This course aims at providing the methodological and theoretical tools to understand how the economies work and to explain the 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 also discuss whether and to what extent economic policy may improve macroeconomic performance.

Principles of Economics

Introduction- Defining the macroeconomics variables. The Short Run, the Medium Run and the Long Run PART I -The Short Run: The goods market, the financial markets and the IS-LM model. Fiscal and monetary policies in the short run. The open economy: The interest rate parity. The Mundell-Fleming model. PART II – The Medium Run: The labour market and the natural rate of unemployment. The IS-LM-PC model. Fiscal and monetary policies in the medium run PART III – The Long Run: Saving, capital accumulation and growth. The role of technological progress.

All course materials are made available via Moodle, including notes to accompany the lectures, but this can be supplemented with additional background reading. The recommended text is: Blanchard, O. Giavazzi F & Ameghini A., Macroeconomics: A European Perspective 4/E, Pearson, 2023 (mandatory) Findlay, D. Study Guide for Macroeconomics Fifth (5th) Edition (optional) If you would like to gain further insight into what macroeconomics studies, we suggest looking at the following popular book: D Coyle GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History (Princeton University Press, 2014)

Teaching is based on lectures and practice session in which written exercises will be solved and discussed with the students. Problem sets are made available few days before the practice session with the TA. The solutions of the problem set will be discussed in class. Students should attempt the assigned problems before attending classes, as they will have to hand them in every week. Students are expected to make positive contributions to class discussions and during the lectures. Valuable contributions students will be positively assessed in the final evaluation.

Written final exam, problem sets and quizzes handed in during the course. The final exam is based on the topics covered during the lectures and classes, the chapters of the textbook and the supplementary readings assigned during the course The student will be evaluated as follows: 1. Answer multiple-choice quizzes delivered in class. The max grade in each quiz is 10. On the basis of the average grade obtained in the quizzes the student will obtain up to two extra points that will be added to the grade obtained in the final exam taken in the winter exam session. This activity is aimed at providing immediate (real time) feedback to students attending the course and assessing knowledge and comprehension skills and competencies during the semester. (Only for students attending the classes and taking the exam in the December -January session) 2. Final exam:100% on the final grade. Through this activity, knowledge and comprehension skills and competencies will be assessed The final exam will be composed of a mix of open questions, multiple choice questions and exercises, through which the student will demonstrate to know theoretical concepts and how to apply them to real world cases, thus proving that he/she has acquired a good study method, critical skills and the ability to learn, requested to continue autonomously the study of the subject matter. The number of questions within each typology will be decided by the instructor during the course and it will be communicated to students before the exam. In order to pass the exam, it is necessary that the student gets at least 18/30 in each of the aforementioned activity. The correct answer to all multiple-choice questions, the demonstration of an excellent knowledge in open questions and the correct resolution of exercises leads to getting 30/30 with the possible awarding of cum laude. The instructor has the authority to review the answers provided in the written exam with the student and, if necessary, to reconsider the grade.

Interview with the lecturer, interest in the subject