Email: phopkins@sas.edu.sg
There is a link to each day's lesson on this page. The calendar contains information about homework, assignments that are due, and class resources (videos, slideshows, and related readings and podcasts). It also has information about what we'll be doing each day. Click here to access the syllabus and get details about extra-help and peer tutoring and here to see a list of videos that will help you improve your study skills. And click here to see a list of economics related videos.Click here to see the syllabus and get details about extra-help and peer tutoring.
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
August 13/14: Introduction to AP Economics and the Circular Flow Model
Expectations: First, we will discuss the course and our expectations.
Simulation: We will do a class simulation to highlight some important concepts related to the study of economics.
August 15/19: Economic Systems and the Production Possibilities Model
August 20/21: Comparative Advantage
August 22/23: Summative Quiz
August 26/27: RTI (Review, Tutorial, Inquiry)
August 28/29: Unit 1 Test
INQUIRY: DO WE REALLY BEHAVE RATIONALLY?
Before listening: Brainstorm some narrow (supporting questions) that must be answered before the broader question (above) can be addressed.
After listening: Brainstorm some questions that arose in your mind as you watched and listened. Try to write them so that they are broad and open, like the question above.
If you found this interesting: Listen to this podcast about SOCIAL NUDGES. As you will have learned from listening to Ariely's Ted Talk, we do not always behave rationally. Nobel Prize winning economist Richard Thaler suggests that irrational behavior can be partially addressed through employing social nudges like the ones discussed in the podcast.
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
August 30/September 2 (Two formatives today): Demand and Utility Maximization
September 3/4: Supply
September 5/6: Equilibrium and Elasticities
September 10/11: Role of Government and Market Efficiency (Price Controls, Taxes and Subsidies)
September 12/13: Summative Quiz
September 16/17: RTI (Review, Tutorial, Inquiry)
September 18/19: Unit 2 Test
INQUIRY: ARE WE ACTUALLY IN CONTROL OF OUR OWN CHOICES?
After watching/listening/reading: Brainstorm three supporting questions that you could use to help you answer the question above.
Then: For each supporting question identify one source that helps you to answer it. Be able to explain how it relates to the supporting question and why you consider it a reliable source.
September 20 (Exchange)/23: Costs of Production (Short-run)
September 24/25: Perfect Competition in the Short-run
September 26/27: Long-run Costs and Perfect Competition in the Long-run
September 30/October 1: Summative Quiz
October 2/3: RTI (Review, Tutorial, Inquiry)
October 4/7: Unit 3 Test
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 1): For the rest of the semester you will be working on a project in which you attempt to design an inquiry of your own.
Read through these sample inquiries. Your project should be structured the same way (Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Happiness, Free Trade, Gender Wage Gap, Great Recession, Johnson and Reagan, Labor Market).
Develop a compelling question, one that is open (there is not one correct answer), broad (can be analyzed from a variety of perspectives), and debatable. Use the questions from Unit 1 and Unit 2 and those in the linked inquiries in (1) above as models.
Develop three supporting questions that must be answered in order for you to answer your compelling question.
Find three sources that could be used to answer/analyze your first supporting question.
Using the three sources from (4) above, write a brief response to your first supporting question.
Submit all of this work in the dropbox. Call the document "Inquiry Project".
EXTENSION: If you found this unit interesting, you might want to check out the resources below.
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
October 8/9: Pure Monopoly
October 10/11 (IASAS): Price Discrimination and Regulating Monopoly
October 21/22 (IASAS): Monopolistic Competition (Class before Fall Break)
October 23/24: Collusive Oligopoly and the Prisoners Dilemma (Class after Fall Break)
October 31/November 1: Non-collusive Oligopoly and Kinked Demand Theory
November 4/5: Summative Quiz
November 6/7: RTI (Review, Tutorial, Inquiry)
November 8/11 (IASAS MUN): Unit 4 Test
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 2): Supporting question #2
Continue your project on the same "Inquiry Project" document that you started last unit.
Find three sources that could be used to answer/analyze your second supporting question.
Using the three sources from above, write a brief response to your second supporting question.
EXTENSION: If you found this unit interesting, you might want to check out the resources below.
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
November 12/13: Supply and Demand for Resources and Allocating Multiple Inputs
November 14/15: Perfectly Competitive Labor Markets
November 18/19: Monopsony and Unions
November 20/21: Summative Quiz
November 22/25: Unit 5 Test
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 3): Supporting question #3
Continue your project on the same "Inquiry Project" document that you began in Unit 4.
Find three sources that could be used to answer/analyze your third supporting question.
Using the three sources from above, write a brief response to your third supporting question.
EXTENSION: If you found this unit interesting, you might want to check out the resources below related to this question (Is Amazon a book monopsony and is its market power a good thing?)
