Department or Program: Economics

Course Number: 304

Semester Hours: 3

Frequency of Offering: Every semester

Course Title: Money and Banking

Catalog Description: The nature and functions of money. Current definitions of the money supply and the process of money creation. The financial system and the central bank. The demand for money, interest rate determination, introduction to monetary policy. Prerequisites: DIS 220 or STAT 210 and ECON 201 and ECON 202.

This is an existing course previously approved by A2C2: Yes

This is a new course approval: No

University Studies Approval is requested in: Writing Flag.

Attachments: A copy of a syllabus is attached. This is the syllabus that the faculty member that normally teaches this course uses. The parts of the course that address the outcomes required to get a writing flag for this course are pointed out.

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1. practice the processes and procedures for creating and completing successful writing in their field.

 

The process students have to follow in this class is:

 

1. For the Journal, they have to read the different articles assigned and write a summary of the issue(s) the article deals with that clearly demonstrates their understanding of the content and the suggestions, conclusions or recommendations of the author(s). The instructor provides feedback and may ask students to resubmit their work.
2. For the essay questions they have to answer in three out of the four exams, students have to organize their answers in a logical manner and reach a conclusion that directly answers the question at hand. Answers are graded on the basis of both the direct answer to the question and the process through which this answer is arrived at. All students "retake" the exam, once the instructor has scored the answers. Improved answers are rewarded with up to 20% extra credit points.
3. To create and complete a written report, students have to:

 

1) Present a topic proposal. The instructor includes in the project guidelines a list of suggested topics. Students can choose one of the suggested topics or can choose a different one. However, the topic has to be related to the course content. The instructor provides feedback on the topic itself, so students know if it is acceptable. Also, students receive feedback as to the scope of the project. The main points to be researched as well as preliminary hypotheses are identified.

 

2) Write an initial outline and do a preliminary literature review. Students have to report the way they will organize the different aspects of their research. They also have to find different types of bibliographical sources that they think will be useful in their

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work. The instructor provides feedback on the logical structure of the research and the appropriateness of their bibliographical sources.

3) Produce a final outline and a list of the bibliographical sources that they will use that should contain a previously specified minimum number of different types of sources. The instructor does a final analysis of the logic of the project and the bibliography and provides feedback.

4) Write a first draft of the report. Even if it is a first draft, students are asked to submit a formally written report. The instructor provides feedback on both the content and the form of the report.

5) Write a final draft of the report.

 

2. understand the main features and uses of writing in their fields;

 

Through the processes described above, students understand that writing in this field requires a critical analysis of the published work on the topic selected. They also understand that a necessary result of their work is the acceptance, rejection, or modification of existing views on the issues at hand. For instance, conventional wisdom would have one believe that the crisis of the savings and loans institutions during the 1980s was largely the result of widespread fraud. Students writing on this topic, will have to show if such view is correct or not.

 

3. adapt their writing to the general expectations of readers in their fields;

 

Readers in this field expect topics to be presented in a cause-effect framework that often leads to the use of well known economic models or, on occasion, to the development of new paradigms. Students are made aware that their report needs to include this type of analytical exercise. As an illustration, take the case of a research project that is trying to determine why the 1929 stock market crash was followed by the Great Depression, but the stock market crash of 1987 was not followed by another depression. Use of a macroeconomic model would identify the process through which a disturbance in the stock market can affect whole economy. The next step is to find out how this process was affected in the case of the latter crash so the economy would not go

 

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into a depression. This brings the role of the Federal Reserve System into the picture.

 

4. make use of technologies commonly used for research and writing in their fields;

 

Students enrolled in this course are instructed to learn how to access different electronic databases. Of particular importance to this course are the Federal Reserve System databases that can be accessed online. Also the Department of Economics and Finance has several databases, some in CD-roms and some in local servers. Students also have to become familiar with the Jstor database and with more traditional searches in both technical and non-technical publications.

 

5. learn the conventions of evidence, format, usage, and documentation in their fields.

Writing in the field of economics is supposed to follow the guidelines issued by the American Economic Association. A strong emphasis is placed on the use of statistical information as evidence. In cases in which this information is not available from secondary sources, sample surveys are recommended, whenever possible. To underscore the importance of using the right format, and quantitative evidence, a percentage of the grade is reserved for these aspects of the project.

