Course 2020-2021 a.y.

Classes: 31 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: ROBERTO PEROTTI

At least one course of macroeconomics is STRONGLY recommended. Some calculus and some simple first difference difference equations will be used.

The course deals with contemporary issues of economic policy, particularly in Europe, as such it is meant to supply the tools for a deeper understanding of the contemporary world, that should be standard baggage of any educated economics student. The first goal of this course is to discuss some of the key macroeconomic problems of out times, using a rigorous framework but with an emphasis on facts and problems as opposed to complicated theoretical models. The experience of many years has taught me that in many cases our students leave Bocconi without a clear understanding of basic terms and facts. This, however, does not mean that we can just talk about problems as in newspapers or talk shows. We want to make sure that we can le all the tools needed to study a problem in a rigorous manner; we want to make sure that we use all the terms correctly and precisely; we want to make sure that we have the right intuitions, besides knowing the formulas and the models. The second goal of this course is methodological. Most, if not all, macroeconomic problems do not have an obvious, black-or-white solution: there are pros and cons in any solution we might think of. And in virtually all cases reasonable and competent individuals have very different views of the same issue. I therefore strive to present all the main sides of the debate, instead of presenting a simple model with a simple, one-sided solution.

This is the program for the course:

• Preliminaries: GDP and national income accounting, price indices, nominal and real quantities.
• Preliminaries: interes rate and bond prices.
• Preliminaries: a basic macroeconomic model
• Money, the monetary base, and the balance sheets of the sectors
• The money supply process
• The response of monetary policy to the Eurozone crises 
• The government deficit and debt
• The debate on government debt
• The debate on the effects of government spending and taxes
• The debate on fiscal consolidations and austerity.
• Empirical evidence on fiscal consolidations.
• The exchange rate and the current account.
• Monetray abnd fiscal policies in an open economy
• The debate about monetary unions and the Euro.
• The view from Germany.
• The policy response to teh COVID peidemics

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Face-to-face lectures
• Online lectures

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)			x

Teaching materials

ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Last change 27/07/2020 13:01