LECON5214 Macroeconomics and Economic Crises

Course Overview

This course looks at the core ideas of macroeconomics, such as output, inflation and unemployment, which are key to understanding how economic theory supports our understanding of real-world events. The course will consider how these variables affect the risks, prevention, and mitigation of financial and economic crises.. Using both theoretical concepts and empirical data, we will seek to describe and analyse the macroeconomic system and the behaviours of its various participants. 

The main goals of this course are to cover the economics behind macroeconomics and the financial system, and integrate the lessons of the global financial crisis. The role of institutions in stabilising the economy during periods of boom and bust will be central to the discussion. Arrays of data and examples from various countries will be woven in with the theory, to enable students to understand how the financial cycle and macroeconomics are inextricably linked. The old mainstream, three-equation, model will be explained and used in analyses, alongside providing a newer account of potential financial disturbances. This course will provide students with a rigorous yet accessible framework for understanding what troubles society most, and prepare learners for more advanced studies in macroeconomics.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their  studies.
The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:
Lectures/seminars

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Dedicated mathematics support will be available to all students during teaching weeks.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Mankiw, N.G. (2009) Macroeconomics, New York: Worth Publishers
• Carlin, W. and Soskice, D. (2015) Macroeconomics: Institutions, Instability and the Financial System, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below is used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.
Aggregate Demand and Supply

• Partial Equilibria
• Monetary and Fiscal policy