We describe experiences from integrating a semester-long economic analysis project into an intermediate macroeconomic theory course. Students work in teams of "economic advisors" to write a series of nested reports for a decision-maker, analyzing the current economic situation, evaluating and...

The authors use quantitative and qualitative analyses to examine how well twelve leading intermediate macroeconomic textbooks would have prepared students for understanding the economic crisis and stabilization policies implemented in 2008-09. Evaluations distinguish between topical coverage of...

The author describes a classroom activity in which macroeconomics principles students actively learn how banks create money by making loans and how changes in the required reserve ratio impact the money supply. The instructor uses game pieces and money from the well known Monopoly® board game...

In the last thirty-five years, the course in intermediate macroeconomics has become more difficult, both for the student to learn and the instructor to teach. In this paper, some simpler approaches are presented to teaching the following topics: the distinction between private, public, and...

Perhaps because of the prolonged stock market boom of the 1990's most macro principles textbooks have increased their coverage of the stock market, but there is very little analysis of how the economy affects the stock market. The present paper suggests a "GDP demand-side" approach to predicting...

Data analysis and applying knowledge to real-world settings rank among key skills of college graduates. This paper shows how to completely integrate data analysis and application of knowledge to real-world settings into an introductory macroeconomics course. Every class meeting is structured as...

The present paper aims at providing a framework for teaching macroeconomics at the introductory to intermediate level. In doing this, my principal concern is to align current teaching models with the modern practice of central banking. In the spirit of Romer (1999), I introduce a simple monetary...

The global financial crisis triggered different policy responses in Europe and the United States. Interestingly, survey results suggest that there is also a significant difference in how undergraduate macroeconomics instructors responded to the crisis, with U.S. instructors placing significantly...

The present paper aims at providing a framework for teaching macroeconomics at the introductory to intermediate level. In doing this, my principal concern is to align current teaching models with the modern practice of central banking. In the spirit of Romer (1999), I introduce a simple monetary...

An online survey among undergraduate macroeconomics instructors reveals that roughly half of them were scared when the crisis erupted and remain wary that more may be in the offing. As regards teaching, courses feature much the same lineups of models as they did before the crisis. A striking...