Macroeconomic Analysis & Policy

Course Description

Macroeconomic Analysis studies the behavior of the aggregate economy, examines the outcomes of this behavior and searches for possible ways to improve upon them.

Briefly, topics of interest include:

• What determines the level and the long-run rate of growth of a country’s income?
• What is the cause of economic fluctuations?
• What is the reason of unemployment and what determines its extent?
• What is the cause of inflation?
• What hides behind government budget deficits?
• How government macroeconomic policies affect aggregate output, employment, inflation and growth?
• Can economic policy improve upon the performance of the economy?

The course examines basic aspects of the above questions at an introductory graduate level starting from the classic theoretical foundations and reaching up to the latest contributions.

Learning Objectives

The course aims at a deeper exploration of issues pertaining to macroeconomic theory and policy. Thus, a fuller understanding of the main problems of modern economies as well as of the ways to overcome these problems will be possible. After successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• understand the relation among basic macroeconomic variables such as gross domestic product, the rate of economic growth, the rate of unemployment, the rate of inflation and the interest rates.

• understand how the interdependence of decisions and acts of economic agents in the product and factor markets results in the macroeconomic outcomes we observe in the short- medium- and long-run periods.

• understand the mechanisms behind the main theories of economic fluctuations.

• understand the methods of modern macroeconomic research.

• state original ideas and express them in the form of research papers.

Bibliography

Romer, David. ΠΡΟΧΩΡΗΜΕΝΗ ΜΑΚΡΟΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΗ, Εκδόσεις Τυπωθήτω, 2006. (Greek translationof ADVANCEDMACROECONOMICS, McGraw–Hill, 2001).

Suggested Textbooks

Scarth, William M. ΜΑΚΡΟΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΗ, Μια Εισαγωγή σε Προχωρημένες Μεθόδους, Εκδόσεις Κριτική, 2004. (Greek translation of MACROECONOMICS, An Introduction to Advanced Methods, Harcourt Brace & Co 1996)

Froyen, Richard T. MACROECONOMICS, Theories and Policies, 7^th ed., Prentice Hall, 2002.

Σιδηρόπουλος, Μωϋσής. ΜΑΚΡΟΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΗ ΑΝΑΛΥΣΗ: ΘΕΩΡΙΑ, ΑΣΚΗΣΕΙΣ, ΕΦΑΡΜΟΓΕΣ, Εκδόσεις ΖΥΓΟΣ – Ιωάννης Μάρκου & Υιός Ο.Ε, 2011.