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Macroeconomics studies the economy at the national level. An introduction to macroeconomics in the U.S., Europe, and Asia sets the stage for a discussion of concepts like aggregate demand and supply, nominal and real GDP, inflation, economic growth, unemployment, monetary policy and exchange rates. Since macroeconomics examines large and complex systems, models prove useful in that they capture the main structures and can be confronted with parts of reality. That is the principle of macroeconomic research and the central idea underlying this course.
Macroeconomics studies the economy at the national level. An introduction to macroeconomics in the U.S., Europe, and Asia sets the stage for a discussion of concepts like aggregate demand and supply, nominal and real GDP, inflation, economic growth, unemployment, monetary policy and exchange rates. Since macroeconomics examines large and complex systems, models prove useful in that they capture the main structures and can be confronted with parts of reality. That is the principle of macroeconomic research and the central idea underlying this course.
Format
Although the method of instruction varies, the first session of the week generally consists of an introductory lecture. Students prepare for lecture by completing the assigned readings and formulating questions. In the second session of the week, the roles are reversed. Students present the answers to homework exercises and present the progress on the empirical project. In this project confront macroeconomic data with the theoretical models for a specific country. Additionally, two written exams test students on basic modeling tools and macroeconomic theory.
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