KNOWLEDGE. The course aims at imparting knowledge of the main concepts, models and analytical methods used in investigating the performance of national or regional economic systems, the role of financial markets, the interaction of aggregate supply and demand, and the relationship between real growth, inflation and distribution.
CAPACITIES. Ability to understand and to assess current information about macroeconomic trends and events both at the local and the global level, the reasons why certain kinds of intervention of monetary and fiscal policy may be required, and the rationale behind short and long term forecasts.
SKILLS THAT SHOULD BE ACQUIRED BY THE END OF THE COURSE. The student should be able to organize his/her thinking about macroeconomic or economic policy problems, with full knowledge of the implied concepts and mastery of the most basic analytic techniques.
Prerequisites
The student is supposed to have a basic background in microeconomics and mathematics (study of functions and differential calculus)
Teaching Methods
72 hours of teaching in class plus 6 hours of practice in problem solving
Type of Assessment
Written examination is compulsory. The students who pass it may choose to take also an oral examination. Topics for the written test cover only a part of the program and marks go from 18 to 24. The oral examination covers the whole program and is marked from 18 to 30. In no case students who have not passed the written exam are admitted to the oral.
Course program
(1) The real and financial structure of an economy, as represented by its system of national and financial accounts; (2) Technology, technical progress and real growth in the long period; (3) Financial markets, money and foreign exchanges; (4) Aggregate demand in an open economy (Mundell-Fleming model); (5) The AD-AS model and dynamic adjustment problems.