ECON 321: Money and Banking
Spring 2013 (12-week)
Instructor: Dr. Uğur Aker Meeting Times: MWF 1:00-2:20
Office: Hinsdale 113 Classroom: Hinsdale 120
Office Hours: TR afternoons Email:
Telephone: x5142 Communication: e-mail:
This syllabus and other material will be posted in my web site: http://thehiramcollege.net/econ.
I. Course Description:
Money and Banking course has different approaches around the country. Business schools might emphasize the financial markets aspect, economics departments might emphasize the monetary theory aspect but our text has been the leading text for over two decades. Bankers also utilize it for reference purposes. Save this book if you plan to enter a financial service industry. I have been using this textbook since its first edition. Occasionally, when I meet a former student working in the banking industry, I hear them say that they still confer with this book at work. Typically, the course introduces the functioning of the financial markets and financial institutions, the central bank policy-making and monetary theory. A semester is usually not enough to cover everything; in the past, I have designed the course according to the composition of the students in it. Since we have economics, accounting and management majors in the class, I will try to achieve a balance between the interests of all.
II. Goals and Objectives:
The prerequisites for Money and Banking course are Econ 201 (Principles of Microeconomics) and Econ 202 (Principles of Macroeconomics). Money and Banking is one of the finance focus courses under both management and economics majors.
The objectives of the course are:
1. To provide an analytical framework that connects financial markets, foreign exchange markets, financial institution management and monetary policy into a unified approach.
2. To familiarize students with the terminology and the relationships in financial markets.
3. To provide opportunities for students to apply economic analysis of financial markets.
III. Course Expectations:
1. Texts and other readings:
Required text:
Mishkin, Frederic S. (2010). The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets, Nineth edition. Boston: Addison Wesley.
Textbook web site: http://wps.aw.com/aw_mishkin_econmbfm_9/ has extra material and links to other finance web sites. http://wps.aw.com/aw_mishkin_econmbfm_8/46/12000/3072002.cw/index.html
has chapter previews and MULTIPLE CHOICE TESTS.
2. Assessment activities:
a. Term Paper: An OPTIONAL term paper of two to three thousand words can be part of your grade. The narrower the scope of the paper, the better it is. For instance, a term paper on “The Financial System” cannot be as interesting and in-depth as, say, “Risk in Mortgage Backed Securities Market as Perceived by Buyers and Sellers.” I took this example from Chapter 2 of the book. Other few suggestions I have: “Application of ISLM to 2013 with support of data,” “Analysis of Demand for Money for 2012-13,” “Foreign Exchange Market Analysis (similar to Ch. 17) for USD or JPY or EUR or other,” “Analysis of long and short term interest movements during 2008-2012,” “Rational Expectations and Efficient Markets Perspective for the Great Recession.”
It used to be that there were only 3 tools for the Fed to change the money supply. The latest crisis saw the Fed develop a number of other tools Bernanke classified under "quantitative easing." At the height of the crisis, the Fed had about a dozen tools. Pick only one tool and explain how it works, who is involved in the transactions, how big it has been in dollar terms (trend), when did the Fed end the practice or how will it work when the Fed wants to tighten the money supply. This makes a dozen papers.
Why was Lehman Brothers too big to fail? In other words, why the system collapsed (with evidence, of course) after Lehman was allowed to fold.
What possible scenario can there be if AIG or Merrill Lynch or Bank of America or Washington Mutual or GM were to fail? This may be more difficult.
After you choose your subject, read the section in our book. Note any footnotes Mishkin gives and find those sources. In Hiram College Library go through some of the reference materials and look under the subject your paper is on. The following are in the Reference Section:
Mc-Graw-Hill Dictionary of Modern Economics (Ref/330.03/Mac)
Encyclopedia of Economics (Ref/330.03/Enc)
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (Ref/303/Int)
The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics (Ref/330.03/New)
Survey of Social Science: Economics Series (Ref/330.03/Sur)
Europa World Year Book (Ref/314/Eur)
Statesman’s Yearbook (Ref/310/ Sta)
Background Notes (Ref/310/Dep)
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations (Ref/903/Wor)
Statistical Yearbook of the United Nations (Ref/310/Uni)
International Financial Statistics (Ref/332.15/Int)
Economic Handbook of the World (Ref/330.9005/Eco)
Economic Sourcebook of Government Statistics (Ref/330.9730021/Hoe)
I have provided links to all the Fed banks and Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Each web site would have plenty of material (from very basic to quite sophisticated) to help you with your research. The book’s web site also has links related to each chapter.
