Course 2020-2021 a.y.

• Introductory definitions - GDP, inflation, unemployment - and data analysis
• The goods market: composition of GDP, equilibrium output, investment and saving
• Financial markets: demand and supply of money and monetary policy
• The labour market, wage and price setting, the natural rate of unemployment: the short and medium-term behavior of aggregate supply.
• Policies implemented to affect economic activity, employment and inflation 
• Open economy: trade dynamics, balance of payments and exchange rates
• European economic integration and the Euro area
• The main international macroeconomic events of the last decade and current perspectives
• The macroeconomic impact of Covid-19

• Understand and explain the main macroeconomic terms (including, for instance, national income, gross domestic product, unemployment, money, depreciation, government budget)
• Understand, explain and  summarize the most important points of macroeconomic reports and analyses issued by governments, central banks and international institutions
• Identify and describe the main economic mechanisms lying behind several political issues; enrich the knowledge of topics related to various fields and aspects of political sciences with a clear awareness of their main macroeconomic implications
• Describe and explain the current and future macroeconomic implications of Covid-19

• Understand and follow more specific and advanced courses in economics and political economy
• Search, understand and interpret the main macroeconomic data, making comparisons, evaluations and basic predictions
• Apply the theories and tools analyzed during the course to understand the main macroeconomic issues faced by policy makers
• Evaluate the main fiscal and monetary policies implemented by governments and central banks
• Read/listen critically to the main macroeconomic articles/discussions on the media
• Find the sources to deepen the knowledge on specific macroeconomic issues and data
• Formulate opinions and reasoning on macroeconomic topics and policies

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

• Exercises: review questions on the various topics are distributed and discussed in class and/or during the teacher's office hours. 
• Group assignments: 
  • "news groups" will report to the class on the main macroeconomic news dealt with in the international press;
  • "macro statistical groups" will report to the class on specific data related to topics suggested by the teacher, aiming at going deeper into the topics dealt with during lectures.
  • A report (5 pages) will be assigned to each group of 3-5 students to be delivered at the end of the course on the news and data analyzed/topics suggested by the teacher/proposed by students and accepted 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 and possibly multiple-choice questions, aiming at assessing 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.

• Slides/Handouts prepared by the teacher.
• Some chapters of the following textbook: BLANCHARD, et al., Macroeconomics: a European Perspective, Pearson. 
• Suggested readings 
• Exercises