Course Description

As an introduction to macroeconomic theory, this course employs standard macroeconomic approaches and looks at the economy as a whole to gain an understanding of how it works. The course introduces the main macroeconomics concepts and topics: GDP, economic growth, national income, unemployment, inflation, the role of government, fiscal policy, the role of central banks and monetary policy, international monetary arrangements, bubbles and crashes. Students will learn why some countries are rich while others are not, what causes unemployment or what the effects of inflation are. In addition, the course includes research concerning capitalist economies since the recent world-wide economic crash.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Discuss and analyse macroeconomic events using standard economic concepts such as demand and supply;
• Connect fluctuations in inflation, unemployment and economic growth;
• Understand the goals, tools and limitations of fiscal and monetary policies;
• Understand the basic working of financial markets;
• Realize the international linkages between economies;
• Realize the existence of different historical schools of economic thought and the differences between them;
• Understand the main macroeconomic statistics, be able to work with the data and produce simple macroeconomic analyses.

*Course content subject to change