Economics - EFA 3. Semester

Economics & Statistics
Winter term 2018/19 - 21 January 2019

ECONOMICS I -- Introduction to Economics, National Accounting and Microeconomics -- EFA 3rd semester WS 2018/19

Basic Information

'The assessment is a Learning Portfolio. Please klick here for more information about the Assessment and its parts
Required parts of the Learning Portfolio will be discussed at the beginning of the semester.
Klick here for further information about the presentation
If you want to present an Individual Assessment it has to be proposed not later than 19 December.

Literature:

The class is based on the textbook of Sloman: Economics.
8th/9th edition - Links to Pearson-bookshop and catalogue (for the 10th ed. 2018 you need this overview).
"Hotlinks"; News Items (for all chapters)
Helpful: access the material of the 7th edition on the book webpage.
To find other sources the University Library provides helpful tools: Economics & Business Studies.
Selected Resources - Faculty 1: International Business.
Data Bases (for example EconLit), OECD iLibrary), RefWorks, ...

Interactive Participation:

AULIS will be used for our internal communication and uploads of students.
Faculty 1: Business Sciences (School of Int. Business - SIB) European Finance and Accounting (EFA BA) EFA 3 - Economics I WS 2018/19
In class we will use Socrative for polls, quick quizzes etc. (room: pschmidt801)

Preliminary schedule:
(there will be changes to the schedule once we know the timetable and also during the class)

7th. ed.:

