IISER Bhopal, Winter Semester, 2017

HSS 207: Macroeconomics

Instructor: Dr. Arya Kumar Srustidhar Chand

Credits: 1

Discipline:
BS-MS programme

Pre-requisites: None
Anti-requisites: None

Class Timing: Wednesday (9:00 9:55) Classroom: L4

Office Hours: AB 1: Office 301, Wednesday (14:00 17:00) else with appointment

Piazza online Platform:

This term we will be using Piazza for class discussion. The system is highly catered to
getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, the TA, and myself. Rather than
emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza. If
you have any problems or feedback for the developers, email team@piazza.com.
Signup Link: https://piazza.com/iiserb.ac.in/spring2017/hss207
Find our class page at: https://piazza.com/iiserb.ac.in/spring2017/hss207/home
Post Conditions (on student capability after successfully completing the course):
Be able to learn basic notions in macroeconomics like gross domestic product,
unemployment rate, inflation rate etc.
Be able to understand the goods market and financial markets.
Be able to analyze the joint equilibrium in goods and money markets: the IS-LM
model.
Be able to understand the joint equilibrium in goods, money and labor markets: the
AS-AD model

Objective of the course: To teach Macroeconomics at a basic level that will help students to
understand the functioning of a country's economy and enable them to understand
newspaper articles on economic data and policies.

Topics to be covered: macroeconomic aggregates; sectoral contributions to domestic

product; international comparisons and purchasing power parity; closed and open economies
markets; average and marginal propensities to consume and save; aggregate demand; the
simple Keynesian closed economy equilibrium; the multiplier; government consumption and
taxation; demand for liquidity; the IS-LM model; measurement of inflation; inflationary
expectations and aggregate demand; the aggregate supply curve; the expectations-augmented
Phillips curve; measuring unemployment in India; external and internal balance; the balance
of payments; trade tariffs, nominal and effective rates of protection; non-tariff barriers

Tentative Course Schedule (Textbook: Macroeconomics by Olivier Blanchard )

28 December 2016 Introduction and Chapter 1
4 January 2017 Chapter 2 and problem discussion
11 January 2017 Problem discussion and Chapter 3
18 January 2017 Chapter 3 and problem discussion
25 January 2017 Quiz 1
1 February 2017 Chapter 4
8 February 2017 Problem discussion and Chapter 5
15 February 2017 Chapter 5 and Problem discussion
22 February 2017 Problem discussion and Chapter 6
1 March 2017 Quiz 2
22 March 2017 Chapter 6 and Problem discussion
29 March 2017 Chapter 7
5 April 2017 Chapter 7 and Problem discussion
12 April 2017 Quiz 3

Evaluation (as per the Institute's policy):

Midterm Exam 30%
Final Exam 50%
Quizzes 20%. (There will be three objective type quizzes spread over the semester
and I'll consider the best two out of three, each quiz will have 10% weight)

Examination Dates:
Quiz 1 25 January 2017
Quiz 2 1 March 2017
Quiz 3 12 April 2017

Texts/Other Resources:
Olivier Blanchard. Macroeconomics (Pearson Prentice Hall, Fifth Edition,2010)
(main textbook for the course)
Dornbusch, Rudiger, Stanley Fischer and Richard Startz. Macroeconomics (TMH,
Eleventh edition, 2010)
N. Gregory Mankiw. Macroeconomics (Worth Publishers, Seventh edition, 2010)