman.

Tomorrow, we're going to go over those questions and start to graph the impacts of per-unit taxes on economic activity. For homework, I'd like you to complete Activity 21.

We'll go over that and continue to examine the role of other government interventions including quotas and other forms of regulation during the blocks on Wednesday and Thursday and I'd like you to complete Activity 23 for Friday.

The world is changing at a pretty rapid pace these days, so my only homework for you for the weekend is for you to be sure you have read all the chapters relating to supply and demand and government policy. We're going to spend the next 4 weeks starting on Monday looking at how market structure affects prices, output, and profits. If you're not fully versed in supply and demand basics, you're going to be in a whole lot more trouble next week when we add more layers of complexity to this material.

Keep your eyes on the news. There will be so many articles this week about the bailout that your eyes and ears may explode...

AP MACROECONOMICS plan for Week of September 22

Happy Homecoming week to the MACRO class as well...

We're learning more about Macroeconomics: The Big Picture, and learning in more depth about these bigger issues and bigger metrics through which we measure the economic health of our nation.

I've posted my notes from late last week below:

CPI_basics_Notes.pdf

After our "Royalty for a Day" Game in class, you're going to complete Activity 15 which is the last page of what I posted last week. In this assignment, you're going to look at who is helped and who is hurt when there are unanticipated inflationary pressures in the economy.

Activities_9_15.pdf

And for tomorrow night for Thursday, you are going to print and complete Activity 16 on Types of Unemployment:

Activity_16.pdf

AP MICROECONOMICS plan for the Week of September 22

Happy Homecoming week...

Lots of good blogs over the weekend on Ike from the Micro classes and whether or not we are in a recession from the Macro class. We have some organizational issues when we all try to blog at once, so I think for the assignments that I'd like you to do as they relate to the debate on Friday night, I'd like you to write those as comments to what I post on Friday night/Saturday morning in response. That should help us keep this digital space a little better organized and a little better delineation between the Micro class and the Macro class.

I'm posting my notes on elasticity below:

Elasticity_Notes.pdf

For this evening, you're doing the Cabrini Green Quiz that I handed out in class and emailed you and Activity 18 which is below:

Activity_18.pdf

And for tomorrow evening, you are PRINTING AND COMPLETING Activity 17 which involves math without a calculator for our block periods on Wednesday and Thursday.

Activity_17.pdf

AP Macroeconomics Plan for the week of September 15

This week, the AP Microeconomics class and the AP Macroeconomics class go in their own directions. When checking for homework assignments and blog assignments, make sure you're getting the assignment for the correct class, so you're "on the right page."



In Macroeconomics, we're going to be looking at the big picture indicators of how well the economy is doing. Some would tell you, "It's not pretty. It's tough out there." Others would say, "It's just a blip. We'll be fine." We're going to look at the tools and metrics economists use to measure just how well the economy is doing right now.



There are three activities I'd like you to complete this week. For Tuesday, I'd like you to complete Activity 11. For Thursday, it's Activity 12, and for Friday, it's Activity 15. All of the activities are posted into one pdf file below to try to save some bandwith as I've been having uploading issues today.

Activities_9_15.pdf

AP Microeconomics Plan for the Week of September 15

This week, the AP Microeconomics class and the AP Macroeconomics class go in their own directions. When checking for homework assignments and blog assignments, make sure you're getting the assignment for the correct class, so you're "on the right page."

In Microeconomics, we're going to be going a little deeper on the law of supply and the law of demand to get deeper understanding of how markets allocate scarce resources efficiently. There are going to be issues that may make you stop and think or raise ethical issues in your mind. I ask you to remember that markets only REFLECT consumers' and producers' values and they are a positive (expository) view of the world, not a normative view. You may come up with your own ideas for allocation based on your own values of justice and fairness, but what we'll be learning over the next 7 weeks are mostly positive view points on how markets allocate resources and the role that market power plays in the allocation.

There will be two homework assignments this week that I expect you to print and bring to class. For tomorrow, I want you to do Activities 10 and 13 below:

Activity_10_and_13.pdf

And for Wednesday or Thursday, you're going to print and bring Activities 15 and 16 below:

Activity_15_and_16.pdf

Over the weekend, I'd like you to look closely at the news about Hurricane Ike. Hurricanes tend to be tremendous economic events and they also tend to bring out the economic illiteracy of the journalism profession. I'd like you to find an article (or video clip) and write a brief blog about it, where you comment on the accuracy and literacy of the information contained and express your own normative views about what should be done after a hurricane. And for those of you who are inclined to say, "I can't find anything." I Googled "Hurricane Ike Economic Impact," and Google returned 104,000 results. I'm sure you can find something there about which you can comment.

Additionally, I'll be commenting on your blogs about taxes mostly, so look underneath your post about taxes under the comments section for what I had to say about it. You may be surprised.

Plan for this week

We've finished our first two weeks and our entering our third where we will take our first unit exam on Wednesday or Thursday. The unit exam will cover crucial vocabulary, our two economic models: the Circular Flow and Production Possibilities, and have a few thinking problems on it.

The only homework assignment is a review exercise for tomorrow which can be found here:

Activity_8.pdf

The test will have 30 multiple choice questions like the questions we've had on our quizzes and three Free Response Questions similar to the one we answered this past Friday.

By Friday, too, you should have written your first original post to the blog or sent me an Economic Naturalist Paper. I'm looking forward to seeing the shock on your faces as you receive your first paychecks today and I think they would make a great topic for your first blog. If you see something in the news, however, that captures your attention and would like to write about it, use my example below of what I wrote about Jeff Jacoby's piece in yesterday's Boston Globe.

Class Notes and revised assignment plan

Great first block periods yesterday and today. I may have overestimated what I could get through, and for that I apologize. Class notes are posted below:


Class_Notes_9_3_9_4.pdf

For tomorrow, the Circular Flow activity doesn't make sense, so you're completing Activity 6, for which the link is below:

Activity_6.pdf

We'll have our weekly quiz tomorrow which will have a five multiple choice questions and one Free Response Question involving Production Possibilities.

Plan for the Week of September 2

This week, we're going to go a little deeper with the Production Possibilities model and learn another model, the Circular Flow of Economic Activity. I've put links to each night's homework assignment below. Simply click on the link below the date to get THAT NIGHT's homework assignment.

Tuesday, September 2

Activity_2.pdf

Wednesday, September 3 or Thursday, September 4

Activity_5.pdf

Friday, September 5

Activity_7.pdf

In addition, I'd like you to read Chapter 2 from either Krugman or Bernanke. Keep in mind, that with Krugman, it is the Canadian edition of his text. However, since principles are the same regardless of nationality, it doesn't matter too much. It only matters in some of the examples that he uses which might be a little more relevant for Canadians than Americans. After all, how many of you have gone curling?

For those still struggling to find the chapters

I haven't sat down to re-organize the blog yet, but here are three quick links that don't require you to enter any personal information or anything of that nature:



Mankiw



Krugman



and



Bernanke/Frank

I'll do my re-organizing tomorrow.