No	week	date	presentation	Unit - topics (Preliminary Schedule)	Material
1	1	02. Oct		Introduction: Basic problems (In classs: Teamwork about Mankiws "Ten Principles of Economics" & Part from B. Obama "The Audacity of Hope" (p. 176-184)	Reader 2018 Welcome.ppt "Basic Concepts" Economics @ Wikipedia
2	1	03. Oct		PART A: INTRODUCTION Mankiws "Ten Principles of Economics"
3	2	9. Oct		1: Introducing economics Economic systems Objectives of economic policy and political systems.	- Hierarchy of goals in market economies - "Wall Street" @ Wikipedia - See also the quotations of T. Friedman Please use the online resources, tests and case studies on the Sloman webpage (see above)
4	2	10. Oct	(no pres. 1)	Mankiws "Ten Principles of Economics" Introducing economics Economic systems Objectives of economic policy and political systems. Outlook to Part D: Foundations of Macroeconomics 14 The National Economy National Accounting, Concepts and Critiques of GDP in MÜ part: Teams' Presentation of Mankiws "Ten Principles of Economics" Introduction: Basic problems; economic systems	- Hierarchy of goals in market economies - "Wall Street" @ Wikipedia - See also the quotations of T. Friedman Please use the online resources, tests and case studies on the Sloman webpage (see above) - EconLit - OECD iLibrary: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/ - Web of Science: http://isiknowledge.com/wos Additional tools Write’N’Cite (short guide) - http://youtu.be/qObr6QoBh2c OneLine/Cite View (alternative to Write’n’Cite) - https://www.library.ohiou.edu/find/refworks/oneline-citeview.html RefGrab-It (web pages) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25yPHGyx3T4 Example from another class: Corrected Version of a Reference List
-	-	-	Current Macroeconomic issues:	(to be updated) On September 28 2018 the Joint Economic Forecast Autumn 2018 was published: Upturn Remains Robust – Amid Mounting Tensions Press release with Summary with Key Forecast Figures (PDF, 192 KB)
5	3	16. Oct		Outlook to Part D: Foundations of Macroeconomics 14 The National Economy National Accounting, Concepts and Critiques of GDP Presentation methods and strategies (What makes a good presentation?)	German National Accounting @DeStatis: - Important economic indicators & publications - current figures: "GERMAN ECONOMY (last) quarter" ( In German: "Wichtige Zusammenhänge im Überblick") - GDP to NNY and summary of National Income accounting IN FOCUS @ Destatis: Overall economic equilibrium: 50th anniversary of the Magic Square - Eurostat with National Accounts - Economic indicators at the OECD - OECD iLibrary - The OECD's Online Library of Statistical Databases, Books and Periodicals (accessible from the campus net - or via VPN) OECD-report: „How's Life? November 2015: Measuring Well-being“ Other sources of data and information: o U.S. Department of Commerce: www.commerce.gov o Bureau of Economic Analysis: www.bea.gov o Bureau of Labor Statistics: www.bls.gov o Federal Reserve System: www.federalreserve.gov o The World Factbook (CIA): www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook o For data on Europe, visit europa.eu (European Union home page) and o the European Central Bank home page on www.ecb.int o International sources include the - International Monetary Fund www.imf.org - and the World Bank www.worldbank.org
6	3	17. Oct		Critiques of GDP: SUSTAINABILITY of the economic development Global goals for sustainable development -> German federal Government +++ OECD Centre +++ ---------------------------------------------- - How's Life? 2017: Measuring Well-being - How`s Life? -- Germany - OECD Better Life Index (map)	- What if the common good was the goal of the economy? \| Christian Felber \| TEDxVienna (ME s.b.) - How can countries measure the well-being of their citizens? (TED institute) "Monitoring economic performance, quality of life and sustainability" by the German Council of Economic Experts in association with the french Council of Economic Analysis - Joint Report 2010 requested by the Franco-German Ministerial Council to Chancellor Mrs. Angela Merkel and french President Nicolas Sarkozy (deutsche Übersetzung: Wirtschaftsleistung, Lebensqualität und Nachhaltigkeit: Ein umfassendes Indikatorensystem). This report (and request) was based on the ... -> Report of the commission on the measurement of economic performance et social progress 2009 - Joseph Stiglitz - Problems with GDP as an Economic Barometer - Amartya Sen: Beyond GDP, measures of welfare and sustainability (2/7 ..) The German Statistical Office (DeStatis) publishes Environmental indicators and also an "Indicator Report 2016: Sustainable Development in Germany", also see "Wie misst man Wohlstand?"
