MACROECONOMICS

SECS-P/01 - 9 CFU - 1° Semester

Teaching Staff

MAURIZIO CASERTA


Learning Objectives

Knowledge and understanding: The student who passes the examination of Macroeconomics will know the main mechanisms of how a national economy works and will integrate them into a single model of the system, understanding their limits as well. He will be able to connect each macroeconomic variable with any other: production, consumption, investment, savings, employment, inflation, interest rates. He will be able to do it even in an open market economy, in which the different national economies exchange goods and services. She will understand the trends in exchange rates and their connection to the interest rates. She will finally understand the reasons for the onset of certain diseases of national and international economic systems. The set of information obtained is the basis of "knowledge". In terms of education, the means provided consist mainly of lectures and exercises. Interviews and tests, during and at the conclusion of the training, will check the effectiveness of training efforts.

Applying knowledge and understanding: The basic knowledge acquired in the teaching of macroeconomics allows students to understand the facts of the economies and simulate them in little mental controlled experiments. The use of 'exercises' which are simple numerical simulations of economic systems, or parts of them, can bring out the main interrelationships and let the students grasp the scope of the discussion, especially in view of the actions needed to correct the distortions and inefficiencies. The student's ability to read the economic systems and to appreciate the evolutionary lines is also shown through reading and discussing the systems of quantitative information on national on international economies. The check of the level achieved in the accumulation of "know-how" is performed through the use of databases, critical analysis of specific cases, comments on report tables related to economic phenomena. Tests and the final exam will formalize the result achieved.

Making judgments: The set of the training activities will contribute to develop the students' judgment, namely: ability to critically evaluate the causes and effects of the most important macroeconomic phenomena (unemployment, inflation, financial crisis); to propose interpretations of different nature of these phenomena; to envisage evolutionary dynamics in the medium term; to suggest possible policy solutions. In terms of teaching, working groups are mainly used to stimulate conversations; debates on specific cases related to a particular economic reality will be also used. This will also provide checks of independent judgment achieved by the student; such checks will be conducted also with written tests and oral examination.

Communication skills: Teaching Macroeconomics will enable the students to communicate and interact with other people on the issues of functioning of the economic aggregates. The student will be able to transfer the knowledge gained in the course of teaching, applying them to the solution of the main macroeconomic issues. The student who passes the examination of Macroeconomics is able to explain the nature and origins of a macroeconomic problem effectively, showing communication skills and interaction: a requirement which is fundamental for his future work relationships. To this end, seminars, written tests, meetings with institutional figures and classroom workgroups will be adopted as part of educational activities. The assessment of communication skills acquired can be performed both during the teaching term or at the final evaluation stage, whether written or oral.

Learning skills: The study of macroeconomic phenomena can help the students develop learning skills that can be used in other disciplinary and professional fields. Conception and representation of economic systems, and observation of the interaction between different phenomena, will give the student the ability to model other economic phenomena, both at the individual and aggregate level. Among the teaching tools numerical simulations and data analysis are particularly important in the learning process. Verification of this descriptor is carried out both during the training activity (lectures, exercises, seminars) in the written tests and in the final one.


Course Structure

Lectures with wide use of graphical representations and analytical formalization. Case studies and empirical evidence.



Detailed Course Content

Introduction to Macroeconomics. Measuring the national economies. Productivity, output and employment. Consumption, saving and investment. Saving and investment in an open economy. Long-run growth. Financial markets, money and prices. The IS-LM/AS-AD model: a general framework for macroeconomic analysis. Economic cycles. Sticky prices and wages. Cycles and policies. Inflation and unemployment. Exchange rates, economic cycles and economic policies. Monetary policy and central banks. Public expenditure and its financing.



Textbook Information

Abel, A.B., Bernanke, B.S., Croushore, D., MACROECONOMICS, ninth edition, Pearson Education Inc, 2016




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