Unit Guide as at 24 July 2015

ECC2300
Current Issues in Macroeconomic Policy
Synopsis:
Issues include economic growth and inflation in a global context; international comparisons of policy
and performance; objectives of monetary policy and central bank independence; forecasting and
practical problems in policy making; financial markets and economic indicators.

Mode of Delivery

On-campus (day)

Workload
requirements

3 contact hours per week (36 hours per semester). In addition

students should plan for an additional 9 study hours per week
(general study, tutorial preparation, revision and exam
preparation)
ECC1100 and ECC1000

Prerequisites
Chief
Examiner/Lecturer

Michael White

Campus

Room 20-Chn-E.964, Clayton (formerly building 11/E964)

Phone

99052396

Email

mike.white@monash.edu

Office Hours

Thursday, 2 - 4 pm or by appointment

Tutors

Tutsi Sakutukwa; Alexis Tan

Campus

Sakutukwa 11/ W916; Clayton; Tan 11/W912,Clayton

Phone

Sakutukwa 99055195; Tan 99020268

Email

tutsirai.sakutukwa@monash.edu; hongqi.tan@monash.edu

Consultation Times

Sakutukwa: Tuesday 11-12; Tan: Wednesday 11am, 11/E865

SEMESTER 2
2015
http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/units/ECC3660.html
Note that the Unit Guide may be amended during the semester. If that is the case,
students will be advised immediately and the amended Guide will be posted on Moodle.

www.monash.edu
www.monash.edu

ECC2300 Current Issues in Macroeconomic Policy is designed for students who, having completed
the core first year economics units, wish to pursue their study of macroeconomics with a focus on
contemporary issues. The course has been designed around a series of issues in macroeconomics
that have become particularly important since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Reference will also
be made to a number of historical figures in the economics profession whose work, it has been
suggested since 2008, is directly relevant for dealing with the relevant issues but has been neglected
by many in the profession. To that extent, the course has a historical component, which will be used to
consider the topics in contemporary macroeconomic policy.
Your Feedback to Us
Monash is committed to excellence in education and regularly seeks feedback from students,
employers and staff. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through the
Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU) survey. The Universitys student evaluation policy
requires that every unit is evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the
surveys. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students
are satisfied and areas for improvement.
For more information on Monashs educational strategy, see:
www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions/directions.html
and on student evaluations, see:
www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/student-evaluation-policy.html
Previous Student Evaluations of this Unit
If you wish to view how previous students rated this unit, go to
https://emuapps.monash.edu.au/unitevaluations/index.jsp

ACADEMIC OVERVIEW
Learning Outcomes
The learning goals associated with this unit are to:
1.

be familiar with the way in which economists apply economic theory and institutional knowledge
of relevant parts of the economy to analyse government macroeconomic policy options, and to
make recommendations on policy actions

2.

understand and critically evaluate current policy debate on issues of macroeconomic policy

3.

evaluate the contributions and limitations of economic analysis for helping to understand and to
evaluate macroeconomic policy options.

Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
2

UNIT SCHEDULE
Lectures:
Tutorials:

Tuesday:
3.00pm, Room 16Rnf-S3 [formerly building 25/S3]
Wednesday: 2.00pm, Room 15Rnf-S6 [formerly building 24/S6]
Start in Week 2 of the semester.

Lecture
Topics

Readings:

* Denotes essential reading

1. Debt and
Asset Deflation

* Caskey, J. and Fazzari, S. 1986. Macroeconomics and credit markets, Journal of

Economic Issues, 20 (2), 421-9
* Economist. 2009. Irving Fisher: Out of Keynes's Shadow, Economist, 390 (8618), 14
February 2009, 78-79.
Economist. 2015. Feeling down. Deflation can be a good thing. But todays version is
pernicious, Economist, 21 February.
* Gordon, R.J. 2011. Macroeconomics, twelfth edn, Pearson, 246 61.
Keynes, J.M. (1936), The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, ch.19.
Suich. M. and Dixon, D. 1991. "Property Prices. Our Leaning Tower", The Independent
Monthly, August, 14-15.