7	4	23. Oct		15 Macroeconomic Issues and Analysis: an Overview	Balance of Payments: - Current German BoP (German) - OECD Stats
8	4	24. Oct		PART B: FOUNDATIONS OF MICROECONOMICS 2: Supply and demand
9	5	30. Oct		2: Supply and demand
10	5	31. Oct	no class	national holiday	Review: (Contents_of7th_edition.doc)
11	6	06. Nov		3: Markets in Action	Topics of Midterm: Introduction, basic questions, objectives (hierarchy of goals), 10 Principles of Economics, chapters 1-3.1 -> EconomicsExamExamples_Micro.doc
12	6	07. Nov	Pres. 2	3: Markets in Action -> Elasticity Repetition and questions Part A and B	(just a reminder: there are many textbook-resources available online)
					The Council of Economic Experts delivered the annual report 2018/19 to the German government. Setting the right course for economic policy Executive summary of the Annual Report 2018/19 Chapter 1: Setting the Right Course for Economic policy Chapter 5: Advancing Banking and Capital Markets Union more decisively Weitere Infos zum Thema: - Übersicht: Konjunkturprognosen für Deutschland - Die Vorhersagen der Wirtschaftsschätzer (Tagesschau) - http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/jahresgutachten-bundesregierung-101.html
13	7	13. Nov	(reakkreditation meeting)	3: Markets in Action -> Elasticity
14	7	14. Nov	Midterm test Pres. 3	PART C: MICROECONOMICS 4: Background to demand	External links: ERS Glossary, Price Elasticity of Demand, Income Elasticity, Excel-File with empirically measured Elasticities (xls 13 MB, zip 1,3 MB) from Defra
15	8	20. Nov	Pres. 4	5: Background to supply	Review of old exams
16	8	21. Nov		5: Background to supply 5.6 Profit Maximization	The production process
			EFA-Symposium 2018	22. - 23. Nov ALL EFA students have to attend the ->	EFA-Symposium 2018!
17	9	27. Nov	Pres. 5	5: Background to supply 5.6 Profit Maximization
18	9	28. Nov		5: Background to supply 5.6 Profit Maximization 6: Profit maximising under perfect competition and monopoly
19	10	04. Dec		6: Profit maximising under perfect competition and monopoly 7: Profit maximising under imperfect competition
20	10	05. Dec	Pres. 6	6: Profit maximising under perfect competition and monopoly 7: Profit maximising under imperfect competition
21	11	11. Dec		7: Profit maximising under imperfect competition
22	11	12. Dec	Pres. 7	(7) ... imperfect competition - Oligopoly -> Game Theory
23	12	18. Dec	Pres. 8	Review / Repetition and questions - chapters 4-7 (and also 1 (Mankiw) - 3)	Bundeskartellamt - Control of abusive practices - Ban on cartels Information brochure: Effective cartel prosecution - Benefits for the economy and consumers Curr. example: Deutsche Bahn AG to make changes to ticket sales - do you like a coffee? - Movie "A beautiful Mind" about John F. Nash - "Split or Steal" and "From Stealing to Trust"
24	12	19. Dec	Pres. 9	9: The theory of distribution of income	Some Videos "Fight of the Century" / Fear the boom and the bust - "Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem - Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two and more information like "The Tale of the Dueling Economists". Texts of the videos ... and why not enjoy Deck the Halls with Macro Follies
25	13	08. Jan		8: Alternative theories of the firm 9: The theory of distribution of income	HAPPY new Year 2019!
26	13	09. Jan	Pres. 10	10: Inequality, poverty and policies to redistribute incomes
27	14	15. Jan	pres. 11	Review, questions + outlook: 11: Markets, efficiency and the public interest	Videos about economic approaches: "60 Second Adventures in Economics" (Open University)
28	14	16. Jan	Pres. 12	12. Environmental Policy	The German Statistical Office (DeStatis) publishes Environmental indicators and also an "Indicator Report 2016: Sustainable Development in Germany". Just published: the OECD Better Life Index We discussed the topics for the exam in class. The resulting file "Contents_of7th_edition EFA Micro.doc" will be available in our AULIS group. Review: (Contents_of7th_editionEFA_Final2017_30min.doc)
29	15	22. Jan	Pres. 13	13. Government Policytowards Business	Review and conclusion + YOUR questions Exam preparation - summary and questions
30	15	23. Jan	Final test	Review of old exams Example of a final test (30 min)	Videos about economic approaches: "60 Second Adventures in Economics" (Open University)

