The student who successfully completes this course will be able to apply basic economic principles and simple micro and macro models to a wide range of issues and pin them down to economic evidence and data; moreover, she/he will be able to understand the larger driving forces shaping social and economic policy. The student will also demonstrate a solid knowledge on how competitive markets work and will be aware of their advantages and disadvantages in allocating scarce resources. Finally, she/he will be able to use basic definitions of national accounts, labor market statistics and international economics to tackle the main macroeconomic debates.