Course 2025-2026 a.y.

The topics covered in class include:

• The balance of payments and the foreign exchange market.
• Theories of exchange rate determination in the short and long run.
• Monetary and fiscal policies under different exchange rate regimes.
• Optimal currency areas.
• Monetary institutions.
• The global financial crisis.
• The international monetary system: the dollar dominance; the role of the euro; the Emerging Countries and the importance of China’s money and finance.

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

• Describe the main drivers of exchange rates in the short and long run.
• Identify the trade-offs the policymakers face in designing exchange rate policies.
• Explain the causes and consequences of international financial crises.
• Summarize the roles of the major currencies in the International Monetary System. 

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

• Independently analyze international macroeconomic issues.
• Compare country-specific experiences depending on their choices of exchange rate policies.
• Critically interpret articles about world financial markets from major news sources (the Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal).
• Evaluate policy proposals concerning the design of exchange rate policies, optimal currency areas, the international monetary system.

• Lectures
• Practical Exercises
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments

In addition to face-to-face lectures, we will have individual and group take-home assignments and in-class quizzes to monitor your progress throughout the semester.

You will be evaluated based on the partial (i.e., midterm) and general (i.e., final) exams, two individual assignments, one group assignment, and two quizzes.

• Individual assignments will allow you to review the material covered in class and apply acquired knowledge to solve various problems.
• In a group assignment, you can choose one of several predetermined questions related to our class. These questions do not have a unique answer, and you will have to creatively apply concepts studied in our class to answer one of these questions.
• Quizzes will take place during class. There are 10 questions on each quiz. These quizzes will test your knowledge of the definitions introduced throughout the course.
• The partial and general exams will offer you three types of problems. The first will check your knowledge of definitions (similar in style to quizzes). The second set of problems will test your understanding of the definitions and concepts by asking you a series of true/false questions. Finally, several analytic questions will require you to analyze specific scenarios, such as the effects of policy changes, or explain phenomena using our class tools.

The deadlines for individual and group assignments, as well as the dates for the two quizzes, will be announced at the beginning of the course. The assignment and quiz grades are valid for all final exam attempts.

The course material consists of:

• Textbook: P. KRUGMAN, M. OBSTFELD, M. MELITZ, International Economics, 2022, 12th edition.
• Lecture slides.
• Articles posted online.