This course will build on the knowledge obtained in ECON 103 and 105 by applying that knowledge to the analysis of current macroeconomic policy issues in Canada.
The official "required" textbook is:
Robert H. Frank, Ben S. Bernanke, Lars Osberg, Melvin Cross, and Brian MacLean, Principles of Macroeconomics, 2nd Canadian Edition, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 2005 (paperback), ISBN: 0070889147.
Note that I do not plan on covering this textbook chapter-by-chapter. Its purpose in the course will be as a reference. Lectures will assume you remember some/most of what you learned in ECON 105, and can refer back to the textbook for the rest.
If you still have your ECON 105 textbook, any textbook used in ECON 105 at SFU in the past 3 years is an acceptable substitute for this text. This includes Parkin and Bade, Kennedy, Hall and Lieberman, or Lipsey and Ragan. Textbooks used for equivalent courses at other institutions are probably acceptable substitutes; check with me at the start of the term to make sure.
Any additional required readings will be made available online.
The lectures will be more important than usual for this particular class because we don't really have a textbook. So it is important to attend class regularly. Regular attendance at lectures is expected of all students. I will not take attendance, but if you do miss a lecture it is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of all relevant information from the lecture.
I will be making my lecture notes available on the course website. A preliminary version of my notes will be available at the beginning of the term. Inevitably, by the time I give a lecture, it will be slightly different from what I planned at the start of term. As a result, I will post updated lecture notes one week before each exam.
Tutorials will meet for one hour each week. Time in tutorials will be spent on some combination of student questions, lecture review, and practice exam questions. The exact allocation across these activities will vary depending on the preferences of students and TAs.
Your course grade will be based on 3 in-class exams (20% each) and a final exam (40%). The in-class exams will be held on September 27, October 25, and November 22 (all of these dates are on Wednesdays). The in-class exams are semi-cumulative, i.e., questions will be about the most recent material but will presume basic knowledge of earlier material.
The final exam will be Wednesday December 6, from 8:30-11:30 AM. The final exam is cumulative.
Each TA will hold 2 scheduled office hours per week, and so will I. Roman and I are also available by appointment if you have a conflict with the scheduled office hours. Kenny is not available for appointments. However, we ask that you please be reasonable in asking for appointments. If you feel you need an hour or more per week of one-on-one assistance you need to find a tutor.
We're also happy to answer email questions, provided that they are questions that can be answered in a sentence or two. We make no guarantee that email questions will be answered quickly. More complex issues need to be discussed in tutorial, before/after lecture, or in office hours.
After having encountered every conceivable special case over the past few years, I have a seemingly elaborate but actually quite simple policy about missing exams. Here are the rules:
It's easy to avoid having to worry about all these rules: just show up for every exam.
The course website is available at http://www.sfu.ca/~bkrauth/econ291/welcome.htm.