88065 - MACROECONOMICS

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The goal is to develop a relatively advanced basis for an understanding of how the national and global economies work at the aggregate level, and how production, employment, prices and interest rates are determined. We will develop the theoretical foundations to analyze the business cycle (why economic activity fluctuates), long run economic growth (why some countries are rich and other poor, why some countries are growing and other stagnating), financial crisis and recessions as well as how fiscal, monetary, and economic policy in general affect economic activity. Great emphasis will be devoted to learn how financial markets work and to study elements of international economics.

Contenuti

Stylized facts

Solow growth model and endogenous growth

Households’ consumption and saving decisions

Labor and leisure

Investment

General equilibrium

Asset prices

Money and inflation

Business cycle facts and models

Fiscal and monetary policy

Financial frictions and crises

Testi/Bibliografia

"A Course in Modern Macroeconomics", 2020, by Pablo Kurlat, Independtly published, is the main textbook

Additional material:  

"Debt, deleveraging, and the liquidity trap: A Fisher-Minsky-Koo approach", 2012, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 127, Issue 3, Pages 1469–1513

Metodi didattici

Lectures and recitations, complemented by supporting material.

Attendance of both lectures and recitations is strongly recommended.

Knowledge of Microeconomics is strongly recommended to take this course.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Assessment will take place through written exams (no oral exams). During the semester, students will have the opportunity to take two partial exams (the final grade is the average of the two partials). Full exams can cover material from any topic. Students can reject an exam pass grade only once.

The maximum possible score in the class is 30 cum laude, in case all answers are correct, complete and formally rigorous.

The grade distribution is as follows:

<18 failed

18-23 sufficient

24-27 good

28-30 very good

30 e lode excellent

In case online exams will be envisaged by the University of Bologna for all students, the structure of the written exam is the same. The exam will be run through Teams or Zoom and Exams Online (EOL). Detailed instructions on how to manage and hand in the online exam are available on the course page on the VIRTUALE platform.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Lectures and recitations.
Slides, exercises, and other material will be made available online on virtuale.
Both the book and the additional material, to be posted online, are compulsory for the preparation of the exam.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Martin Gonzalez Eiras