Economics

(Offered fall, spring, and summer). In this course, students will learn the foundations of macroeconomics as the branch of economics concerned with how decision-making, in an environment of scarcity, maps onto the aggregate economy. Students will examine theories and evidence related the following core set of topics: national income determination, money, monetary and fiscal policy, macroeconomic conditions, international trade and the balance of payments, and economic growth and development. The course deals with the basic tools of analytical macroeconomics applied to the vital problems of our dynamic economy, national income, business fluctuations, unemployment and inflation, the problems of economic growth, government fiscal and monetary policy, money and banking, gold and foreign trade, and the challenge of alternative economic systems.

(Offered fall, spring, and summer). The course addresses the basic tools of supply and demand, national-income accounting, and the measurement of macroeconomic performance, the macroeconomic problems of unemployment and inflation, the business cycle and the macroeconomic phenomena of self-adjustment and instability and its implications, the economic multiplier effect and its influence on macroeconomic performance, the federal budget and the role of fiscal policy in influencing macroeconomic outcomes, money and banking and the role of monetary policy in influencing macroeconomic outcomes, the foundations of economic growth, and the constraints to successful macroeconomic policy and outcomes.

(Offered fall, spring, and summer). This course addresses the basic economic tools of supply and demand, consumer demand and behavior as measured using the concepts of utility and elasticity, the costs of firm production and their relationship to output, market structures and the production and profit-maximizing decisions of firms within the four primary market models, how government regulation influences market outcomes, the operation and role of key factor markets including the labor and financial markets, the tax system and the distributional issues associated with equity versus efficiency, and the fundamentals of international trade and finance and their influence on economic outcomes.

(Offered fall, spring, and summer). This course addresses the basic economic tools of supply and demand, consumer demand and behavior as measured using the concepts of utility and elasticity, the costs of firm production and their relationship to output, market structures and the production and profit-maximizing decisions of firms within the four primary market models, how government regulation influences market outcomes, the operation and role of key factor markets including the labor and financial markets, the tax system and the distributional issues associated with equity versus efficiency, and the fundamentals of international trade and finance and their influence on economic outcomes.

1-3 crs. Cooperative Education courses may be taken toward completion of most of the Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degree programs. A maximum of six credit hours may be used in meeting the A.A. degree requirements. Prerequisite: Minimum of 2.0 GPA, meet with the co-op coordinator, and availability of co-op work experience slot. Supervised, practical work experience that seeks to combine theories and apply practical skills to projects in the student?s major field of study. Requirements include online weekly, mid-term, and end-of-term reflection assignments.