The course will offer an overview of modern Macroeconomics in a global setting. Key topics include the determinants of long-run economic growth and short-run business cycles in an open-economy context. Moreover, government policies relating to each topic as well as the effects of these policies on sub-aggregates of the economy, such as industries and firms, will be covered.

This course will be delivered through a series of "seminars" over 6 weeks at the beginning of semester 2, with sessions lasting 3.5 hours each. The total number of "seminars" required is 12. The first part of the course (6 sessions) covers the aggregate supply side of the economy including several models of long-run growth. The second part of the course (6 sessions) first covers the aggregate demand side of the economy and then the interaction between aggregate demand and supply to understand short-term business cycles and the role of macroeconomic stabilisation policy.

Note that "seminars" in this context refers to traditional lectures complemented with active student participation encouraged through group work during these meetings. The in-class group work (formative assessment) is comprised of: (i) analytical (ii) numeric and (iii) graphical problems aimed at reinforcing the lecture material. After groups have completed their in-class work, solutions to these problems will be presented in class and provided to the students in hard copy form to help in preparing for the summative assessment. This is comprised of two pieces of assessed group work and the final exam. The principle driving the formative in-class group work is that best way to understand quantitative macroeconomics is to apply it to the analysis of relevant and topical issues.

None

None

25% group work (12.5% for part 1 and 12.5% for part 2 of the course).

Group Presentations

1. The in‐course assessment takes the form of two group presentations.

2. Each presentation is worth 12.5% of the overall course grade.

3. For each presentation, students will be given a topic to prepare within their group. The presentation will be expected to last 10-15 minutes, with a further 10-15 minutes of questions from the examiners.

4. All students are expected to contribute to both presentations.

Groupwork Process

1. The assessment is group-based first because by working in a group and by interacting with peers, students will enhance their learning and skill set. As a group, and via collective effort, students will be able to make more progress in learning about and applying economic research, compared with tackling these questions independently. Students learning should improve significantly in relation to the course ILOs. Group work also provides useful experience which is relevant in a non-university context, as managers often work in teams to analyse data and existing research to promote understanding of economic questions/problems facing their firm or industry.

2. Students will work in groups of 4 and will be able to select their group via Moodle.

3. Each group's presentation/oral examination will be allocated up to 30 minutes and will be recorded for the purposes of second marking and external examiner's evaluation. The lecturer will ask questions during and after the presentation. Therefore, groups should time their presentation for about 15 minutes.

4. Students should submit an electronic version of your presentation prior to the day of the presentation (dates for submission and for presentation will be advertised on Moodle).

5. A grade will be allocated to the group, assessing the quality of the work produced collectively. In particular, the grade will reflect both the quality of the economic analysis and the competence demonstrated in explaining and presenting the results and economic analysis. Therefore, the grade will be based on the quality of the written work that has been submitted and presented, and on the performance of the group during the presentation, including the group's ability to answer questions by the lecturer.

6. No reassessment opportunity is provided.

7. Groups must discuss the Business School's Assessed Groupwork Policy and agree how they will apply it at their first meeting. The policy can be found on the Postgraduate Student Information Point.

75% final exam (2-hour exam with two sections based on parts 1 and 2 of the course. Each section has two questions and students must select 1 question from each section.)

The course aims to introduce students to modern open economy macroeconomics, providing insights into trends in cross-country macroeconomic data, economic growth, inequality, inflation, business cycles, and the effects of fiscal as well as monetary policies in a global context. This treatment will provide students with the ability to recognise and apply the relevant theory and data to the analysis of important macroeconomic questions relating to both long-run growth and short-run business cycles.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

1. Evaluate the importance of macroeconomic data in understanding how trends in living standards as well as business cycles have changed over time and across countries.

2. Critically assess how economic growth has dramatically changed global welfare and why the gains have not been evenly distributed across countries.

3. Apply the tools required to set up and solve simple long-run models of economic growth as well as simple short-run models of aggregate demand and supply.

4. Critically assess the role of economic policy in helping or hindering long-run growth as well as the role of monetary and fiscal policy in stabilising short-run business cycles in an open-economy framework.

5. Evaluate the origins and consequences of high and persistent inflation and apply the relevant theory and data to the analysis of the causes and effects of the Great Recession.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.