C3_FRAMEWORK_SOCIAL_STUDIESAPhigh school
AP Macroeconomics
Master the big-picture forces that drive entire economies -- GDP, inflation, unemployment, the Fed, fiscal policy, exchange rates, and the Phillips Curve. Every unit is aligned to the College Board AP Macroeconomics CED so you practice exactly the model-reasoning and policy-analysis skills the exam tests.
6units
19topics
257questions
~6hours
Course Units
Learning objectives
- Explain scarcity and its implications for economic decision-making
- Calculate and interpret opportunity cost using production possibilities curves
- Distinguish between absolute and comparative advantage and apply them to trade scenarios
- Describe how different economic systems (market, command, mixed) allocate resources
- Apply marginal analysis to explain rational decision-making at the margin
Topics in this unit
Learning objectives
- Calculate GDP using expenditure and income approaches
- Distinguish between real and nominal GDP using the GDP deflator
- Calculate and interpret inflation rates using CPI and GDP deflator
- Classify types of unemployment (frictional, structural, cyclical) and define the natural rate
- Identify and describe phases of the business cycle and connect them to output gaps
Topics in this unit
Learning objectives
- Explain the components and determinants of aggregate demand
- Distinguish between short-run and long-run aggregate supply and their shifters
- Analyze how demand and supply shocks affect equilibrium output and price level
- Explain the self-correcting mechanism and long-run adjustment to full employment
- Calculate the spending multiplier and tax multiplier and apply them to fiscal policy scenarios
- Distinguish between automatic stabilizers and discretionary fiscal policy
- Evaluate the tradeoffs of deficit spending and the national debt
Learning objectives
- Explain the functions of money and the money creation process through fractional reserve banking
- Calculate the money multiplier from the reserve requirement
- Describe the tools of monetary policy (open market operations, reserve requirements, discount rate, interest on reserves)
- Analyze the money market model and how the Fed targets the federal funds rate
- Analyze the loanable funds market and distinguish nominal from real interest rates
- Evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of monetary policy in different economic conditions
Topics in this unit
Learning objectives
- Explain the short-run Phillips Curve and the tradeoff between inflation and unemployment
- Explain the long-run Phillips Curve and why it is vertical at the natural rate of unemployment
- Analyze how changes in inflation expectations shift the short-run Phillips Curve
- Evaluate the long-run effects of fiscal and monetary policy on output and price level
- Explain crowding out and its impact on private investment and long-run growth
- Analyze the determinants of economic growth (physical capital, human capital, technology, natural resources)
- Evaluate the long-run sustainability of deficits and debt
Learning objectives
- Analyze the balance of payments accounts (current account and financial account) and explain why they must balance
- Explain how exchange rates are determined in the foreign exchange market
- Analyze how changes in net exports and capital flows affect exchange rates
- Connect domestic fiscal and monetary policy to international capital flows and exchange rates
- Evaluate the effects of trade barriers and free trade agreements on domestic welfare