The course presents the macroeconomic theory of the working of modern economic systems, both under full employment and under conditions of involuntary unemployment. Within both theoretical frameworks the course examines the working of the real part of the economy, the role of money and other financial activities, the international economic relations and the impact of monetary and fiscal policies.
The purpose of the course is to endow the student with a sufficient macroeconomic background to enable him to interpret the main macroeconomic events of contemporary economic systems, that is to say unemployment, inflation, economic fluctuations, the impact of fiscal and monetary policies, both in closed and in open economies.
Another purpose of the course is to enable the student to critically understand the main economic debates on those issues: in this relation, the course will give a rigorous introduction to the concepts and language of contemporary macroeconomics.
The analytical tools used are simple diagrams and calculus.