20357 - MACROECONOMICS - PREPARATORY COURSE

This course is an introduction to macroeconomics and it aims at preparing students for the subsequent macro founded courses of their MSc program. The lectures will discuss the basic analytical tools essential for the understanding of the current macroeconomic scenarios. In particular, the course will review the determinant of the main macro aggregates (GDP, unemployment, inflation, debt and deficits, consumption) enabling students to better understand the environment of reference for firms and institutions in modern economies.

• Introduction to macroeconomics
• Measuring the Macroeconomy
• An overview of long-run economic growth
• The labor market, wages, and unemployment
• Inflation
• An introduction to the short-run
• The IS curve: the role of consumption and investment
• Monetary policy and the Phillips curve
• The Government and the Macroeconomy
• The open economy: an overview
• The great recession and the pandemic crisis

• Understand how macro aggregates are defined, measured and determined
• Explain the effects of shocks hitting the economy
• Recognize the role of Governments and Central Banks' policies in the business cycle
• Discuss which elements make macro deficits sustainable or unsustainable

• Demonstrate familiarity with fundamental concepts in macroeconomics

• Use the basic macroeconomic models to describe short and long-run fluctuations

• Evaluate the effect of policy announcements and interventions on the main macro variables

• Compare the performance of different economies

• Face-to-face lectures

The professor will provide all teaching materials (lecture slides and reading material) through BBoard 

This course is not mandatory and we will not assess student learning

C.I. JONES, Macroeconomics, W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 5th international edition. 

EAN: 9780393417333