Economics
ECON 151
Economic Principles and
Problems - Macro

Dr. Gale L. Pooley, Ph.D.
Email: pooleyg@byui.edu
Phone: 496-3616 or 496-3840
Office: Smith 282-B
Section 13: Tuesday and Thursday
5:00pm to 6:30pm
Smith 222
Office Hours:
Tuesday 6:30pm to 7:30pm
or by appointment

Course Textbook
We will be using on-line resources.
Websites
byuimacro.blogspot.com

Laptops and Cell Phones
Please refrain from using cell phones
or laptops during class. Occasionally,
we may have an assignment that
requires the use of a laptop. Our class
is a no-text zone.

Adobe Connect
In the event we need to hold class on-
line, we will use Adobe Connect. You
can access Adobe Connect on your
computer. If you need to access on a
mobile device, please download the
Adobe Connect app.

Assignments and Methods of
Assessment
Grades are based on examinations
and in-class assignments. There are
five examinations, four exams during
the course and a comprehensive final.
Examinations are typically multiple
choice and short essay format covering
the terms, concepts, and calculations
of the material covered.

You can drop one of the five exams.
The exams will provide 80% of the
grade. This means that each exam is
worth 20% of your grade. The in-class
assignments and quizzes will provide
20% of the grade.
Exams 80%
Homework 10%
In-Class 10%
Total100%

Make-Up Examination Policy
Since you can drop one exam, there
are no make-up exams.

Final Examination
The final examination is
comprehensive and covers the whole
course. If you are satisfied with your
grade on the first four exams, you can
elect to not take the final exam.

Overall Grade Grade
Percentage Letter Points Descriptor
94 - 100 A 4.00 Excellent
90 - 93.9 A- 3.70
87 - 89.9 B+ 3.40
84 - 86.9 B 3.00 Good
80 - 83.9 B- 2.70
77 - 79.9 C+ 2.40
74 - 76.9 C 2.00 Average
70 - 73.9 C- 1.70
67 - 69.9 D+ 1.33
64 - 66.9 D 1.00 Below Average
60 - 63.9 D- 0.70
0 - 59 F/WF 0.00 Fail
Grading Scale

Scarcity
Choices

Make Better
Choices

Time Commitment
Class 3 Hours
Homework 6 Hours
Total 9 Hours

Think
like an
Economist

Words
Numbers
Illustrations

Economist’s
Dictionary

Who should
make your
choices?

What
do you
want to be?

Get the most
out of life

Rational
Incentives
Margin

What is worth the most?

Optimize
Tradeoffs

Tradeoffs
Mileage Safety
A 2001 National Academy of Sciences study estimated that the traffic
death toll attributable to past downsizing was approximately 2,000 lives
per year.

Economic Models
SimplifiedVersion of
Reality
Value in Prediction

Incentives Matter
Change Incentives
Change Behavior

Incentives are
more important
than goals

Consequences
matter more than
intentions

Unintended
Consequences

Macro Micro

1800 2010 Change
Population one billion seven billion 7x
Life Expectancy 26 years 66 years 40 +
GDP Per Capita Per Day $3 $30 10 x

Astonishing

U.S. Farmers
1800 - 90 percent

U.S. Farmers
1900 - 45 percent
Gasoline engines
replaced horses

U.S. Farmers
2012 - 2 percent

If you want more wealth
you more need productivity
productivity requires innovation
innovation requires inventions
inventions require ideas
ideas require people

What is Wealth?
What People Want

Wealth requires Innovation
People are the ultimate
wealth
Innovation requires ideas
Ideas require people

Get wealthy
by making
others happy

Every person
has the power
to create wealth

Because every
person has the
power to make
someone happy

What if
Steve Jobs
had been
born in
Syria like
his father?

Where
is the
iPhone
made?

Global Device

ARM Holdings
Wolfson
Marvel
Skyworks
CSR
Linear Technologies
NXP
National Semiconductor
Sharp
Samsung
Toshiba
Infineon
Broadcom
Numonyx
Micron
Dialog Semiconductor
Texas Instruments
STMicroelectronics
Silicon Storage
RF Microdevices
Cirrus Logic
U.S.
U.K.
Germany
Korea
Japan
Taiwan
China

Where was this
t-shirt made?

Ideas
occur in minds
not places

Hockey
Stick
Trends

$3
Angus Maddison
Income
Per
Person
Per
Day
20121
AD
$100

20121
AD
$3
$100
$30
World
10x
Northern Europe
North America
33x
1820
Angus Maddison
“The Millennium–Poor Until 1820”
Income
Per
Person
Per
Day

Slope
Percentage Change
Relationships
Cause and Effect
Areas

X
Y
Quantity
Price
Q
P

The
most
creative
destructive
device
ever
invented.

Make me
an iPhone.
Sorry, I
don’t have
the bits