Dear Penners: I find Terry's historical approach VERY VALUABLE. I use it too. One final suggestion -- if you can successfully squeeze in the THEORY of macroeconomics into the first 10 weeks of the semester, I like the end with three-four weeks of a LABORATORY story -- Using the last 20-25 years of US economic history, I have the students read Bowles Gordon and Weisskopf's _After the Wasteland_ which builds a "conflict" growth model and then applies it to the period before and after the Reagan Revolution. This permits one to revisit a number of issues --- the limits of Keynesianism, the "monetarist experiment" -- the "test" of R.E. with the so-called "credibility hypothesis" surrounding the strong anti-inflationary policy of the FED in 1979-82 which by all rights (following R.E.) would have resulting in a big fall in the nominal rate of interest, but it didn't! -- and finally the possibility that distribution of income and power relations have a lot to do with rates of economic growth [the BGW model]. After a lot of theory that students often find very unpleasant and hard going, the "lab" part of the course is quite enjoyable for them -- despite the radical conclusions of the authors. -- Mike Meeropol Economics Department Cultures Past and Present Program Western New England College Springfield, Massachusetts "Don't blame us, we voted for George McGovern!" Unrepentent Leftist!! [EMAIL PROTECTED] [if at bitnet node: in%"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" but that's fading fast!]
