Macro­economics

Course content

This course offers an introduction to macroeconomics. Macroeconomics aims to understand the evolution of aggregate outcomes, and especially the effects of policy decisions on those outcomes. In this course, we start by defining and describing the empirical behavior of key macroeconomic outcomes (output, unemployment and inflation). Next, we develop a theoretical framework (the IS-LM and the IS-LM-PC) to understand how those macroeconomic outcomes are determined in equilibrium, both in the short and medium runs, and how they interact with each other. That will involve studying how the goods, the financial and the labor markets operate, and how they relate to each other. Last, we will study the effect of fiscal and monetary policy tools on macroeconomic outcomes. Throughout the course, we will discuss specific historical episodes to help us articulate the theoretical framework in real-world contexts, and to describe the tradeoffs faced by policymakers.