Another Snippet from My New Book, >Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education< : Introduction to Macroeconomics

So as to emphasize my seriousness about teaching my students all of what they need to know in the realm of the liberal arts in math, natural science (biology, chemistry, physics), humanities and social science (world history, American history, African American history, economics, psychology, world religions), language arts (literature and English usage), and fine arts (visual arts and musical arts) in one two-hour academic session per week---  I am providing another snippet from my new book, Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education.  Please also scroll down to the next article on the blog (posted before this one) to read more comments on the necessity of the book, and to read the other sample provided thus far, the part on World War I, falling within an approximately 50-page (single-spaced) chapter on world history.


The segment provided below is from my chapter on (micro- and macro-) economics, specifically from the introductory part on macroeconomics.  Once macroeconomics is introduced, this part is then heavy on key terms.  Successive pages in the full chapter include a sample federal budget featuring revenue sources, mandatory (entitlement) spending, and discretionary spending;  a description of the Federal Reserve System and the mechanisms through which the Federal Reserve Board of Governors under Janet Yellen determine monetary policy (control money supply);  and a presentation of the views of three great, seminal economists (Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes).


Here, then, is the snippet from the economics chapter that introduces macroeconomics and provides key terms:


Macroeconomics


Macroeconomics is the major category of economics concerned with aggregate production and consumption, the functioning of the national economy taken as a whole, and involving policy made at the national level of governance.


Topics studied in macroeconomics include federal fiscal policy in securing revenues and making expenditures, with the resulting structure of the federal budget, thereby determining the level of national debt and national deficit; and monetary policy, requiring the release of money by the Federal Reserve System into the economic system of consumers and producers.  Inevitably, this policy responds to and affects conditions of inflation and deflation, and conditions of recession and depression.


Macroeconomics also involves matters pertinent to Gross National Product (GNP), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), standard of living, median income, and taxation as affecting workers, businesses, and industries. Sectoral divisions indicating categories of the national economy include the primary sector (agriculture); secondary sector (industry); and tertiary sector (service).


Terms most likely to need clarification are given below:


1) federal fiscal policy  >>>>>  policy made by decision-makers at the national level as to expenditures and revenue


2) federal monetary policy >>>>> policy made by decision-makers at the national level as to supply of money from the Federal Reserve


3) Federal Reserve System >>>>> the system of 12 banks into which national currency printed at the National Mint is deposited and from which currency is released through loans and transfers


4) federal budget >>>>> structure of expenditure and revenue identified by policy makers at the national level of governance


5) balanced budget >>>>> situation in which expenditure and revenue are in equilibrium (perfectly matched or in sync)


6) national deficit (federal deficit) >>>>> situation for a given year in which the federal government has less revenue than expenditure; currently is about $476 billion


7) national debt (federal debt) >>>>> accumulated national deficits resulting in total federal government expenditure exceeding total revenue; currently is about $18.15 trillion


8) inflation >>>>> situation in which prices rise because demand exceeds supply; or because banks and consumers hold dollars for which the availability for needed or wanted goods and services are not available


9) deflation >>>>> situation in which prices decline because supply exceeds demand; or because banks and consumers hold too few dollars to pay for needed or wanted goods and services


10) fiscal quarters >>>>> division of the year into three-month groups for measuring economic growth


11) economic growth >>>>> percentage increase of the Gross Domestic Product, annually or quarterly


12) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) >>>>> total value of goods and services provided within the nation


13) Gross National Product (GNP) >>>>> total value of goods and services provided by domestic companies for sale within the nation or in foreign countries


14) standard of living >>>>> quantitative measure of the ability of consumers to pay for the goods and services that they want or need


15) median income >>>>> the level of income that falls exactly at the middle in a distribution of income from highest to lowest (or lowest to highest)