 

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1. Instructor

Instructor's Name

Instructor's Office

Instructor's Phone Number

Instructor's E-mail Address

Course Website

2. Office hours

M 3:00- 5:00

W 10:00-12:00 & 2:00-5:00

H 10:00-12:00 & 3:00-4:00

And by appointment

3. Textbook

R. Glenn Hubbard

Third Edition

Addison Wesley Longman, 2000

4. Course description

Your Money and Banking course will consist of three parts. The first one will deal with money, financial institutions and the central bank and the role they play in the economy; the second one will analyze how the level of economic activity is determined and will build on the material covered in principles of macroeconomics which will be reviewed at the beginning of the term; and the third one, will study how the government can change the level of economic activity through economic policy.

The purpose of the Writing Flag requirement is to reinforce the outcomes specified for the basic skills area of writing. These courses are intended to provide contexts, opportunities, and feedback for students writing with discipline-specific texts, tools and strategies. These courses should emphasize writing as essential to academic learning and intellectual development.

Courses can merit the Writing Flag by demonstrating that section enrollment will allow for clear guidance, criteria, and feedback for the writing assignments; that the course will require a significant amount of writing to be distributed throughout the semester; that writing will comprise a significant portion of the students final course grade; and that students will have opportunities to incorporate readers critique of their writing.

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These courses must include requirements and learning activities that promote students' abilities to…

1. practice the processes and procedures for creating and completing successful writing in their field.
2. understand the main features and uses of writing in their fields;
3. adapt their writing to the general expectations of readers in their fields;
4. make use of technologies commonly used for research and writing in their fields;
5. learn the conventions of evidence, format, usage, and documentation in their fields.

Outcomes are identified by the use of these letters in parentheses in the material that follows.

 

Attendance. Students are expected to attend all lectures. Although I will call the roll only during the first week of the semester or so, as soon as the add/drop period is over, I will assign specific seats to each of you, so attendance can be checked without too much waste of time. Attendance will not influence your grade directly but may do it indirectly. If you miss lectures, you may miss in-class assignments, homework assignments, explanations you may need and participation opportunities. Besides, when it comes to final grades, attendance will be one criterion used in borderline cases.

Class participation. I encourage and reward class participation. You are welcome to ask questions, bring up current events, and discuss the material under analysis. For some chapters, discussion questions will be assigned.

Student-faculty contact. I encourage student-faculty contact. I will meet individually with each of the teams formed to work on the project described below and I am always willing to meet individually with students to provide explanations they may need or discuss any concerns they may have. Please take advantage of the office hours mentioned above or make appointments to see me. You can also call me or e-mail me.

Time on task. You should plan on devoting an average of six hours a week to this class. Other than attending the scheduled class meetings, you will have to do:

Exams. There will be three partial exams whose dates will be announced at least one week in advance. The CUMULATIVE final exam will be given on the date indicated in your class schedule. Questions will be of the multiple-choice type for the first midterm. For the other midterms and for the final you will also have essay questions, numerical exercises and questions requiring graphic analysis. [c, e]

 

Assignments. There will be two types: in-class and homework assignments. They will be scored and incorporated in your semester grade. You will also have to complete a project, information on which is included below. [a,b,c,d,e]

 

A project. A term paper will be required for this class. It will be a team project that will encourage cooperation with other students. See guidelines below.

 

A Journal. There will be some articles assigned from The Wall Street Journal as additional reading. This material will be included in your assignments, your exams, or both. Besides, you will have to keep a journal in which summaries of "The Outlook",

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"Tracking the Economy", the related article and any article related to the Federal Reserve System should be entered, including the table "Federal Reserve Data", which often appears on the Friday and Monday editions. For each article you should include the title, date, and page where it was published. In your summary the issue the article is dealing with and the contributions of the author(s) should be identified. Your summaries will have to be typed and handed in on Tuesday, starting on September 4, for the week of August 27 to September 1. [b, c, d]

 

All these parts of the course will influence your final grade in the way indicated below. The purpose of this grading scheme is to recognize and value the diverse talents and different ways of learning students have.

 

Make-ups. There will be no make-ups of any kind, except in unusual circumstances. Students requesting make-ups will be asked to clearly justify their absences. Late assignments will be only accepted "at a discount". Being absent from a particular class meeting is not an acceptable excuse to hand in assignments late. Assignments are due during class.

