Course 2019-2020 a.y.

• Introductory definitions: Gdp, inflation, unemployment.
• Aggregate demand and the keynesian idea of macroeconomic equilibrium.
• The balance of payments and the exchange rate.
• Assets markets, the money supply, central banks and monetary policy.
• The general equilibrium of the goods and assets markets.
• Short term stabilization of an open economy with monetary and fiscal policies.
• The labour market, wage and price setting: the short and medium term behavior of aggregate supply.
• The general equilibrium of aggregate demand and supply.
• Policies to control the level of economic activity, employment and inflation. 
• European economic integration and the euro area.
• The main international macroeconomic events of the last decade and the current perspectives.

• Use the main macroeconomic words (including, for instance, national income, unemployment, money, depreciation, government budget) in an appropriate way.
• Read and understand the basic points of the major macroeconomic documents and analyses issued by governments, central banks and international institutions and think tanks.
• Understand the economic roots of several political problems and enrich the knowledge of various fields and issues of political sciences with a better consciousness of their main macroeconomic implications.

• Understand and follow with success more specific and advanced courses in economics and political economy.
• Search the basic macro data of an economy and conduct elementary elaborations on them.
• Use a stronger critical filter to judge the main macropolicy discussions on the media.
• Find the sources to deepen their knowledge of m specific macroeconomic theories and data, when needed.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Group assignments

• Exercises: review questions on the various topics are distributed and discussed in class or during the teacher's office hours. 
• Group assignments: a "news group" weekly reports to the class on the main macroeconomic news dealt with in the international press; a "spot contribution group" very briefly reports to the class on special data-finding assignments or on the teacher's suggestions to go a bit deeper in the topics deal with during face-to-face lectures; "papers" (5 pages) are assigned to groups of 2-5 students to be delivered at the end of the course on topics suggested by the teacher.

With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, the students’ assessment is based on two main components:

1. In-class participation and group assignments (max 3 extra points) aimed to test the students’ ability to interact in a constructive way, to think critically and to analize the current Macroeconomic situation and perspective.
2. Written exam (100% of the final grade), consisting of open questions aimed to assess students’ ability to describe the key Macroeconomics concepts illustrated during the course. Students can take a partial written exam and complete the written exam at the end of the course. In this case the weight is: 50% for the partial exam and 50% for the second partial exam. Alternatively, students can take a final written exam that accounts for 100% of the final grade.

• Power point presentations prepared by the teacher.
• Some chapters of a major macro textbook: BLANCHARD, et al., Macroeconomics: a European Perspective, Pearson. 
• Are also suggested readings but the teacher's presentations are sufficient to prepare the exam.