Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Moduli: Margherita Fort (Modulo 1) Giovanni Prarolo (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Statistical Sciences (cod. 8873)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course it to introduce students to the basic methods and topics of microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis.
The microeconomics module aims at introducing the basic tools needed to understand the behaviour of economic agents (individuals, firms, public authorities) and their interaction in the market.
At the end of the course students are able to: (a) analyse consumers' expenditure and firms' production decisions; (b) understand he interactions between consumers and firms in the market; (c) analysing the role of public policies in dealing with market failures.

The macroeconomics module aims at introducint the basic methods and topics of macroeconomic analysis and to ensure their understanding of macroeconomic equilibrium in closed and open economies. At the end of the course students are able to: (a) define the main macroeconomic variables; (b) understand the determinants of aggregate demand and aggregate supply, and of macroeconomic equilibrium in the short and in the long run; (c) understand the motivation of fiscal and monetary policy and the role of expectations in influencing their impact on the economic system.

Course contents

The course is held in Italian. Please contact the lecturer at margherita.fort@unibo.it in case you are interested in taking the course for credits.

The course is divided in two parts: part 1 covers an introduction to Microeconomics; part 2 covers an introduction to Macroeconomics.

Each part includes 10 lectures.

The course outline for each part  is reported below, referring to the book "Principi di Economia", the sixth Italian edition of the book "Economics" by Mankiw and Taylor

 Outline - Part 1 Introduction to microeconomics

Lecture 1: Course introduction (chapters 1,2)
Lecture 2,3: Demand and Supply (chapters 3)
Lecture 4: Elasticity (chapter 4)
Lecture 5: Theory of consume choice (chapter 5)
Lecture 6,7: Firm behaviour (chapter 6)
Lecture 8: Markets and Welfare (chapters 7,8,9)
Lecture 9: Economics of the public sectors (chapters 10, 11)
Lecture 10,11: Organization of industry (chapters 14,15,16)
Lecture 12: Economics of labor market (chapters 17)
Lecture 13,14: Interdependence and the gains from trade (chapter 19)
Lecture 15: Mock exam

Outline - Part 2 Introduction to macroeconomics


Lecture 1: The data of macroeconomics (chapters 18, 20-21)
Lecture 2: Economic growth (chapter 22)
Lecture 3: Unemployment (chapter 23)
Lecture 4: Saving and investment (chapter 24)
Lecture 5: Basic tools of finance (chapter 25)
Lecture 6,7: The monetary system, monetary growth and inflation (chapters 26-27)
Lecture 8,9,10: The macroeconomics of open economies (chapters 30-31)
Lecture 11: Aggregate deman and aggregate supply (chapter 32)
Lecture 12: The influence of monetary and fiscal policy on aggregate demand (chapter 33)
Lecture 13: The short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment (chapter 34)
Lecture 14: Euro and the financial crisis (chapters 36,37)
Lecture 15: Review of the concepts illustrated and discussion

Readings/Bibliography

The course is held in Italian. Please contact the lecturer at margherita.fort@unibo.it in case you are interested in taking the course for credits

The reference book is 

Principi di Economia sixth italian edition of the book Economics by Mankiw and Taylor 

Teaching methods

The course is held in Italian. Please contact the lecturer at margherita.fort@unibo.it in case you are interested in taking the course for credits

Teaching tools include lectures, practice classes and on-line tests using the e-learning platform (see link at the course page; please note that all information on the course is in Italian).

For the course part 1 (Microeconometrics), the lecturer will experimentally adopt innovative teaching tools (such as peer instruction; see link with reference) using adequate techical support during lectures relying for instance on free available software such as Pingo (https://pingo.upb.de/) and Kahoot! (https://kahoot.com/). Students do not need to install the software ahead but need to have a device (mobile phone or laptop) who can access internet during the lectures in which this approach will be implemented.

In addition, peer education requires a great deal of investment from students as students have to read the textbook before coming to class.

Assessment methods

The course is held in Italian. Please contact the lecturer at margherita.fort@unibo.it in case you are interested in taking the course for credits.

 

Written exam 1 hour and 30 minutes;intermediate exam last 45 minutes each (45 minutes for part 1 - Microeconomics; 45 minutes for part 2- Macroeconomics).

Each exam may include between 3 and 10 questions. The maximum number of points awarded for each intermediate exam is 15 points, while it is 30 points for the final exam.

Students may participate in not-compulsory online tests (8 tests, 4 for each part; one per week between September and December) to earn bonus points for the final exam.

The bonus points are valid in case the student passes the exam by February 2019.

Bonus scheme: + 4 points if the total score of the tests is at least 38/40; +3 points if the total score of the tests is at least 36/40; +2 points if the total score of the tests is at least 34/40;+1 point if the total score of the tests is at least 33/40.

Teaching tools

Slides; on-line self-evaluation tests using the elearning Platform http://elearning-cds.unibo.it/.

Software to support peer instruction: free available software such as Pingo (https://pingo.upb.de/) and Kahoot! (https://kahoot.com/)

Links to further information

http://web.mit.edu/jbelcher/www/TEALref/Crouch_Mazur.pdf

Office hours

See the website of Margherita Fort

See the website of Giovanni Prarolo

SDGs

No poverty Quality education Decent work and economic growth Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.