Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Alexander Blair
Contact via via email
Room 418, 04 EAR 4 Eastern Road (formerly E4A 418)
Check iLearn for times
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
(15cp at 100 level or above) including ECON110
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit is designed to build upon the models developed in ECON110 but also serves as a standalone unit in applied macroeconomics. Students will examine modern economic problems such as deflation, financial crisis and unemployment, both through the lectures and in a selection of papers from academic journals. This unit includes an introduction to the history of economic thought, allowing students to see the origins of the models they study, and therefore better understand the models themselves. It covers topics including IS-LM, the labour market, basic AD-AS models, and exchange rates, and ends in the Mundell-Fleming model. By the end of the unit students will understand the causes and solutions to real world situations and crises such as the Global Financial Crisis, slowing economic growth and other contemporary challenges. Students will benefit from the development of basic skills such as short essay writing for examinations, and basic mathematical skills – all such skills are taught and practiced in class, and require no prior knowledge. ECON214 will benefit those seeking an introduction to the history and application of economic models, and students will also gain a set of valuable employability skills.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Introductory Class Test | 10% | No | Week 3 |
Mid-Session Test | 30% | No | Week 7 |
Modelling Exercise | 20% | No | Week 12 |
Final Examination | 40% | No | University Examination Period |
Due: Week 3
Weighting: 10%
Submission Written test in tutorial.
Feedback Exam script will be returned with comments.
Comment This test will review some of the material covered in the early lectures. More than this however, it is intended to give you practice in some of the skills and techniques you will need in the subsequent assessment tasks. In other words it will give us a snapshot of your current skill set.
Students who do not sit for this Test will receive a mark of zero. This penalty does not apply for students who have applied and been approved for Special Consideration. If remedy is approved under these procedures then in most cases a viva voce will be substituted for the in-class Test.
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 30%
Submission Written test in the lecture.
Feedback Exam script will be returned with comments.
Comment The aim of this Class Test is to help with the learning process, as much as it is for purposes of assessment. The exam will focus on the ideas, facts and concepts that are the building blocks for understanding what is going on in our economy. It will be of 1.5 hours duration.
Students who do not sit this Mid-Session Test will receive a mark of zero. This penalty does not apply to those students who have applied and been approved for Special Consideration.
Due: Week 12
Weighting: 20%
Submission By Dialogue in iLearn, as Powerpoint document in attachment, with verification via Turnitin.
Feedback Assignment will be returned with comments.
Comment: The topic will depend on our lecture timetable (which we will vary if we find that certain topics need more work) but it might include for example a rendering in Powerpoint of the Mundell-Fleming model, or some other model relevant to the lectures. (We will show you how to work in Powerpoint, a useful skill generally). There will be a Final Exam question covering very similar content, so this Assignment exercise will be excellent preparation for the Final Examination.
Late submission of the Assignment: Late Assignments will incur a penalty of 10% of the total available marks applied to the total awarded marks for each 24 hour period or part thereof that the submission is late. (Thus for example submission 25 hours late will lead to a 20% marks penalty). This penalty will not apply in cases in which a valid Special Consideration application has been made and approved.
Due: University Examination Period
Weighting: 40%
Formal Examination End of session formal examination.
Comment
The final exam will be in he University's examination period. Further details will be made available on iLearn. Students who do not sit this Final Examination will receive a mark of zero. This penalty does not apply to those students who have applied and been approved for Special Consideration.
As an applied unit, we will be looking at specific models as they are used in practice, in real world policy making, rather than drawing upon a theoretical text. Access to the textbook for ECON204:
Olivier Blanchard & Jeffrey Sheen, Macroeconomics, Pearson (either the 3rd Australasian edition, 2009, or the 4th Edition 2013)
would be useful but is not essential, as all the models discussed in the Unit will be presented in full in the lectures. Other readings will be supplied online or by the lecturer.
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This graduate capability is supported by:
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This graduate capability is supported by:
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