Course Objectives: (1a) To help you develop an understanding
of what drives short-run changes in the rate of exchange of major
("hard") currencies (1b) To help you develop an understanding of why
this matters and how individuals and businesses react to the opportunities and
risks associated with fluctuating exchange rates (1c) To help you appreciate
how economic policy is affected by the trade in currencies (1d) To help you
understand the current world financial system, its evolution since the early
part of the last century and to discuss the impact of the global financial
crisis on the foreign exchange market. (2) To increase your awareness of
how important (1a) to (1d) are to financial analysis. (3) To help further
develop your higher order thinking skills.
Emphasis in this course will be
placed on knowledge, understanding, and application, especially
application. Understanding key concepts well enough to apply them is not
easy but is necessary if you are to understand why people dealing in financial
markets worry so much about exchange rates and why international finance is
such an important topic.
(2) The role of the
current account (Category I) in the foreign exchange market:
Chapter 7: National income and the
current account.
(Read chapter 6 for the role of price
changes on current account and the exchange rate).
(3) Policy and the macroeconomy in an international context (with both fixed
and flexible exchange rates):
Chapters 8 -10.
(4) Prices, production,
employment, real income and growth in an open economy.
Chapter 11.
(5) Fixed versus flexible
exchange rates. The international Monetary System.
Chapter 12-14.
Course grade
How much you are learning
will be measured through exams*. There will be two exams and a
final. Both of the two exams
will be worth 40% of your course grade.
The final represents the remaining 20% of your grade. The first exam is scheduled for Thursday
of week 4, December 11th.
*(Various small assignments
may be given over the course of the term. The points awarded on
these will become part of your exam scores. For example, before your
first exam I may give you two assignments worth 10 points each. The exam
itself would then be 80 points and your score on exam would be the sum of
points earned on the exam out of 80 PLUS your scores on these two assignments.
These figures combined would go down in the spreadsheet as your total score out
of 100 points possible for exam 1.)
Our final is scheduled for
Wednesday 9:00-11:00 February 18th 2015. Please note the following re finals from
the registrar's office:
1. No final examination may be changed
from its scheduled period except with the approval of the Registrar. Travel
arrangements, vacations, employment plans and convenience will not be viewed as
sufficient reasons to change an examination.
2. The deadline to
submit a petition
requesting to change a scheduled exam is the Monday of week 10 each term.
Requests after this deadline will not be granted.
Note too that everything is
cumulative! This means that, for example. I will expect you to remember
what went on during the first week of class when we are working on material in
the last of our three weeks together. This
is to avoid what we can call "bulimic learning". In
bulimic learning you digest material well enough to purge on a
given quiz or assignment and then it’s gone. As a result, you learn
relatively little. Not good!
Because of the cumulative nature of
assignments, if I see evidence of steady and appreciable progress in your
learning over the term, the weights assigned to different parts of grade can
and will be adjusted to reflect this. I hope this will give you the motivation
to continue, right to the end of the term, to learn as much as possible. The final then gives you the opportunity
to demonstrate how much you've learned.
A 90-100%
B 80-90%
C 70-80%
D 60-70%
F <60%
(1) Attendance. Attendance
represents the minimal degree of participation. No more than one
unexcused absence will be allowed. The key reason for this is that I don't
give lectures. I conduct classes. There is an important difference
between the two. In a lecture, a student sits passively in front of the
professor and receives the little pieces of wisdom that the professor decides
to share or "profess". The Professor is the "sage on the
stage". (The word lecture itself comes from the Latin word lectus or a derivative of the Latin legere
"to read". You have got a text and can read on your own.
I don't need to lecture or read to you. Lectures should have gone out
with the printing press.)
In a class or group (check
the dictionary for the derivation of the word class), the student is expected
to be just that, part of the group. Our group is dedicated to the study
of International Finance. My role is to help guide you through your
process of learning. In other words, my job is to be a "guide on the
side" rather than the "sage on the stage". What you learn and
how much you learn depends on the connections you draw between what we are
talking about in class, what you are reading about and working on outside
of class and what YOU already know and understand; what you bring to ECON
201. If we don't talk or communicate through writing, either in class or
outside of class, I have no way of knowing if you are making the sort of
connections you need to make and therefore learn as much about Macroeconomics
as you possibly can.
To encourage you to do what
we all need to do to really truly learn more about any subject, to
communicate, I will give each of you a large index card on the first day
of class. Please put your name on it.
If you feel that you have
made a contribution to a particular day's class, to your own learning or
what the rest of us are learning, make a note of
that contribution on this card and put the date down as well.
At the one end of the
spectrum your contribution may be something as simple as asking me to clarify
what we have already covered. At the other end of the spectrum, it may be
something as sophisticated as responding to a point raised by another student
or bringing up something from outside class that is relevant to what we are
discussing.
Turn this card in to me at
the end of each day's class. I will return the card to you at the start of the
next class. I will award points for these daily contributions. These
points will count for up to 5 points extra credit on your course grade.
As I have noted attendance
represents the minimal degree of participation. No more than one unexcused
absence will be allowed. I will deduct 5% from your overall grade for
every unexcused absence after the first one.
2.) Study habits.
Don't get behind. You can't
even come close to fully understanding what we're doing here without working
things out on your own, outside of class. This is because of the higher
order thinking skills used. In other words, there is a far more to this class
than memorizing a bunch of definitions and learning a handful of procedures.
You should try to study at
least two hours for every hour in the classroom. This means about an hour each
day. You should review your notes, takes notes on what you have read, make a
list of questions you have, bring them to the lab or to me to clarify points
you are confused about. Do this before you
have too much to catch up on. Review class material as soon after class as
possible. For more on this, click here.
Also read the assigned material
at least once before class meets. Then read the assigned chapters after class
as you review your notes.
(3) Annotated notes. Annotated class
notes are a big help. What are annotated notes you ask? Set aside one note book
completely for International Finance. Write the days notes on the sheet on the
right hand side of the notebook. After each class, go over your notes.
(Research indicates that the sooner after class or readings that you review the
better.) On the sheet on the left hand side of your notebook write out
the main formulae and the main definitions that you have worked with on
that day. ALSO IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU DRAW THE DIAGRAMS YOURSELF
("draw the graphs, draw the graphs, draw the *@#..+-!
Graphs") AND THAT YOU -ON YOUR OWN- WORK THROUGH THE NUMERICAL EXAMPLES WE
DO TOGETHER IN CLASS. PLEASE NOTE THAT I OFTEN FEEL LIKE A VOICE CRYING IN THE
WILDERNESS BECAUSE THIS EXCELLENT ADVICE SO OFTEN IS IGNORED. TRY
IT!
(4) Key to success. Clarify
your doubts right away either in class or soon after. If you are not
sure about something do not pray to all that's good and holy that I will not
ask you about that particular topic. You can be almost certain I will ask
questions over such material.
(5) Motivation/Participation.
It is my job to teach you this subject. It is YOUR job to convince yourself
that what you are learning here is important and relevant. It is also YOUR job
to convince yourself that what we cover in this class is interesting and worth
the time you will have to invest in studying. More than just showing up and
possibly answering questions when asked to, you need to think about what we're
discussing in class outside of class time and to listen to questions other
students raise concerning the material both in class
and outside of class.
Problems with a course
frequently start at the point where the student makes up his or her mind that
the entire topic is not worth the close attention it demands to master it. Also
note that while it is unlikely that you will feel that we are going too slowly
over the material but if so please let me know. I will happily give you other
material to look at. This material will add additional depth to what we are
working through together in class. Finally pretend that this class is your
first job. Just as you would need to be as involved and interested in what is
going on at work please try to do the same here.
(6) Late work: A pain for
you and most definitely a pain for me. If you turn stuff in to me on time
you have a good chance of getting it back soon enough to benefit you.
With work turned in late, there is far less of a chance that I will get the
time to look at it carefully and to really help your learning.
Bottom line, unless we've discussed it before hand and there is a good reason
for the delay, late work=0 credit on that
assignment.
(7) Basic truths:
Basic truth
#1. Much of this
material is hard. You have to put in the time and the effort to master it
(Please see above). You are not to suffer silently. Keep up with the material,
don't try to cram (it won't work) and, if you are having trouble, let's sit
down together and review your study habits. Actively review your notes,
when you don't understand something in either your notes or the text come in to
see me.
Basic truth #2 You need to read the book. I had a student in one class a
few terms ago who had stopped reading the book after the third week and instead
relied solely on class notes. His reason for not reading the book was that it
confused him. His scores however went from a 78 on the first exam (a period in
which he was reading the book) to a 65 on the second exam and a 52 on the third
exam. Ask yourself what one should conclude from this story.
Basic Truth
#3. Once you
have graduated and are in the real world a year or two a lot of this material
will become exceedingly relevant to you. Any class you take should be of
interest to you. The more interested and involved you are in the material
the easier it should be. Also note that If you pay
attention now you'll have a lot less to learn in the school of hard knocks
later on.
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Finally, in compliance
with federal requirements, the following boils down to telling you what you
should already know; if you do what you’re supposed to do in any class,
taking a three credit college level course is basically equivalent to signing
on for three full forty hour work weeks.
Therefore taking three 3 credit courses over ten weeks then=(132 hours*3)/40≈10 full weeks’ worth of
work! It’s just like working full time (except you don’t get
paid)! Life is indeed mysterious and wonderful!
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PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MORE
YOU CUT CORNERS VIS-À-VIS THE 95 TO 98 HOURS OF WORK OUTSIDE OF CLASS
(OR THE LESS CONSISTENTLY YOU WORK THROUGHOUT THE TERM) THE MORE NEEDLESS
STRESS YOU CREATE FOR YOURSELF AND THE LESS YOU WILL LEARN.