Page 1 of 4 Department of Economics
ECON 341 Money and Banking – A2, Fall 2022
Instructor: Ashutosh Sarker Class Schedule Tuesday and Thursday
11:00AM - 12:20PM, South Academic Building (SAB), SAB-4-36 Office Hours Monday 11:00AM – 2:00PM or by appointment
Office 9-05 Henry Marshall Tory Building Email [email protected]
Homepage https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/asarker1
Course Description
Students in this course learn the roles that money, financial markets, financial institutions, central banks, and governments play in an economy. Furthermore, students learn how money affects key economic variables such as interest rates, inflation, output, and the banking system.
Course Objectives
Students who successfully complete this course
1. Learn about the fundamentals of money and banking;
2. Analyze and discuss the basics of money and banking, financial institutions, and monetary policy from a Canadian perspective;
3. Gain a better understanding of how financial markets interact with the real economy; and 4. Learn about asymmetric information in financial markets and potential policy solutions.
Prerequisites
ECON 282 or equivalent. Students may not receive credit for both ECON 341 and FIN 414.
Texts and Readings
Mishkin, F. S., Serletis, A. 2023. The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial markets (8th Canadian edition). The instructor will use the book from the 8th edition.
Students who choose to have an old edition may need to compare it with the new one to find out the differences at their own discretion. MyEconLab or MyLab Economics is not used.
The e-Class platform will provide sample evaluative material.
Page 2 of 4 Course Outline and Readings
The instructor may change and reorganize the readings as the semester progresses.
Evaluation
Mid-Term I (W5): 20% (In-person, closed book) Mid-Term II (W9): 20% (in-person, closed book)
Final Exam: 60% (TBA) (in-person, closed book)
Students are required to bring student IDs to all in-person tests and exams.
Week Text
reading
Topic W 1 (Sept 01)
Chapter 1 Why Study Money, Banking, and Financial Markets?
W 2 (Sept 05 - 09) Chapter 2 An Overview of the Financial System W 3 (Sept 12 - 16) Chapter 3 What is Money?
W 4 (Sept 19 - 23) Chapter 4 The Meaning of Interest Rates W 5 (Sept 26 - 30)
Mid-Term I
(Thursday Sept 29)
Chapter 5
The Behavior of Interest Rates
W 6 (Oct 03 - 07) Chapter 6 The Risk and Term Structure of Interest Rates W 7 (Oct 10 - 14) Chapter 7 The Stock Market, the Theory of Rational
Expectations, and Efficient Market Hypothesis W 8 (Oct 17 - 21) Chapter 8 An Economic Analysis of Financial Structure W 9 (Oct 24 - 28)
Mid-Term II (Thursday Oct 27)
Chapter 11 Financial Crises
W 10 (Oct 31 - Nov 04) Chapter 12 Banking and Management of Financial Institutions
W 11 (Nov 14 - 18) Chapter 13 Risk Management with Financial Derivatives W 12 (Nov 21 - 25) Chapter 15 The Money Supply Process
W 13 (Nov 28 - Dec 02) Chapter 16 Tools of Monetary Policy
W 14 (Dec 05 - 08) Chapter 17 The Conduct of Monetary Policy: Strategy and Tactics
Page 3 of 4 Mid-Terms
The midterms will evaluate students’ comprehension of the readings and class lectures.
Students who are unable to write the first midterm for an approved reason will have the weight assigned to the second midterm. Students who miss the second midterm for an approved reason will have the weight assigned to the final. Missing both midterms results in students being unable to write the final.
Mid-Term I: Covers all material from the text, lectures, and slide presentations from W1 to W4. The test starts at 11:05AM and ends at 11:35AM, Thursday, 29 Sept 2022 (W5). This is an in-person and closed book test, comprising narrative questions. We cannot arrange an online test.
Mid-Term II: Covers all material from the text, lectures, and slide presentations from W5 to W8. The test starts at 11:05AM and ends at 11:35AM, Thursday, 27 Oct 2022 (W9). This is an in-person and closed book test, comprising narrative questions. We cannot arrange an online test.
Final Exam
The final exam will be 2 hours in length. The exam is cumulative and covers all course material covered during the semester (i.e., from W1 to W14). This is an in-person and closed book exam. We cannot arrange an online final exam. Students are advised to confirm the final exam date when the university finalizes exam dates. Students who miss the final exam must receive faculty permission to defer it.
Deferred Exam
Usually held two weeks after the final exam. Students who miss the final exam must receive faculty permission to defer the exam. Academic Regulations state that a deferred exam will not be approved if a student “(i) has not been in regular attendance where attendance and/or participation are required, and/or, (ii) excluding the final exam, has completed less than half of the assigned work.”
Final Grades Calculation
Throughout the semester, the students will obtain raw marks for each evaluation component.
Following the final exam, students will receive letter grades consistent with the final distribution of the total marks. Final grades will be assigned based on both absolute and relative performance.
University Notices
• Resources that students may want to access are available at http://www.ualberta.ca/current-students
o Accessibility Resources: If you have a condition that may require some classroom or exam modifications, please contact Accessibility Resources to obtain a determination as to what accommodations should be made.
Page 4 of 4 o Academic Success Centre: The Academic Success Centre offers a variety of learning
resources, including a variety of workshops in learning effective study and exam strategies.
o Centre for Writers: The Centre for Writers offers free one-on-one writing coaching to all students. Students can request consultation for a writing project at any stage of development.
• “Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.”
• “The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour [https://www.ualberta.ca/governance/resources/policies-standards-and-codes-of-
conduct/code-of-student-behaviour.html ] and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in the suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.”
• Other Statements
o Territorial Statement: “The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.”
o Learning and working environment: The Faculty of Arts is committed to ensuring that all students, faculty and staff are able to work and study in an environment that is safe and free from discrimination and harassment. It does not tolerate behaviour that undermines that environment.
o Sexual Violence Policy: It is the policy of the University of Alberta that sexual violence committed by any member of the University community is prohibited and constitutes misconduct. Resources and more information can be found at
https://www.ualberta.ca/campus-life/sexual-violence
o “Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).”