Feedback. You can expect prompt feedback. Your assignments and exams will be scored and returned the next class meeting, with the possible exception of the journals mentioned above.

General expectations. This is a 300 level course and I have high expectations of students that decide to enroll in it. I expect quality work in all the parts of the course. No academic dishonesty will be tolerated. A zero grade will be assigned to that part of the course in which dishonesty is discovered.

7. Grading guidelines

Weights:

Exam I,.………...10%

Exam II,.………..10%

Exam III,.…….…10%

Assignments,… 10%

Journals, ….….10%

Project,…………40%

Final exam, …...10%

Note: Written assignments, i.e. the project, journals, and essay

Scale:

90% and higher, A

80%-85%,………B

70%-79%,………C

60%-69%,….…...D

59% and lower., F

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1. An overview of Macroeconomics [Lecture].
2. Money: Importance, nature, and measurement [Chapters 1 & 2]
3. Other financial instruments [Lecture].
4. An overview of the financial system [Chapter 3].
5. An introduction to financial theory [Chapters 4 & 5].
6. Financial institutions [Chapters 12, 13, 14, & 15]

6.1) The savings and loans crisis [Lecture, Chapter 15]

6.2) Banking regulation [Chapter 15].

6.3) Social aspects of regulation [Lecture].

6.4) Diversity issues in lending [Lecture].

7. Financial markets [Lecture, Chapters 9, 10, 11]
8. Extending the basic model [Lecture].
9. Interest rates [Chapters 6 & 7]
10. The demand for money [Chapters 23].
11. The financial system and the economy

11.1 The IS-LM model [Chapter 23]

12. The central bank [Chapter 19].
13. The money supply process [Chapters 17 & 18]
14. Monetary policy issues [Chapters 20 & 21].
15. Inflation and unemployment [Chapter 28, Lecture].
16. Banking in the International Economy [16].

Project Guidelines

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1. Your term paper should follow the writing guidelines issued by the American Economics Association [d], and must include at least the following parts:

a) Cover page with the title ……………………………… [ 5]

b) Table of contents with pages ………………………… [10]

c) Introduction stating the purpose of the paper………….[15]

d) Text with subtitles (5-10 double-spaced typed pages):

d.1) Description of the issue …………………..….[10]

d.2) Use of theoretical models, analysis ……..….[20]

1. Other statistical information, graphs ……………….. [10]
2. Conclusions ……………………………………… …..…[20]
3. Bibliography presented in a proper way ……… ….….[10]

2. The text of the paper should include:

a) A theoretical discussion of your topic (use of a model) [c]

b) The main points you discovered in your bibliographical sources (description) [b]

c) An analysis of those points, i. e. a discussion of them that should include your team's

insights [b].

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3. Your bibliography should consist at least of:

1. Four articles from non-technical sources (Time, Newsweek, The Economist, US News and World Report, Business Week, etc.)
2. Four articles from the Wall Street Journal.

c) Three articles from somewhat technical sources like the the publications of the the
publications of the federal reserve banks or professional journals.

d) Two textbooks or books, other than Hubbard's. Principles textbooks are not
acceptable.

4. Here is a list of suggested topics:

a) The S & L crisis

b) The problems of the banking industry

c) Stock market crashes

d) Institutional changes in the financial industry and their consequences

e) Statistical demand for money functions

f) The effectiveness of monetary policy

g)The international monetary system.

h) Junk bonds

5. Deadlines: [a]

a) Teams formed, September 4.

b) Topic proposal, description of the purpose of the paper, main points to investigate,
September 11.

1. Initial literature review, classified list of sources [in the four categories

Mentioned in 3 above, and initial outline, September 25.

2. Selection of specific sources (still classified) for each section of your outline and final outline, October 9.
3. First draft and abstract, November 8.
4. Paper due, December 6.

6. Other:

1. Do not simply xerox tables or graphs and include them in your paper.

Use a PC.

2. Whenever you mention figures in the text of the paper, give the source.
3. Tables and graphs should have a source, unless the graphs are part of

a theoretical model. Your sources should include electronic databases available online and those available in CD-roms or local servers [d]

4. Do not present you bibliography classified in the final version of your

Paper.

5. Keep a copy of everything you hand to me, including the final draft of

the paper. I do not return papers.

f) Your conclusions should be short statements fully supported in the text.

No new ideas or quotes should be included in this part of the paper. [b]