Course 2024-2025 a.y.

• National Accounting
• The good market: composition of GDP, equilibrium output, investment, and saving
• The financial markets: demand and supply of money and monetary policy
• Macroeconomic equilibrium and macroeconomic policies in the short run
• Unemployment and inflation
• From the short to the medium run
• The role of expectations in the financial and real markets
• The open economy: saving and investment, the exchange rate, trade policies
• Government debt
• The determinants of economic growth
• The great recession and the Covid Crisis

• Understand how the main macroeconomic variables (income, interest rates, inflation, unemployment) are defined and measured.
• Illustrate the determinants of the main macro variables  prevailing in an economy.
• Explain the macroecomic effects of monetary and fiscal policies, as well as their role when shocks hit the economy.
• Identify and describe the main economic mechanisms lying behind the most relevant political issues
• Recognize the difference in the effects of such policies and shocks, depending on the exchange rate regime adopted.
• Describe the interactions between financial markets developments and changes in the macronomic equilibrium of a country.
• Identify the causes of the sustainability or unsustainability of the deficits (in the government budget, in the trade balance, etc.) incurred by a country and their likely consequences.

• Apply the knowledge acquired during the course to evaluate the macroeconomic environment faced by the firm or organization they join after they graduate.
• Search, understand and interpret the main macroeconomic data, making comparisons, evaluations, and basic predictions
• Predict the impact of central banks' decisions on the likely evolution of the key macro variables.
• Predict the impact of fiscal policy announcements and interventions on the likely evolution of the key macro variables.
• Compare the performance of different economies.
• Apply the theories and tools analyzed during the course to understand the main macroeconomic issues faced by policymakers.
• Evaluate the economic forecasts or views on the state of the economy found in the media and in the published reports.
• Use such analysis in many of the decisions (pricing, portfolio, business investment or hiring) they are soon called to make throughout their working career.

• Lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Practical Exercises
• Individual works / Assignments
• Interaction/Gamification

• In addition to face-to-face and online lectures, some tutorials (taught by the instructor and by the Teaching Assistant) are scheduled during the semester. During each tutorial, the concepts introduced during the lectures are used to answer questions and solve problems that are similar to those on the typical written examination.
• In addition, the instructor makes available (on the course website on Bboard) links to recent articles or blog posts on topics that are discussed in class related to the models and concepts introduced during lectures.
• Some of these readings are used by the instructor as the starting point for 'case-study' discussions aimed at showing students how the concepts studied in the course can be used to interpret real-world economic events.

The assessment of whether the student has achieved the intended learning outcomes above is conducted through complementary methods:

1. Two written partial examinations (typically, each with weight 50%) or a single written general examination. 
   • Each exam consists of open questions and multiple-choice questions. The purpose of the exam is to assess whether the student can employ the analytical tools developed throughout the course, even in seemingly novel contexts, as well as formulate a coherent and logical reasoning using the economic concepts studied in class.
   • Students can either take two partial exams (a midterm and a second partial exam at the end of the course) or one general exam at the end of the course. To pass the exam, the grade on the written exam has to be at least 18/30.
2. Group assigment: part of the final grade is based on a group assigment with final presentation. The aim of the group assignment is to develop students  team working and multicultural attitude, leadership skills  as well as to improve their capacity of writing formal reports and presenting in an effective way. Students will be asked to evaluate groupmates’ effort in the group project. 
3. Additional points may be awarded thanks to quizzes throughout the course. Their aim is to help students be up to speed with lectures and it allows the instructor to make sure students are not falling behind.They are thus strongly encouraged and rewarded accordingly.

Detailed information on the assessment will be provided during the first week of the course. 

Note, the grades of group assignment and quizzes  will be valid until September 2025.

• O. BLANCHARD, A. AMIGHINI, F. GIAVAZZI, Macroeconomics - A European Perspective, Pearson Education Limited, 2021, Fourth Edition.
• G. FERRAGUTO, Macroeconomics - Problems and Questions, Egea, April 2020, 7th edition.
• Lecture notes, additional exercises and other readings will be made available during the semester on the course website on Bboard.