08795 - Macroeconomics (GR. B)

Learning outcomes

The course is an introduction to the study of macroeconomics. It covers the main issues, methods, data, concepts and models. Students will be able and motivated to follow and understand the current debates on macroeconomic issues, as they are reported by the qualified press and media. A special focus will be on understanding and debating the appropriateness of the macroeconomic policies adopted in the Great Recession, and the roles of fiscal and monetary policies for the EU members that have adopted the euro. Students will also be prepared to follow more advanced courses on macroeconomic analysis and policies, should they want to do so in their graduate studies.

Course contents

Outline of the program (with reference to relevant chapters of the textbook)

Introduction (ch.1). Macroeconomic data (ch.2). Introduction into production, aggregate demand and macroeconomic equilibrium. Factor prices and marginal prouctivity (ch.3).

Money (ch.4). Inflation (ch.5). The labor market and unemployment (ch.7).

Development and growth in the long run (ch.8 and 9).

The small open economy when prices are flexible (ch.6).

Aggregate demand, aggregate supply and short-run equilibrium.
Demand shock, supply shock (ch.10).

The goods market and the money market. Aggregate demand in the IS-LM model (chs. 11 and 12).

Fiscal and monetary policies in the IS-LM model in a closed economy (ch.13) and in an open economy (especially with fixed exchange rates) (ch.13).

Discretionary economic policy. Aggregate supply and the Philips curve. Expectations and the efficacy of economic policy (chs. 14 and 15).

Inflation, seignorage and Central Bank independence.
Public debt and budget deficit, political presure and Central Bank independence II (ch.16). Coordination of fiscal and monetary policies in Europe (ch. 17). The Financial Crisis and the Great Recession (own slides). 

Readings/Bibliography

Textbook:

Gregory N. Mankiw, Mark P. Taylor,  Macroeconomics (European Edition), 2nd edition, 2014, Worth Publishers

All lectures and exercises are in power point format and can be dowloaded from the website My power presentations and all readings can be downloaded from the website http://macroeconomics-forli.weebly.com (protected with password). The password will be revealed to students on the first day of lecture.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures and exercises

Assessment methods

The students have to take three mid-term and a final exam. To pass the course students need to have a total of 18 points in the four exams.

Teaching tools

Blackboard and projector

Office hours

See the website of Hartmut Lehmann