Macroeconomics

The objective of the course is to apply principles of economics (the economic way of thinking, typically gained in microeconomics) to understanding the workings of the economic system in its entirety and phenomena that impact it, appear within, or are caused by it. The central macroeconomic issue is the wealth of the economy and well-being of the people in it. Besides focusing on its long-run sources and preconditions and its short-run fluctuation, several specific phenomena and concepts are tackled: unemployment, financial intermediation and money, inflation, international aspects and government policy. The intention is to present (often unpopular) economics in an intelligible and interesting way, so that its students divest themselves of the idea of the economics being necessarily a ?dismal? science. Emphasis will be laid on the significance of understanding economics for explaining real-world events and on eradicating numerous myths that plague this field. In order to reach that goal, the analysis will be applied to a broad range of practical societal issues. The purpose of the course is to introduce macroeconomic issues to students. Emphasis will be laid on the significance of understanding macroeconomics for explaining real-world phenomena and on eradicating numerous myths that plague this field.