The purpose of this study was to determine the effect on student learning from the sequence in which microeconomics and macroeconomics courses are taken. The sample for this study consisted of all students enrolled in 23 sections of Economics 1100 (Principles of Microeconomics) and 10 sections of Economics 1110 (Principles of Macroeconomics) during the fall semester, 1987, at the University of North Texas. The sample also consisted of all students enrolled in 14 sections of Economics 1100 and 12 sections of Economics 1110 during the spring semester, 1988, at the University of North Texas. The instruments chosen for use in measuring cognitive gains were two versions, each with 14 items, selected from the Joint council on Economic Educations's Revised Test of Understanding College Economics. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression on five models. Each model used a different dependent variable to measure cognitive gain. The dependent variables were additive grade points, additive absolute improvement posttest scores, gap-closing posttest scores, microeconomic gap-closing scores and macroeconomic gap-closing posttest scores. The general hypothesis that students who complete microeconomics instruction followed by macroeconomics instruction have significantly higher cognitive gains than students who complete macroeconomics instruction followed by microeconomics instruction was not verified by the main effects. While the main effect of sequence was not significant, the interaction of sequence with previous high school economics was significant in the models using dependent variables of additive absolute improvement posttest score, gap-closing posttest score and microeconomic gap-closing posttest score. In addition, the interaction of sequence with previous college economics was significant on the dependent variable gap-closing posttest score. These findings seem to indicate that students who complete a sequence of macroeconomics followed by microeconomics with no previous exposure to economics have higher cognitive gains. In addition, students who complete a sequence of microeconomics followed by macroeconomics and had a previous college economics course have higher cognitive gain than students who complete the opposite sequence.

For an introductory macroeconomics course, the discussion of historical relevance helps foster important learning connections. By comparing the Great Depression to the 2008-2009 recession, a macroeconomics instructor can provide students with connections to history. This paper discusses the major causes of each recession, major fiscal policy and monetary policy decisions of both recessions, and the respective relevance in teaching the relationship of each policy to gross domestic product. The teaching points addressed in this paper are directed towards an introductory college-level macroeconomics course, incorporating a variety of theories from historical and economic writers and data from government and central bank sources. A lesson plan is included in an appendix to assist the instructor in implementing the material.