This course aims to provide the methodological and theoretical tools to understand the behavior of the major macroeconomic variables, such as GDP growth, business cycles and inflation, and to explain past and current economic developments. We will focus on the stylized facts of business cycle fluctuations and economic growth, the determinants of unemployment and inflation. We will also discuss whether and to what extent policy can improve macroeconomic performance.

Knowledge and understanding: The course will provide the basic concepts of macroeconomics, and then study the determination of national income, the workings of the monetary system, causes and consequences of inflation and the reasons behind unemployment. We will then focus on the international flows of capital and goods and how exchange rates are determined. Finally, the course will be largely devoted to understanding the process of long-run economic growth, which determines the trend over time in income per capita around which short-run fluctuations occur. Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will be able to: fully understand the main macroeconomic variables; use the basic macroeconomics model to formulate a personal and critical judgement; understand and explain the effect of monetary and fiscal policy mix. Making judgements: We expect students to be able to autonomously understand the dynamics of the business cycle and to understand the proximate causes of the main economic phenomena, as well as the possible consequences of the most used policy interventions. Communications Skills: This course will give the students the possibility to acquire and understand major terms and concepts in order to communicate their ideas, proposals, analysis and critical reasoning in the field of macroeconomics. Learning skills: This course will contribute to develop an analytical approach to the field of economics that will be the foundation for subsequent courses. The students are also expected to develop a strong critical thinking attitude.

Introduction to macroeconomics, definition, measurement and data analysis. Production, the factors of production. The determinants of consumption and investment. The equilibrium with full employment and the effects of economic policies. Currency, the price level and inflation. The open economy, the exchange rate. Theories of unemployment. Economic growth. Economic fluctuations and price stickiness. The short-run equilibrium (with unemployment) and economic policies. The open economy in the short term and economic policies in the different regimes of the exchange rate

Mankiw, G., Macroeconomics, ninth edition, Macmillan Education Imprint

Lectures and written exercises based on the problem sets which will be made available few days before the class. The solutions of the problem set will be discussed in class. There will be 9 problem sets. Each problem set will be discussed in detail during the TA sessions. Submitting the problem sets is not mandatory. Submitted solutions will be evaluated on a scale from 0 to 2. At the end of the semester, students who have submitted at least 7 out of 9 problem sets will be awarded bonus points equal to the average of the best 7 submissions. Bonus points will be added to the final grade, but only in the winter exam session following the course. See the Final evaluation section for additional information.

All exam tests are "closed book". The midterm exam is composed of 20 questions (multiple choice). The questions are based on topics covered up to lesson 11. The final exam (second part) is also composed of 20 questions (multiple choice). The questions focus on topics covered from lesson 12 to the last one. Both exams have the same weight and sum up to 28/30 points. Students who fail the midterm, or who reject the midterm, will solve a full final exam composed of 40 multiple choice questions (up to 28/30 points). Conditional on passing the exam, the bonus points will be added (which can lead to a 30/30 grade). Students who score less than 18 in the full final exam, bonus points excluded, or who fail the second half of the exam, are failed. Students who pass the written exam can register their grade or take an oral test (for instance to aim for a cum laude). During the oral test the committee asks questions based on the program, including the solution of simple exercises seen in class. Following this test the final grade can be increased or decreased.

Interview with the lecturer, interest in the subject