Your term paper should have the regular format with references, endnotes, and a separate bibliography page. You may not need to put any endnotes. Please reference the information using (Author, page). If there are two or more articles, books by the same author, give date after author.
IF YOU GET AN A FOR THE TERM PAPER, I WILL COUNT IT AS 40% OF YOUR GRADE. A B WILL COUNT AS 30% OF YOUR GRADE, C 20%, AND D 10%. THE PAPER SHOULD BE IN BY MARCH 15TH. YOU CAN DO MULTIPLE DRAFTS BEFORE THAT DATE.
b. Tests: I have tentatively scheduled four tests.
c. Homework: Ten percent of your grade will be turning in homework problems. You are required to submit 75 homework questions from the back of the chapters to get the full 10%. Extra questions will help with extra credit.
d. Online quizzes: You can do online quizzes on the textbook web page and send me the perfect score for one homework..
3. Attendance is mandatory. Every missed class, regardless of reason, will lower your grade. You can submit FOUR previously unanswered questions from the end of chapter questions to erase an absence.
4. Expectations for academic honesty: Hiram takes plagiarism issues very seriously. The academic honesty section of the Hiram College catalog is at the end of this syllabus for reference. Information and ideas we collect from published, web-based and interview sources need to be properly identified. Use your Hacker books to clarify any question you might have.
IV. Assessment and Evaluation:
1. Grade Distribution:
95 - 100 A 91 - 94 A-
87 - 90 B+ 83 - 86 B
79 - 80 B- 75 - 78 C+
71 - 74 C 67 - 70 C-
63 - 66 D+ 59 - 60 D
55 - 58 D- 0 - 54 F
2. Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory. Each absence will cost you 0.33% of your final grade. To erase an absence, I will ask you to do extra work (See III.3).
3. Grading
Money and Banking Page 1
Homework: 10%
Term paper: 0% to 40%
Tests: 50% to 90%
Money and Banking Page 1
V. Schedule:
Week / Monday / Wednesday / FridayJan. 7-11 / Planning and Ch. 1 / Ch. 2 / Ch. 3
Jan. 14-18 /
Test Ch. 1-3
/ Ch. 4Jan. 21-25 /
MLK Day
/Ch. 5
Jan. 28-Feb. 1 / Ch. 6 / / Ch. 7Feb. 4-8 / /
Ch. 8
/Test Ch. 4-7
Feb. 11-15 / Ch. 9Feb. 18-22 /
Ch 11
Feb. 25-Mar. 1 / Test Ch. 8, 9, 11 / Ch. 13Mar. 11-15 /
Ch. 14
/ Ch. 15Mar. 18-25 / Test Ch. 13-15 / Ch. 16
Mar. 28-Apr. 1 / Ch. 17
Apr. 4-8 / Ch. 18
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, April 9th, at 4:00 PM.
VI. Resources:
a. Federal Reserve Resources on the Internet
http://federalreserve.gov/
http://www.bos.frb.org/
http://www.newyorkfed.org/
http://www.phil.frb.org/
http://www.clevelandfed.org/
http://www.Rich.FRB.org/
http://www.frbatlanta.org/
http://www.chicagofed.org/
http://www.stlouisfed.org/
http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/index.html
http://www.kc.frb.org/
http://www.dallasfed.org/
http://www.frbsf.org/
Other Resources:
http://www.worldbank.org/
http://www.imf.org/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
http://www.bea.doc.gov/
http://www.bls.gov/
VII. Disclaimer:
Plans are wishes. Not all wishes do come true. Those with the wisdom of ages warn us about the curse of wishes that do come true. We may change parts of this syllabus as we see fit in the course of the three-week. For the sake of participatory democracy, I promise to include the class in the decision-making before I make any changes.