2. Money,
Credit and
Inflation

Abel, A., B. Bernanke and D. Croushore. 2011. Macroeconomics, Pearson, 7th edition,
ch. 7, pp. 251-65; ch.14, pp 525-37.
* Brown, W. 1988. Macroeconomics, Prentice-Hall, Ch. 8 (omit pp.25-7).
Blanchard, O. and J. Sheen. 2009. Macroeconomics. Australasian edition, Pearson, 3rd
edn., Chapter 26, pp.597-607. (Skim pp. 600-602).
* McLeay, M. et. al. 2014. Money creation in the modern economy, Quarterly Bulletin,
Bank of England, Q1, pp.14-21 only.
* Rankin, B. 1995. The Reserve Banks Domestic Market Operations, in Reserve Bank
of Australia.Seminar for Teachers, pp.29-37.
Reserve Bank of Australia Website: http://www.rba.gov.au/
Go to Monetary Policy (then to About Monetary policy)

3. Inflation and Jackson, J., J. Wolfers and J. Zilinsky. 2015. Higher Wages for Low-Income Workers
Unemployment
Lead to Higher Productivity, Peterson Institute for international Economics, 13
January http://blogs.piie.com/realtime/?p=4700
* McIver, R. and Wilson, E. 2011. Macroeconomics, 9th edition, McGraw-Hill Australia,
pp.434-46.
Cross, R. 1996. The Physics of Unemployment, New Economy, 3 (1), pp.52-56.
* Jenkinson, T. 1987. The Natural Rate of Unemployment: Does it Exist?, Oxford
Review of Economic Policy, 3 (3), pp.20 26.
Norris, K., R. Kelly and M. Giles. 2005. Economics of Australian Labour Markets, sixth
edn., Pearson, pp.159-63.
Distributed Note 1 on Moodle
4. Global
* Blanchard, O. 2011. Macroeconomics, Pearson, 5th updated edition, chapter 28.
Financial Crisis Crotty, J. 2009. Profound Structural Flaws in the US Financial System That Helped
Cause the Financial Crisis, Economic and Political Weekly, 28 March 3 April,
pp.127-129, 131-135.
* Jarsulic, M. 2013. The Origins of the US Financial Crisis of 2007, in M. Wolfson and
G. Epstein (eds), The Political Economy of Financial Crises, CUP, pp.21-46.
McLeay, M. et. al. 2014. Money creation in the modern economy, Quarterly Bulletin,
Bank of England, Q1, pp.21, 24-25 only.
Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
3

5. Australia
and GFC

6. Global
Imbalances
and GFC

7. Some
Growth and
Productivity
Questions

* McDonald, T. and S. Morling. 2011. The Australian Economy and the Global
Downturn. Part 1: Reasons for Resilience, Australian Treasury, Economic
Roundup, Issue 2, pp.1-31.
* Gruen, D. 2009. The Return of Fiscal Policy, Australian Business Economists Annual
Forecasting Conference, December.
http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/1686/HTML/docshell.asp?URL=Australia
n_Business_Economists_Annual_Forecasting_Conf_2009.htm
Distributed Note 2 on Moodle
* Blanchard, O. and J. Sheen. 2013. Macroeconomics, 4th Australian edition, pp. 412 4; 439 42.
* Borio, C. and P.Disyatat. 2011a. Did Global Imbalances Cause the Financial Crisis?,
Voxeu blog, 26 July 2011
http://www.voxeu.org/article/did-global-imbalances-cause-financial-crisis
Borio, C. and P.Disyatat. 2011b. Global Imbalances and the Financial Crisis: Link or
no Link?, Bank of International Settlements Working Paper 346, pp. 1, 12 20,
24, 27-8 only.
* Economist. 2009. When a Flow Becomes a Flood, The Economist, 22 January.
Garnaut, R.and D. Llewellyn-Smith. 2009. The Great Crash Of 2008, Melbourne
University Press, Melbourne, Ch.3
* Krugman, P. 2009. Revenge of the Glut, New York Times, 1 March.
* Borland, J. 2012. Industrial Relations Reform: Chasing a Pot of Gold at the End of a
Rainbow?, Australian Economic Review, 45 (3), 269 89.
* Edwards, J. 2014. Beyond the Boom, Penguin.
* Eslake, S. and M. Walsh. 2011. Australias Productivity Challenge, Grattan Institute
Report No.2011-1, Grattan Institute, Melbourne.
Dolman, B. and D. Gruen. 2012. Productivity and Structural Change, Australian
Treasury.
http://www.treasury.gov.au/PublicationsAndMedia/Speeches/2012/Productivityand-Structural-Change
* Quiggin, J. 2011. The Lost Golden Age of Productivity Growth, in H. Gerard and J.
Kearns (eds.). The Australian Economy in the 2000s, Reserve Bank of Australia,
Sydney, 367-76.
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/confs/2011/wrap-up-disc-2011.pdf
MID-SEMESTER BREAK: 28 September 2 October 2015

