This is a Principles of Macroeconomics course utilizing exclusively Open Educational Resources and designed in Canvas. This course is mapped to the Learning Outcomes for ECON 2301 as established under the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Academic Course Guide Manual. This course is based on Openstax Principles of Macroeconomics 2e textbook and incorporates key components from EDUC 1301: Learning Frameworks, designed to enhance the student’s experience as well as to improve overall student learning.
The course was developed by a faculty team from Collin College as part of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board OER Course Development and Implementation Grant Program.

Greek philosopher Heraclitis said more than 2,500 years ago that “Nothing endures but change.” Forecasting is a tricky business, but this sentiment strikes us as being as safe a bet as one can make. Change—rapid change—underlies all our lives. As we were completing this textbook, the world entered a period of marked economic uncertainty that led many students, and indeed people from all walks of life, to tune into economic events as never before to try to understand the economic world around them. So, while we as economists have the public’s attention, we see an opportunity to share economics principles and the economic way of thinking in a way that emphasizes their relevance to today’s world. We use applications from sports, politics, campus life, current events, and other familiar settings to illustrate the links between theoretical principles and common experiences. Because of the increasingly global nature of economic activity, we also recognize the need for a clear and consistent international focus throughout an economics text. In addition, we have tried to provide a sense of the intellectual excitement of the field and an appreciation for the gains it has made, as well as an awareness of the challenges that lie ahead.

ussell Cooper and Andrew John have written an economics text aimed directly at students from its very inception. You're thinking, ”Yeah, sure. I've heard that before.“

This textbook, Macroeconomics: Theory Through Applications, centers around student needs and expectations through two premises: … Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives. … Students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem.

Many books claim to present economics in a way that is digestible for students; Russell and Andrew have truly created one from scratch. This textbook will assist you in increasing students' economic literacy both by developing their aptitude for economic thinking and by presenting key insights about economics that every educated individual should know.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Describe microeconomics
Describe macroeconomics
Contrast monetary policy and fiscal policy

Recognizing that a course in economics may seem daunting to some students, we have tried to make the writing clear and engaging. Clarity comes in part from the intuitive presentation style, but we have also integrated a number of pedagogical features that we believe make learning economic concepts and principles easier and more fun. These features are very student-focused. The chapters themselves are written using a “modular” format. In particular, chapters generally consist of three main content sections that break down a particular topic into manageable parts. Each content section contains not only an exposition of the material at hand but also learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems. Our goal is to encourage active learning by including many examples and many problems of different types.

Principles of Macroeconomics covers the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory macroeconomics courses. The text also includes many current examples, which are handled in a politically equitable way. The outcome is a balanced approach to both Keynesian and classical views, and to the theory and application of economics concepts.

This is a Principles of Macroeconomics Course developed through the Ohio Department of Higher Education OER Innovation Grant. This work was completed and the course was posted in January 2019. The course is part of the Ohio Transfer Assurance Guides (TAGs) as OSS 005. For more information about credit transfer between Ohio colleges and universities, please visit: www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.Team LeadAmyaz Moledina                                  College of WoosterContent ContributorsRosemarie Emanuele                          Ursuline CollegeKenneth Fah                                        Ohio Dominican UniversityDarcy Hartman                                    Ohio State University – NewarkLibrarianNathan Wolfe                                       Kenyon CollegeReview TeamSeth Kim                                              Central Ohio Technical CollegeJoe Nowakowski                                  Muskingum University 

The aggregate demand and supply model provides a comprehensive and intuitive explanation of changes in the price level, actual real GDP, and potential real GDP.  Students will employ the AD-AS model to examine short-run cyclical changes in the economic and long-run changes in potential real GDP. The AD-AS graphs give the students an analytical tool by which to illustrate how changes in several economic variables and policy will impact important economic indicators and overall economic performance in the short run and long run.

This topic may be covered after reading The Aggregate Demand/Aggregate Supply Model (Chapter 11 in OpenStax) and The Keynesian Perspective (Chapter 12 in OpenStax). Preferably, Aggregate Expenditures should be taught as the theory of Aggregate Demand. In the latter case, sections of the Keynesian perspective should be coupled with this section on Aggregate Expenditure. Thereafter, students can study the Money Market and Monetary Policy. Finally, the instructer can put together all these frameworks to derive Aggregate Demand. The fundamental ideas of Keynesian economics were developed before the AD/AS model was popularized. From the 1930s until the 1970s, Keynesian economics was usually explained with a different model, known as the expenditure-output approach. This approach is strongly rooted in the fundamental assumptions of Keynesian economics: it focuses on the total amount of spending in the economy, with no explicit mention of aggregate supply.

It is typical to see economic activity pick-up around the holidays or harvests. For example, every year, the Chinese and some other East Asian cultures celebrate Spring Festival or what is known as “Chinese New Year”.  People travel to their home village, buy gifts and celebrate with elaborate family meals. Consumption rises before and falls after the festivities are over. Economic fluctuations due to seasonal demand factors are one thing, but modern economies experience ups-and downs for a host of reasons including shocks such as droughts or economic crises. One of the main reasons for economic downturns is the breakdown in some aspect of the economic mechanism. In this section, students will be introduced to the basic definition of a business cycle, learn how to define the different phases of the cycle, and explain the different mechanisms that give rise to recessions.

The learning objectives below refer to the typical goals one would have for an introduction to macroeconomics.  Most economists consider the discipline as “a way of thinking”. The key question we answer is “how we make choices under scarcity”. However, we encourage you to consider other alternative ways to conceptualize and teach economics or even introduce pluralistic ideas into your course. For example, the CORE Economics project describes economics as, “The study of how people interact with each other and with their natural surroundings in providing their livelihoods, and how this changes over time.” The “economy is part of society, which in turn is part of the biosphere.” (Chapter 1.11). More importantly, many of the factors and commodities that give us economic growth are socially (re)produced and uncompensated. Consider alternative conceptualizations of the macroeconomy such as the one proposed in UNDP (2012): Gender and Economic Policy Management Intitiave, page 30 outlined in the figure above. The supplemental content is an excellent place to find videos to enliven your classes. Listed alternative resources can be used to familiarize yourself with material that goes beyond the standard treatment.

Looks at fiscal policy as a means to address problems in the macroeconomy. Focuses on government spending as well as taxes and transfers in the Keynesian model, as well as determinants of the level of Aggregate Demand.