Macroeconomics

Course guarantor:

Lecturer:

Tutor:

Supervisor:

Institute of Economic Studies

Synopsis:

This course provides the main macroeconomic concepts to understand how a country operates regarding its aggregate variables and equations describing its markets. Graphical representations of equilibrium conditions are extensively used for easy comprehension and flexibility. The canonical IS-LM (investment-saving, liquidity-money) model, characterizing the goods and financial markets in the short run, is extended by the labor market and thus by the Phillips curve in the medium run. In the long run, the Solow model as a fundamental economic growth framework is also covered. The open economy specifics related to exports-imports and exchange rates are presented within the famous Mundell-Fleming model, including the Policy Trilemma or Impossible Trinity concept. The main textbook is Blanchard (2021). Mankiw (2022) can be used as well. This course has only lectures and no exercise sessions.

Requirements:

Midterm and non-cumulative final exams count for 35% each of a grade. In-class presentations of students contribute to the remaining 30%. Students may earn additional points through participation in answering questions occasionally asked by the lecturer within the themes of classes. Attendance at classes is expected to pass successfully the course.

Syllabus of lectures:

Introduction

Aggregate output (GDP), unemployment, and inflation

The short run

Goods and financial markets

The IS-LM model

The medium run

Labor market and the Phillips curve

The IS-LM-Phillips Curve model

The long run

The facts of growth and the Solow model

Technological progress and the challenges of growth

The open economy

Openness in goods and financial markets

The Mundell-Fleming model, Policy Trilemma, and exchange rate regimes

Summing up

Presentations by students

Syllabus of tutorials:

Study Objective:

The goal is to equip students with macroeconomic frameworks helpful to analyze not only past macroeconomic events but also those that unfold in the future by knowing the basic mechanisms behind them. The primary focus is to enable students to translate theoretical concepts into real-world applications. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, students will engage in an analysis of a country and its economy throughout the semester. As various topics are covered in class, students will research how those topics apply to a selected country and make presentations that showcase findings to the class.

Study materials:

Blanchard, O. (2021). Macroeconomics. England, Harlow: Pearson Education, 1-539.

Mankiw, G. (2022). Macroeconomics. New York: Worth Publishers, 11th edition, 1-557.

Lecture slides, a signing-up sheet for presentation, and points of students will be posted in Moodle.

The IMF International Financial Statistics: https://data.imf.org/?sk=4c514d48-b6ba-49ed-8ab9-52b0c1a0179b.

The World Bank Open Data: https://data.worldbank.org/.

The European Central Bank Data Portal: https://data.ecb.europa.eu/.

UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) statistics: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/datacentre/.

Note:

Economies, like people, get sick high unemployment, recessions, financial crises, low growth. Macroeconomics is about why it happens, and what can be done about it. (Olivier Blanchard, 2021).

Further information:

No time-table has been prepared for this course

The course is a part of the following study plans:

• B-EM-P prezenční studium od 22/23 (compulsory course)
• B0413P050061 Ekonomika a management (profesní studijní program) - počínaje od ZS 2023/2024 (compulsory course, compulsory elective course)
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• B0413P050061 Ekonomika a management (OZ102 Personální management) od ZS 2023/2024 (compulsory course, compulsory elective course)
• B0413P050061 Ekonomika a management (OZ103 Řízení firemních procesů) od ZS 2023/2024 (compulsory course, compulsory elective course)
• B0413P050061 Ekonomika a management (OZ104 Účetnictví) od ZS 2023/2024 (compulsory course, compulsory elective course)
• B0413P050061 Ekonomika a management (OZ105 Manažerská informatika) od ZS 2023/2024 (compulsory course, compulsory elective course)
• B0413P050061 Ekonomika a management (OZ106 Obchodní podnikání) od ZS 2023/2024 (compulsory course, compulsory elective course)