SWOT VAC: 26 October 30 October 2015 [No formal assessment is undertaken]

Examination period: 2 - 20 November 2015
Link to Assessment Policy:
http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/assessment-in-courseworkpolicy.html

Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
4

Teaching Approach
There will be two 1-hour lectures and a 1-hour tutorial per week (i.e. 3 formal contact hours per week).
Students are expected to undertake private study and read beyond the material covered in lectures
and tutorials. In addition students should plan for an additional 9 study hours per week (for general
study, tutorial preparation, revision and exam preparation). For full-time students, the expected
workload is an average of 39 hours per week.
(http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/publications/qmanual)
A copy of the slides for each lecture will be posted on Moodle before the lecture. Copies of tutorial
questions will be posted by each Friday of the week preceding the relevant tutorial. Moodle will also
be used for posting the Unit Guide and any other references or communications that are necessary
during the course.
Answers to tutorials will be discussed in tutorials and there will be no written tutorial answers made
available either in class or online.
References may be accessed from the Matheson Library, where you should consult the Unit webpage.
References will be available either in hardcopy (books) which will be held on Reserve or as electronic
copies which can be accessed via the links on the Library Unit webpage.
Note: Although you may contact the lecturer or tutor with specific questions by email, the principal
means of online communication will be via Moodle, which students can access through their
my.monash account.
However, all communications to the lecturer or tutor must be via their email addresses and not via
Moodle. There will be no response to any communications by students via Moodle.
We are only able to respond to student emails coming from a University email address. Do not use
personal email addresses such as Yahoo, Hotmail or business email addresses. All correspondence
relating to this subject will only be sent to your University email address.
Electronic Device Policy
Turn off all handheld devices and put them away for the duration of lectures and tutorials.
Laptop computers may only be used to view lecture material.
(Other approaches are possible on this matter, but have been rejected as infeasible. See, for example,
http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip/archive/2014/06/08)

Assessment Summary
Within semester assessment: 25% + Examination (2 hours): 75%
Assessment Task

Value

Due Date

Mid-Semester exam

20%

Tuesday,8 September 2015

Tutorial attendance and participation

Examination

5%
75%

Official university exam period

Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
5

ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS
Assessment Criteria Grading Descriptors available at:
http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/esg/agu/policies/assessment.html

Assessment Tasks
Assessment Task 1: Mid-semester test
Details of task: The examinable material will cover Topics 1 and 2.
Time and Date: 3-4.00 pm, Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Value: 20%
Estimated return date: Within two weeks of the test
Assessment Task 2: Tutorial participation and attendance
Value: 5%
Assessment Task 3: Final Examination
Details of task: 2-hour examination
Value: 75%
Estimated return date: Official university date for release of results.

Practice Exam before Mid-Semester Exam

To facilitate students preparation for the mid-semester examination, a 30 minute practice exam will
be conducted in tutorials in week 4 (beginning 17 August). Participation in this exam is not compulsory
as it carries no marks for the final assessment of this Unit. It is simply meant to provide students with a
guide as to their progress. Students papers will be discussed in a subsequent tutorial. No written
remarks regarding this examination will be issued by the examiners.
Mid-Semester Exam Special Consideration
Special consideration applications for the Unit within-semester assessment must be submitted,
accompanied by the relevant documentation, to the Chief Examiner no later than two (2) university
working days after the exam. Applications not submitted on the appropriate form will not be
considered. You should check the eligibility requirements carefully. See
http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html
Final Examination
This is a 2-hour examination. Examinations Section will advise the date, time and place of the exam
approximately six weeks before the semester examination period commences. It is your responsibility
to find out these details. Read the examination notices and check the Web
(http://www.monash.edu.au/exams).
Hurdle Requirements
To pass ECC2300, a student must achieve at least fifty per cent in total. There are no additional
hurdles in this unit. Faculty Policy states that the final mark that a student receives for a unit will be
determined by the Board of Examiners taking into account all aspects of assessment.
Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
6

