Prin­ciples of Macro­economics

Course content

Course content: The aim of this course is to introduce students to the foundations of macroeconomics. We will explore how the economy functions in the short run and the medium run, with a focus on the goods market, the financial market, and the labor market. The course will help students understand how these markets operate individually, how they interact, and how they respond to shocks and macroeconomic policies. Why do economies sometimes expand—raising employment and living standards—while at other times they contract? What happened in 2008–09, when the world experienced its deepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s? More recently, why did we witness a global surge in inflation in 2021, with many countries recording their highest rates in decades? How did governments respond to these different crises, and how effective were their policy measures? More broadly, which shocks shape macroeconomic activity? How do such shocks influence output, employment, investment, consumption, and inflation? To what extent can policymakers foster growth? And can governments and central banks prevent economic downturns, rising unemployment, or surging inflation? These are some of the central questions that drive macroeconomics. If you are curious about how macroeconomists study the world, how they build models, and how those models help answer questions like these, then this course is for you.

 

Pedagogy:

The course will primarily consist of general lectures introducing and explaining key macroeconomic concepts and models. Each mechanism discussed in class will be presented within a simple analytical framework to clarify the underlying logic, while extensive use of graphs will help build intuition and deepen understanding.

See course description in course catalogue