Course Description

This course will cover the major microeconomic and macroeconomic issues relating to government finance. Over the course of the semester, we will study theoretical, empirical, and applied topics concerning the role of government in providing public goods and services, efficiency, government spending, and taxation. Students are expected to be proficient in introductory micro- and macroeconomics.

Economics Department Course Competencies:  

A.         A thorough and complete understanding of the role of markets and market forces in our micro economy.

(1)     Be able to identify and explain the fundamental concepts of the market system such as the role of scarcity, opportunity cost, incentives, and marginal analysis.

(2)     Be able to critically analyze, explain, and model the role of consumers in a market economy by using techniques such as supply and demand analysis and utility maximization.

(3)     Be able to critically analyze, explain, and model production in a market economy by using techniques such as supply and demand analysis and profit maximization. 

B.         A thorough and complete understanding of the role of markets, market forces, and government policy in our macro economy.

(1)     Be able to identify and explain the fundamental concepts of the macro economy such as output, inflation, and unemployment.

(2)     Be able to critically analyze, explain, and model fluctuations in the macroeconomy.

(3)     Be able to critically analyze, explain, and model the impact of fiscal and monetary government policies in the macroeconomy.

(4)     Be able to apply macroeconomic theory to understand historical and current events in the macroeconomy.

E.         Develop and apply economic modeling skills, including

(1)     determination of main variables involved in an economic problem.

(2)     specifying relationships between variables.

(3)     specifying direction of causation between variables.

(4)     recognition of interdependence and inter-linkages across relationships.

F.         Develop and apply research and information management skills, including

(1)     locating primary and secondary economic sources of information with traditional and emerging library technologies.

(2)     evaluating the quality of a research source.

(3)     summarizing the content of a research source.

(4)     synthesizing, analyzing, and critiquing information across research sources.

(5)     creating a working hypothesis using economic modeling skills.

(6)     evaluating a working hypothesis using qualitative, logical, and quantitative methods.

(7)     recognizing the benefits and limitations to understanding attained from economic methods of analysis.

G.        The ability to compute, measure, estimate, and evaluate in order to solve theoretical and practical problems using

(1)     economic modeling procedures such as concepts of patterns, functions and relationships.

(2)     a variety of mathematical techniques such as linear algebra, simultaneous equations analysis and calculus (as appropriate in various courses and major options).

(3)     empirical data gathering skills including finding and analyzing data from pre-existing data sources as well as gathering unique data sets.

(4)     charts, tables and graphs, showing the relationships between economic data and real-world situations.

(5)     a variety of statistical techniques such as averages, standard deviations, indexing procedures, regression analysis and other econometric tools (as appropriate in various courses and major options).

(6)     modern technology such as calculators, spreadsheets, data base programs, and statistical software.

H.         Develop and apply writing and presentation skills using various pedagogical devices such as research papers, journals, portfolios, posters, verbal presentation methods, and modern technology.

Required Course Materials

• Hyman, David N. Public Finance. 7^th Edition. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2002.

• Assigned articles:  Journal articles will be assigned as additional reading throughout the semester.  These articles will be available online and on reserve in the library. 

• This course uses Blackboard as a course management tool.  Besides lecture notes and copies of problem sets, I may use the bulletin board and email functions to communicate with specific students or the entire class.  It is REQUIRED that you have a valid email address and that you periodically check your email.  It is recommended that you have your "marauder" email forwarded to your everyday email address.

Office and Office Hours

• 9:00 - 11:30 TTH and by appointment

• McComsey 330

• Email: mike.gumpper@millersville.edu

Grading System

1. Composition of Course Grade:  

A traditional grade scale (100%-90% = A, A- ; 89%-80% = B+, B, B- ; 79%-70% = C+, C, C- ; 69%-60% = D+, D, D- ; Below 60% = F) will be used to compute final grades. A proficiency of 60% of all course work is needed to pass this course. Exam I, Exam II, activities & homework, the budget project, and class participation completely determine your course grade. There are no extra credit assignments, however there may be opportunities for bonus points in class. Class activities with bonus points will not be announced prior to the class meeting and only students with an “authorized absence” will be allowed to make up bonus points.

** The instructor reserves the right to assign a grade of F to any student who is absent for 20% or more of scheduled class meetings.

* There are two problem sets during the semester.  Your problem set grade will be based on the percentage of points you receive out of the total.  This will be combined with any points awarded for class activities (including discussions of assigned readings).  In addition, class attendance, participation, and overall effort in the course will add points to this part of your grade.

Tentative dates for the exams:

• Exam I: 2/23 – 3/27

• Exam 2: Refer to Final Exam Schedule

Note: Exam dates are not final and will be confirmed at least 2 class periods in advance. Each exam is worth 100 points. Each exam may consist of multiple choice and short answer questions. The structure of the exams will be announced in class. The final exam is comprehensive.

If you feel that any part of a graded examination, homework, or writing assignment has been graded incorrectly, then you can resubmit your exam accompanied by a written explanation of why you think your answer was graded incorrectly.

If you miss an exam and do not receive an “authorized absence,“ you receive a zero for that exam. If you receive an authorized absence, the make-up exams will be given Friday, April 23, at 11:00am in McComsey 329. To receive an authorized absence for an exam you must notify me at least one class period in advance and provide proof. If you miss an exam due to a sudden illness or a death in the family, you MUST inform me of your excuse within 2 days following the exam. I reserve the right to refuse a makeup exam if the conditions of the syllabus are not met or if the excuse is not satisfactory.

Academic Dishonesty

A student caught committing any act of academic dishonesty will be penalized to the fullest extent of the current university policy.  Students are assumed to have read and to understand the university policies on academic dishonesty.  By remaining officially registered in this class, students are agreeing to these policies.

The economist's stock-in-trade, his tools, lies in his ability to and proclivity to think about all questions in terms of alternatives. The truth judgment of the moralist, which says that something is either wholly right or wholly wrong, is foreign to him. The win-lose, yes-no discussion of politics is not within his purview. He does not recognize the either-or, the all-or-nothing, situation as his own. His is not the world of the mutually exclusives. Instead, his is the world of adjustment, of coordinated conflict, of mutual gains.

--James Buchanan

There is no art which government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.

--Adam Smith

Still one thing more, fellow citizens - a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.

--Thomas Jefferson

Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice.

--Adam Smith

“Economics deals with society’s fundamental problems; it concerns everyone and belongs to all. It is the main and proper study of every citizen.”

--Ludwig von Mises

The meaning of economic freedom is this: that the individual is in a position to choose the way in which he wants to integrate himself into the totality of society.

--Ludwig von Mises

The usefulness of wealth lies in the things that it allows us to do – the substantive freedoms it helps us to achieve .. But there are significant influences on our lives other than wealth and the impact of wealth on our lives varies with other influences… Without ignoring the importance of economic growth, we must look well beyond it.