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2024/2025  BA-BINBO1127U  Macroeconomics

English Title
Macroeconomics

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory (also offered as elective)
Level Bachelor
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Fourth Quarter
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc in International Business
Course coordinator
  • Annaïg Morin - Department of Economics (ECON)
Main academic disciplines
  • Economics
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 29-05-2024

Relevant links

Learning objectives
After ending the course, the students should be able to:
  • Explain basic macroeconomic terminology (e.g. "growth", "recession", "natural unemployment", etc.) in a comprehensive way.
  • Describe and explain the assumptions and mechanisms of the main macroeconomic models (e.g. the IS-LM model in closed and open economy, the IS-LM-PC model). Illustrate these models graphically and solve them algebraically.
  • Describe how GDP is determined in the short and medium run. Explain how GDP is affected by shocks.
  • Describe the main determinants of other important macroeconomic variables such as inflation, unemployment, real wage, interest rate, etc. Explain how these macroeconomic variables are affected by shocks.
  • Explain the Phillips curve and discuss the relation between unemployment, output, and inflation.
  • Perform policy experiments (e.g., changes in government spendings or changes in money supply). Interpret the mechanisms verbally and graphically, and solve algebraically.
  • Explain how these policies are impacted by openness to trade and financial flows.
Examination
Macroeconomics:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer and Summer
Aids Limited aids, see the list below:
The student is allowed to bring
  • An approved calculator. Only the models HP10bll+ or Texas BA ll Plus are allowed (both models are non-programmable, financial calculators).
  • Language dictionaries in paper format
The student will have access to
  • basic IT application package
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
The number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination may warrant that it most appropriately be held as an oral examination. The programme office will inform the students if the make-up examination/re-take examination instead is held as an oral examination including a second examiner or external examiner.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

This course offers an introduction to macroeconomic analysis. This includes the theory of output and interest rate determination; the relationship between goods and financial markets; the relationship between employment and inflation; the role of fiscal and monetary policy; and, not least, international economic relations. 

 

In this course, we will relate macroeconomics models to real-life events. This will help us understand the current debates about, for example, the key monetary policy arrangements and inflation targeting in the Eurozone, the conduct of fiscal policy and the debates over government debts in the EU, the choice of exchange rate regimes (and, in particuler, the implications of the fixed echange rate policy conducted in Denmark).

 

Why do economies expand sometimes, raising employment and living standards, and shrink at other times? What is a recession? What happened in 2008–09 when the world economy was hit by the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s? How do we explain the high inflation rate that we currently observe?

 

More generally, which shocks affect macroeconomic activity? How do these shocks affect output, employment, investment, or consumption? Can government policies make economies grow or stop them from shrinking? Is there anything we can do to reduce inflation? Are these policy responses effective?

 

These are some of the central questions that fascinate macroeconomists. If you are curious about how macroeconomists look at the world around them, how they model it, and how this helps answering the questions you just read, then this is the course for you. 

Description of the teaching methods
The course will mainly consist of general lectures that will present and explain
macroeconomic concepts and models. Each mechanism presented in class will be embodied in a simple analytical framework to facilitate understanding the underlying logic. Moreover, graphs will be used extensively to build intuition.

In addition to general lectures, tutorial sessions will be devoted to solving exercises.
Feedback during the teaching period
Office hours will take place during the teaching period (i.e., in the weeks in which lectures take place).
Student workload
Lecture hours 42 hours
Exercise classes 12 hours
Preparation for lectures 42 hours
Preparation for exercise classes 12 hours
Preparation for exam 98 hours
Expected literature

Blanchard O., Macroeconomics (8th Edition, Global edition), 

 

Please note, minor changes may occur. The teacher will uploade the final reading list to Learn two weeks before the course starts.

Last updated on 29-05-2024