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
November 26/27 (Early Release): Negative and Positive Externalities (Day before Thanksgiving Break)
December 2/3: Public Goods and Common Resources
December 4/5: Distribution of Income and Taxes and Asymmetric Information
December 6/9: Summative Quiz
December 10/11: Unit 6 Test
December 12/13: RTI (Exam Review)
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 4): Final Product Due sometime before exams begin (December 15). Bring all your work together in a new document called "Inquiry Project Final." It should be organized in exactly the same way as the linked inquiries you used as examples in Unit 3.
Capital in the 21st Century (optional): Listen to these podcasts to learn more about the debate over inequality.
Vaccinations: If you find the idea of positive externalities interesting, watch this video.
Semester Exam
December 16: A1 and A2 semester exams
December 17: B1 and B2 semester exams
December 18: A3 and A4 semester exams
December 19: B3 and B4 semester exams
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
January 14: This summary of 20th Century macroeconomic theory is good background for everything we do this semester. It was written by Paul Krugman, a Nobel Laureate. Give it a read if you have time.
January 16: Business Cycles and GDP
January 21: Unemployment
January 23: Inflation (including costs of inflation)
January 25: Summative Quiz (Extra practice docs: Calculating GDP, Unemployment, and Inflation)
January 29: RTI (Review, Tutorial, Inquiry)
January 31 (IASAS): Unit 7 Test
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 1): This semester you will be working on a new inquiry project. The process is the same as it was first semester.
Develop a compelling question, one that is open (there is not one correct answer), broad (can be analyzed from a variety of perspectives), and debatable. Use the questions from Unit 1 and Unit 2 and those in the linked inquiries in (1) above as models.
Develop three supporting questions that must be answered in order for you to answer your compelling question.
Find three sources that could be used to answer/analyze your first supporting question.
Using the three sources from (4) above, write a brief response to your first supporting question.
Submit all of this work in the dropbox. Call the document "Inquiry Project".
EXTENSION: If you found this unit interesting, you might want to check out the resources below.
Read the linked article and watch the linked video on "ghost cities" in China
Listen to this podcast (Freakonomics Podcast on the Shadow Economy).
Official measures of GDP do not capture much of the activity that goes on in the economy. Much of what is missed takes place in black (illegal) markets or is just never reported to the government. This Freakonomics podcast discusses these activities.
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
February 7: Aggregate Demand
February 11: Aggregate Supply
February 13 (Class before Interim): Equilibrium in the Short-run and Long-run (Keynesian and Classical economics)
February 25 (First class after Interim): The Phillips Curve
February 27: Keynesian Fiscal Policy and the Multiplier (Negative and Positive Output Gaps)
March 1: Supply-side Economics and Crowding Out
March 5: Summative Quiz
March 7: RTI (Review, Tutorial, Inquiry)
March 11: Unit 8 Test
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 2): Supporting question #2
Continue your project on the same "Inquiry Project" document that you started last unit.
Find three sources that could be used to answer/analyze your second supporting question.
Using the three sources from above, write a brief response to your second supporting question.
EXTENSION: If you found this unit interesting, you might want to check out the resources below.
Watch this Ted Talk by Adam Davidson.
And read this article by Jude Wanniski: Taxes and a Two Santa Claus Theory
You may read this critique of Wanniski as well, if you are interested.
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 3): Supporting question #3
Continue your project on the same "Inquiry Project" document that you began in Unit 4.
Find three sources that could be used to answer/analyze your third supporting question.
Using the three sources from above, write a brief response to your third supporting question.
EXTENSION/ENRICHMENT: Was the United States government right to bail out the banks in 2008?
April 9: Free trade vs. Protectionism
April 11: Balance of Payments
April 15 Foreign Exchange Market
April 17: Summative Quiz
April 23: RTI (Review, Tutorial, Inquiry)
April 25: Unit 10 Test
INQUIRY PROJECT (Step 4): Final Product
Bring all your work together in a new document called "Inquiry Project Final." It should be organized in exactly the same way as the linked inquiries you used as examples in Unit 3.
Submit this document to the dropbox by the end of the period identified above.
EXTENSION: If you found this unit interesting, you might want to check out the resources below.
Required: Watch sections 1, 3, and 5 of this program. (Feel free to watch sections 2 and 4 if you like, too.)
Optional: This podcast looks at the same problem, the relationship between international trade (particularly trade deficits) and unemployment, through a more technical lens.
April 29: Review for Mock Exam
May 2: Macro mock exam in class
May 6: Review
May 8: Review
May 10: Review
May 14: Review
May 15: AP Macro Exam (PM)
May 16: Review
May 17: AP Micro Exam (AM)
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS