Week 15 · Readings & resources

Week 15 — Readings & Resources

Principles of Macroeconomics Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 15 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 10 items (4 readings and 6 videos). Allow 79–96 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more practice, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (18–22 min total)

① Why do two experts read one gap differently?

Chapter 15, Section “Build the schools table: each column at full weight” · Session 1, Segment 4, “The schools table” · Remember: both schools read the same gap the same way; they differ on how fast prices adjust and whether policy should push.

Keynesian Economics, Concise Encyclopedia of Economics — Econlib — an encyclopedia entry on the Keynesian column: why slow-moving prices and wages let swings in spending move output and jobs, and why many Keynesians favor active stabilization policy when unemployment is high; read the opening and its six tenets, fill in the Keynesian side of your schools table row by row, and skip the later history of the debate. It is written from inside the Keynesian tradition, so read it beside the monetarist entry below. (reading, 8–12 min)
Economic Schools of Thought: Crash Course Economics #14 — CrashCourse — a lively tour of several schools of thought, including the Keynesian and monetarist traditions; it also names schools this course does not cover, so keep your notes to the two columns in your table, and label each claim you hear positive or normative. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)
Classical and Keynesian Aggregate Supply- Macroeconomics — Jacob Clifford — a quick sketch of the two readings of aggregate supply, flexible prices on one side and sticky prices on the other; draw along, and say which reading makes a recessionary gap last longer. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
Keynesian Economics and Deficit Spending with Jacob Clifford — Jacob Clifford — a short walk through the Keynesian case for spending in a slump; as you watch, write down one claim the classical and monetarist column would push back on, and name the risk it would cite. (video, 5 min) (captions: automatic)

② Deficit, debt, and the shared ratios

Chapter 15, Section “Compute the ratios both schools share” · Session 2, Segment 6, “The shared ratios” · Remember: a deficit is a year's borrowing and the debt is the total owed; each is measured against GDP.

Macro Minute -- Deficit v. Debt — You Will Love Economics — a three-minute refresher on the flow and the stock; before you compute a ratio, use it to check which number goes on top of the fraction. This builds on Week 7's work with the deficit and the debt. (video, 3 min) (captions: automatic)
Macro 5.4 & 5.5 Deficits, Debt, and Crowding Out — ReviewEcon — a review of deficits, the debt, and the crowding-out worry; it draws a loanable-funds graph this course does not teach, so skip that sketch and listen for the argument the classical and monetarist column makes about borrowing and private investment. Use it while completing the Week-15 module overview. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)

③ Rules, discretion, and inflation targets

Chapter 15, Section “Meet inflation targeting, described factually” · Session 2, Segment 8, “Inflation targeting” · Remember: an inflation target is announced in advance like a rule, yet it still leaves judgment about how fast to get there.

Why does the Federal Reserve aim for inflation of 2 percent over the longer run? — Federal Reserve Board — the U.S. central bank's own short answer on the inflation goal it announces and why an announced goal steadies what people expect; read it as one central bank describing its framework, then note one feature a rules supporter would like and one a discretion supporter would like. (reading, 3–5 min)
Formulation of Monetary Policy by the Federal Reserve: Rules vs. Discretion — Congressional Research Service — a nonpartisan report that sets the case for policy rules beside the criticisms of them; read the two sections listing the arguments for rules and the criticisms of rules, and sort each argument into positive or normative. (reading, 12–18 min)
Why Central Banks Target 2% Inflation — The Plain Bagel — an independent explainer on why many central banks announce an inflation goal and what the debate over that goal is about; treat any figure it cites as a real-world number from the video, not one of this course's illustrative values. (video, 15 min) (captions: automatic)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Monetarism, Concise Encyclopedia of Economics — Econlib — an encyclopedia entry on the monetarist column: money and the price level in the long run, and the case for steady rules; read the opening sections, and skip the historical detail. It is written from inside the monetarist tradition, so read it beside the Keynesian primer above. (reading, 10–15 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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