Second marking
Where an assessment task is given a fail grade by an examiner, that piece of work will be marked
again by a second examiner who will independently evaluate the work, and consult with the first
marker. No student will be awarded a fail grade for an assessment task or unit without a second
examiner confirming the result.
Note: Exceptions to this are individual pieces of assessment contributing 10% or less of the final mark,
unless the total of such pieces exceeds 30% of the final mark.
Return of final marks
Faculty policy states that 'the final mark that a student receives for a unit will be determined by the
Board of Examiners on the recommendation of the Chief Examiner taking into account all aspects of
assessment'.
The final mark for this unit will be released by the Board of Examiners on the date nominated in the
Faculty Calendar. Student results will be accessible through the my.monash portal.
Viewing Exam Papers
Students wishing to view or obtain a copy of their exam paper should consult the Economics
Department policy on this matter, which is available at:
http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/eco/student/exam-viewing-procedures.html
Recommended text(s) and readings
There is no prescribed textbook for this Unit.
Apart from the references listed on page 3, other readings may be suggested during the semester.
References can be accessed through ECC2300 site at the Matheson Library. Go to:
http://readinglists.lib.monash.edu/index.html
Feedback to you
Students will receive feedback on work in the following ways:

Informally during discussions in tutorials

Formally with the mid-semester examination
Informally if the student chooses to consult with the lecturer and/or tutor outside of class

Extensions and penalties

To be advised.
Returning assignments
Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after
receipt, whichever is later.
Resubmission of assignments
To be advised.

Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
7

Referencing requirements
The purpose of the Q (for Quality) Manual is to provide new students with practical and easily
accessible information regarding university-level study. As its name suggests, this publication is aimed
at increasing your effectiveness as a student. For many of you who have not experienced university
level study, the Q Manual will provide you with ideas, suggestions and guidelines to enable you to
achieve academic success by producing quality work, and getting it submitted on time. We suggest
you read the Q Manual thoroughly and refer to it often throughout your course of study.
www.buseco.monash.edu.au/qmanual/
To build your skills in citing and referencing, and using different referencing styles, see the online tutorial
Academic Integrity: Demystifying Citing and Referencing at www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/
Assignment submission
Online Submission: If Electronic Submission has been approved for your unit, please submit your
work via the VLE site for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal. Please
keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.
Required Resources
Students generally must be able to complete the requirements of their course without the imposition of
fees that are additional to the student contribution amount or tuition fees. However, students may be
charged certain incidental fees or be expected to make certain purchases to support their study. For
more information about this, go to Administrative Information for Higher Education Providers: Student
Support, Chapter 21, Incidental Fees at:
http://www.innovation.gov.au/HigherEducation/TertiaryEducation/ResourcesAndPublications/Pages/de
fault.aspx

Technological Requirements
Moodle
All unit and lecture materials, plus other information of importance to students, are available through
the virtual learning environment Moodle site. You can access Moodle via the my.monash portal
You must check Moodle and your email on a regular basis for announcements. If you're stuck,
confused or simply not sure how to approach Moodle, there are a number of Moodle resources that
you can tap into.
Examination material or equipment
Calculators will not be permitted in the examination room.

OTHER INFORMATION
Policies
Monash has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff
and students are aware of the Universitys academic standards, and to provide advice on how they
might uphold them. You can find Monashs Education Policies at: www.policy.monash.edu.au/policybank/academic/education/index.html
Key educational policies include:
Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
8

Student Academic Integrity Policy and Student Academic Integrity: Managing Plagiarism and
Collusion Procedures ;
Assessment in Coursework Programs;
Special Consideration;
Grading Scale;
Discipline: Student Policy;
Academic Calendar and Semesters;
Orientation and Transition; and
Academic and Administrative Complaints and Grievances Policy.

Graduate Attributes Policy

http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/management/monash-graduateattributes-policy.html
Student Services
The University provides many different kinds of services to help you gain the most from your
studies.Contact your tutor if you need advice and see the range of services available at
www.monash.edu.au/students
Monash University Library
The Monash University Library provides a range of services, resources and programs that enable you
to save time and be more effective in your learning and research. Go to www.lib.monash.edu.au or the
library tab in my.monash portal for more information.
Disability Liaison Unit
Students who have a disability or medical condition are welcome to contact the Disability Liaison Unit
to discuss academic support services. Disability Liaison Officers (DLOs) visit all Victorian campuses
on a regular basis.

Website: www.monash.edu/equity-diversity/disability/index.html
Telephone: 03 9905 5704 to book an appointment with a DLO
Email: dlu@monash.edu
Drop In: Equity and Diversity Centre, Level 1, Building 55, Clayton Campus.

Copyright Monash University 2014. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.
9