20357 - MACROECONOMICS - PREPARATORY COURSE

This course is an introduction to macroeconomics and it aims at preparing students for the subsequent macro founded courses of their MSc program. The lectures will discuss the basic analytical tools essential for the understanding of the current macroeconomic scenarios. In particular, the course will review the determinant of the main macro aggregates (GDP, unemployment, inflation, debt and deficits, consumption) enabling students to better understand the environment of reference for firms and institutions in modern economies.

• The macro context and its measurement 
• The labor market, wages, and unemployment
• The financial markets: money market, interest rate, monetary policy instruments 
• The short run dynamic and the long run economic growth
• The macro fluctuations: demand and supply shocks, stabilization policies
• The Government and the macroeconomy
• The global context: saving and investment, the exchange rate, trade policies
• The intertemporal approach
• The great recession and the pandemic crisis

• Understand how macro aggregates are defined, measured and determined
• Explain the effects of shocks hitting the economy
• Recognize the role of Governments and Central Banks' policies in the business cycle
• Discuss which elements make macro deficits sustainable or unsustainable

• Demonstrate familiarity with fundamental concepts in macroeconomics

• Use the basic macroeconomic models to describe short and long-run fluctuations

• Evaluate the effect of policy announcements and interventions on the main macro variables

• Compare the performance of different economies

• Face-to-face lectures

The professor will provide all teaching materials (lecture slides and reading material) through BBoard 

This course is not mandatory and we will not assess student learning

C.I. JONES, Macroeconomics, W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 5th international edition. 

EAN: 9780393417333