Groups (Module exercise): The "Module Exercise" takes place every week <45-90 minutes every week integrated into our class on Wednesdays> We formed 6 groups and every group is assigned tasks for the next session and is expected to present the results (=prepared at homework)
The module exercise is part of your individual workload, it isn't marked and the lecturer won't deliver new information; he will only moderate the sessions. The tasks of the module exercise normally refer to the topics discussed in the last week(s). The numbers in the table below normally refer to the chapter in the textbook (Sloman: "End of chapter questions"). At the end of the module exercise there is room for general questions about the topics, terms, ... .
The exercises discussed in the module exercise are relevant for the exam. If the students deliver results or approaches to the solution, we'll discuss the correct solution in class. If no approaches are presented, the task will not be discussed in class but nevertheless stay relevant for the exam.

Teams: week/date:	All students / photos	Alpha	Beta	Gamma	Delta	Epsilon	Zeta
	names of students / pictures	Steffi, Larissa, Leonie, Hanna, Tjaerk	Christina, Annika, Lucas, Moriz, Jan	Kirsten, Alex, Meike, Alicia, Arzu	Florian, Patrik, Jan, Steffen, Wilhelm, Thorben	Nicole, Valerie, Jule, Armine, Dominic	Laurent, Johann, Marcel, Fisun, Bisra
09. Oct (Tuesday)	Mankiws "Principles" & - presentation in class: -> What's it about?	1-2	3-4	5-6	7-8	9-10	Obama
17. Oct. (Wednes)	Mankiw: "Problems and Applications" reminder: presentation by the teams (=homework)	Sloman p 29 (End of chapter 1 questions) 5 and 6	13-15	10-12	7-9	4-6	1-3
24. Oct. ...	Mankiw: "Problems and Applications"	No. 17 ONE example !	+ No. 17 ONE example !	+ No. 17 ONE example !	+ No. 17 ONE example !	+ No. 17 ONE example !	+ No. 17 ONE example !
30. Oct. Critiques of GDP - Measuring Sustainable Development (See also the Joint Report for the Franco-German Ministerial Council: "Monitoring economic performance, quality of life and sustainability"), esp. the dashboard on p. 27	In the Report of the "Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi commission" on the "Measurement of economic performance and social progress" (2009) the authors deliver 12 recommendations. Each team is requested to present a brief (~ 5-7 min.) summary of two recommendations --------> In the Executive summary (p.7-18) each recommendation is described in one paragraph but you are also requested to refer to the more detailed part of the report or/and other sources.	1) Recommendations 1 and 2 2) Select one macroeconomic indicator of your choice and briefly present the development of this indicator on 1 or 2 slides (up to 5 minutes) (each team should present for a maximum of 10 minutes)	1) Recommendations 3 and 4 2) Select one macroeconomic indicator of your choice and briefly present the development of this indicator on 1 or 2 slides (up to 5 minutes) (each team should present for a maximum of 10 minutes)	1) Recommendations 5 and 6 2) Select one macroeconomic indicator of your choice and briefly present the development of this indicator on 1 or 2 slides (up to 5 minutes) (each team should present for a maximum of 10 minutes)	1) Recommendations 7 and 8 2) Select one macroeconomic indicator of your choice and briefly present the development of this indicator on 1 or 2 slides (up to 5 minutes) (each team should present for a maximum of 10 minutes)	1) Recommendations 9 and 10 2) Select one macroeconomic indicator of your choice and briefly present the development of this indicator on 1 or 2 slides (up to 5 minutes) (each team should present for a maximum of 10 minutes)	1) Recommendations 11 and 12 2) Select one macroeconomic indicator of your choice and briefly present the development of this indicator on 1 or 2 slides (up to 5 minutes) (each team should present for a maximum of 10 minutes)
7 November	EoC Chapter 2 (=End Of Chapter questions)	1 (recommended to ALL students)	2	4	3 and 5	6- and 8	7 (recommended to ALL students)
28 November	we'll do task 4 of VWL1-MicroExamWS11-12.doc in class EoC Chapter 3 all students task 2 !	3-1	3-4	3-5	3-6	3-7	3-8
--	(Chapter 4 not discussed this semester)	4-8	4-7	4-6	4-2, 4-4 - use (own) illustrations for your answer	4-1	Describe the income and the substitution effect using figures like 4-16 to 4-18
5 December	EoC Chapter 5 ALL students: questions 1 & 2	3	4	5	6	7	8
12 December	EoC Chapter 6 ALL students: question 1	2	3	4	5	6	7
19 December	no homework, we'll do exercises from chapter 6, tasks: 2, 3, 6 and 8 Additionally we will discuss task 6 from the Microeconomics WS 05/06 EFA 3 (90 min)	all teams should please prepare the tasks	all teams should please prepare the tasks	all teams should please prepare the tasks	all teams should please prepare the tasks	all teams should please prepare the tasks	all teams should please prepare the tasks
NN	no homework, we'll do exercises in class -> VWL1-MicroExamWS11-12.doc	all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)	all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)	all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)	all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)	all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)	all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)
NN	Review of old exams Example of a final test (30 min)	Review of old exams, e.g. the exam of Microeconomics WS 14/15
NN	YOUR questions

Top

Links:

Links:
- WIKIPEDIA, the free Encyclopedia (english)
- Leo - Online Dictionary
- odge.de: Online-German-English-Dictionary
Links to other online-dictionaries
- English by James Mc Cabe @ Wirtschaftswoche oder auch hier Language skills: The Real Voices

Learning / Improving your English:
- See the tips on the web page of the "Fremdsprachenzentrum", especially "Internet Quellen", "Medien", and "Englisch in Bremen"
- Somewhat less actual are the English Language Resources (ELR) web site of Hochschule Bremen (Bremen university of applied sciences)
with many useful tips, among other things: "How can I improve my English outside class?" (with tips for going out: English Club ... and more).
- also useful a list of English radio stations: http://www.surfmusik.de/land/england.html
Various articles Business English in the 'Wirtschaftswoche', the author points out characteristics, pitfalls, idio-ms of (business) English ... - fun to read.
Mathematical (and statistical) Vocabulary

Economics: Tests, Quiz, Infos and more (also from the Standard Deviants :)
Economics: 2 videos (Microeconomics, Macroeconomics) from "the Standard Deviants"
Course Description Economics & Statistics: Contents Macroeconomics (Videobeilage), Contents Microeconomics (large file (1MB))
Link to the Website of Mankiw "Principles of Economics": http://www.swcollege.com/econ/mankiw/

Quotations form the book of Thomas Friedman: "The World is flat":
- For some, particularly among the older generations, this was an unwelcome transformation. Communism was a great system for making everyone equally poor. In fact, there was no better system in the world for that than Communism. Capitalism made people unequally rich, and for some who were used to the plodding, limited, but secure Socialist lifestyle--where a job, a house, an education, and a pension were all guaranteed, even if they were meager--the fall of the Berlin wall was deeply unsettling. (p. 51/52)
- ... to some degree Mikhail Gorbachev's hapless efforts to reform something that was unreformable brought communism to an end. But if I had to point to one factor as first among equals, it was the information revolution that began in the early- to mid-1980s. Totalitarian systems depend on a monopoly of information and force, and too much information started to slip through the Iron Curtain, thanks to the spread of fax machines, telephones, and other modern tools of communication. (p 54)

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