We've only got two days this week, but we'll try to start putting the pieces together to get more of an "overall" look at the macroeconomy.
First, I'm interested in talking both about your Blog Entry #5 posts as well as the reading in Naked Economics Chapter 6 that you were asked to do for today.
Demand, demand, demand: We're starting to put the "big picture" together here in our look at the macroeconomy. Today, we'll look at flows in the economy, particularly as they originate on the demand side. We'll largely be looking at work pioneered by John Maynard Keynes. This is clearly the dominant theme of chapter 6 from Economics Explained. We'll make use of that in class.
We're going to try and work through this a couple different ways.
First, we'll literally
try and walk through the explanations from the reading. (I think this material is as
potentially confusing as any that we will use this quarter.) Second, we'll look
at a visual representation of this.
I have a handout for you.
Continuing with our "Oh, great. Economics has changed again. What all economists thought for decades is now being challenged" theme, here's a Freakonomics blog entry that questions this whole "Keynesian economics" idea.
The credit crisis as Antarctic expedition - As we get closer to having a more complete idea of our economy, it's time to start looking more closely at just what has been going on in recent weeks. I found this video by Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch very helpful. Let's see what you think. It's about 8 minutes.
HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Tuesday, November 25th
I'd like you to read Naked Economics Chapter 7, "Financial Markets," for Monday's class. (I'll be asking you to read Chapter 10, "The Federal Reserve," out of order for Wednesday's class. You could also take care of that.)
Please have your Blog Entry #6 completed by Monday's class as well. (I'm having trouble posting that. I keep getting error messages, but I'll get it straightened out yet today.