ACADEMIC HONESTY (Hiram College Catalog, October 29, 2002)
Hiram College believes that the development of intellectual honesty is at the heart of a college education. The process of education is severely compromised if we cannot depend on the academic integrity of each member of the community. Moreover, the principles of academic honesty are aligned closely with the principles of good scholarship and research, principles of critical thinking and reasoning, and the standards of professional ethics. Thus, students who fail to practice academic honestly not only risk losing the trust of the academic community; they also fail to develop the most essential skills and abilities that characterize a college graduate.
Any student who violates the integrity of the academic process will be subject to punishment, including possible dismissal from the College. There are many forms of academic dishonesty including the giving or receiving of help in any form on an examination, the sale or purchase of papers and test materials, the abuse of computer privileges and regulations, the misuse or abuse of library resources, and any other action which debases the soundness of the educational process. Faculty members and librarians are expected to report all instances of academic dishonesty to the Associate Dean of the College who will provide advice on an appropriate action.
Plagiarism
The most common form of academic dishonesty is plagiarism. An essay or term paper is designed to develop a student’s own ability to think clearly and critically about a subject and to express ideas fluently. Similarly, a laboratory report is designed to develop a student’s capacity to record observed phenomena and to interpret them correctly. A creative work in the arts is intended to demonstrate the student’s own creative abilities. If a student corrupts these purposes by receiving unacknowledged assistance from a written source, he or she is guilty of plagiarism.
To avoid any suspicion of plagiarism, students should acknowledge any work not their own; in other words, any language, illustration, information, or diagram which is not original must be documented. Students are urged to visit the Writing Center for help in understanding these guidelines.
Hiram College expects students to develop a thorough understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and to avoid it in all forms of campus communication. When plagiarism occurs in work submitted for a grade in a course, it is particularly serious and becomes a reportable offense. There are two categories of such offenses. Category I includes instances of plagiarism in which there is clear intent to falsify, mislead, or misrepresent another’s work as one’s own. An obvious example would be an attempt to hide the source of plagiarized material by not even including it in the paper’s bibliography. Category II includes instances in which there is not clear intent. Instead, there is evidence that the student made a simple mistake in citation, or did not fully understand what constitutes plagiarism.
The process for dealing with cases of plagiarism is intended to facilitate the development of the student as a scholar who practices academic honestly. First offenses usually involve some penalty, depending on severity. Students are expected to learn from these mistakes and, therefore, there is less tolerance for subsequent offenses.
Cases of plagiarism are handled in the following ways:
• The course instructor judges whether the offense is Category I or II.
• All cases of plagiarism are reported to the Associate Dean of the College who will maintain a database of plagiarism cases.
• For first-offense, Category II cases involving an underclass (not senior) student, the course instructor has the option of allowing a makeup of the paper or assignment, or a penalty. These cases do not require a conference with the Associate Dean and the student. All other cases require a conference with the Associate Dean.
• Category I cases, even if first offense, may result in an F in the course.
• A pattern of Category II offenses, or any second-offense, will usually result in a suspension from the College.
• Records of plagiarism are kept by the Associate Dean. The student’s advisor (for traditional students) or the Weekend College Dean (for WEC students) is informed of the results of plagiarism cases.
• Appeals of plagiarism case decisions may be made to the Dean of the College.
Special Note on Collaborative Work
Students must assume that collaboration in completion of assignments is prohibited unless explicitly specified by the instructor. Students must acknowledge any collaboration and its extent in all submitted work. This applies to collaboration on editing as well as collaboration on substance. (This statement is not intended, however, to discourage students from forming study groups.)
REQUEST BY ASSOCIATE DEAN TO INCLUDE IN THE SYLLABUS:
Non-Discrimination Policy
Hiram College is committed to equality of opportunity and does not discriminate in its educational and admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability. The College will not tolerate harassment, prejudice, abuse, or discrimination by or of any of its students, faculty, or staff.
Communication with Parents
Hiram College encourages students to speak directly with faculty regarding course content and performance. Students are also encouraged to speak with their parent(s), particularly if the student remains dependent on parent(s) for financial support. Faculty may choose to speak with parents, but generally, faculty will require a written FERPA waiver to be signed by the student before speaking with a student’s parent. FERPA waivers may be found at the Registrar’s Office in Teachout-Price, or online at http://www.hiram.edu/current/offices/registrar/ferpa2.html.