Thanks to this course, students will acquire sufficient knowledge to make social, business, or political decisions consistent with fundamental macroeconomic principles. We define macroeconomics as a branch of economics that focuses on studying global economic indicators through the analysis of aggregate variables, in contrast to microeconomics, which studies the behavior of individual agents. It analyzes variables such as the total amount of goods and services produced, total income, employment levels, productive resources, the balance of payments, exchange rates, and the general behavior of prices, which the student must consider when participating in socioeconomic decision-making processes in their professional life. Additionally, the student will be trained to adopt a critical stance regarding the limits of macroeconomic principles and the fallacies related to some of their terms.
The subject of macroeconomics will be developed in four Thematic Blocks:
Thematic Block 1*: Macroeconomic Magnitudes
Thematic Block 2: Economic Growth
Thematic Block 3: The Economic Cycle
*The numbering of the Thematic Blocks does not imply the order in which they will be taught.
The working methodology for this course in its in-person format has a very practical orientation and, therefore, will be delivered in work sessions that include an introductory part for each topic and a practical part involving case studies, debates on the analyzed issues, and the development of a project in which the acquired notions are applied practically.
Complementary to the above, the course will include lectures and workshops given by practicing economics professionals from various collaborating organizations.
This mixed approach aims to contrast the acquired knowledge of macroeconomics within a multidimensional environment of discussion and analysis.
Contextualization: Each content is preceded by an introduction that connects the different concepts.
Reflection: Students are encouraged to develop critical thinking. In several chapters, practical problems related to the subject are presented, and students are asked to analyze them thoughtfully and be able to make decisions concerning them.
Conceptualization: Each student is asked to propose an area of interest related to the course syllabus to explore more deeply beyond the general limits set in class.
Experimentation: Students are encouraged in several chapters to be proactive in analyzing news, problems, and articles identified in the media.
Evaluation: At the end, the degree of internalization of the main concepts and the ability to coherently relate them in real situations is assessed.
Assessable activities must be submitted on the dates indicated by the instructor. If, for any reason duly justified and communicated to the instructor, they cannot be submitted within the established period, they may be submitted before the date of the course?s final exam so that the instructor can grade them. In this case, however, the instructor is not obliged to provide feedback on those activities.
Furthermore, students have the right to take the final written exam even if they have not submitted all other assessable activities. However, the final grade for the course will only be calculated if all activities have been submitted, in accordance with the evaluation criteria and weightings established in this syllabus. If any assessable activity has not been submitted or completed, it will be recorded on the grade report as ?Not Submitted? for that examination session.
A paragraph must be included specifying how AI was used and what prompts or instructions were employed to obtain the results. Failure to do so constitutes a violation of academic honesty policies.
Written exams: 30%
Oral exams: 10%
Participation: 10%
Written assignments: 50%
The development of the course will be based on the following manual:
KRUGMAN, WELLS, GRADDY Fundamentos de Economía; 3º Ed, Reverte.
ABEL, BERNANKE. MACROECONOMIA, 4º Edición. Pearson
Where students will find the basic texts, as well as a wealth of complementary materials and references that will allow them to expand and deepen their understanding of each topic covered in the course, according to their interests.
O. BLANCHARD Macroeconomía; Pearson-Prentice Hall.
J. BRADFORD DELONG y MARTHA L. OLNEY, Macroeconomía. Segunda edición. McGraw-Hill, 2006.
N. GREGORY MANKIW, Macroeconomía. Sexta edición. Antoni Bosch, 2009.