A Story of Economics: A Principles Tale

Take a trip with me in this the third and final course of this Economics 100 Specialization which is a direct adaptation from one of my courses I teach at Rice University. Specifically, in this course we're going to be focusing on Macroeconomics. What is Macroeconomics you might be asking? Well, you've come to the right place! We're going to be going over the big picture of economics- which is examining the measures we use to gauge the health of national economies and study the theories and policies aimed at improving economic health. In a nutshell, how can we use economics to make the world a better place? Through course lectures, quizzes, discussions, and problem sets, my hope is that you'll be able to digest economic news with a more discerning viewpoint, and have a more informed view about the cost and benefits of economic policy. Finally, my hope is that you've learned to look at the world around you through the eyes of an economist. By the end of this course you should be able to: 1. Describe how GDP is used to measure macroeconomic performance. 2. Describe how inflation is used to measure macroeconomic performance. 3. Describe how unemployment rates and participation rates are used to measure macroeconomic performance. 4. Identify the primary sources of economic growth and explain the observed cross- country differences in income per capita. 5. Define savings and explain the factors influencing financial flows and international trade. 6. Identify the function of the federal reserve, describe the relationship between nominal interest rates, money demand and money supply, and describe the relationship between exchange rates and Net Exports. 7. Explain the interaction between aggregate demand and aggregate supply to determine the price level, real GDP, and employment. 8. Describe the role of government and analyze policy responses to business cycle shocks

Economics and economic theory is fundamental to decision making in business, policy, and everyday life. If you're interested in a career in business, law, accounting, or investment then studying economics is a great foundation of knowledge. In this first course of a three course Specialization adapted from my ECON 100 course taught at Rice University, we'll cover the introduction to the basic concepts of microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics component includes analysis of supply and demand, consumer and producer behavior, and competitive and noncompetitive market equilibria, with applications to current policy issues. Macroeconomics component provides an overview of the determination of national output, employment, interest rates, and inflation, and analyzes monetary fiscal policies and international trade. More specifically here's some things you should be able to do by the end of the course: 1. Identify how Opportunity Costs affect economic decisions. 2. Discover the basics of the study of economics 3. Compare the long and short of economic theory 4. Link trade and national production 5. Discuss what tradeoffs nations face in production 6. Determine how market supply relates to prices 7. Compare the relationships between the price elasticity of demand and revenue 8. Discover how taxes affect supply and demand Lastly there is a book that I've written that coincides with this and the other two courses in the Specialization. You can purchase it here: https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/story-economics-principles-tale