• Knowledge and understanding The course provides the basic theoretical foundations and analytical tools to analyze and understand the working of the aggregate economic system (in a closed and in an open economy), and the role played by economic policy. At the end of the course students are expected to understand the interactions among the main macroeconomic variables, to know the different causes of business cycles and the determinants of long run economic growth, and to understand the motivations of both countercyclical and structural economic policy interventions. • Applying knowledge and understanding At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to apply the analytical models learnt in order to reason in a rigorous way on macroeconomic issues. • Making judgements At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to formulate their critical judgments on a given macroeconomic situation and on specific economic policy choices. • Communication skills) At the end of the course, students are expected to be able express with proper terminology their critical judgments on a given macroeconomic situation and on specific economic policy choices. • Learning skills At the end of the course, students are expected to have acquired the learning skills they need to undertake with autonomy advanced courses of economics.

Microeconomics is a prerequisite for macroeconomics. The notions learnt in the general mathematics course are also important.

The course is an introduction to the tools and methods of macroeconomic analysis. It is organized around 4 main topics: 1. INTRODUCTION AND BASIC NOTIONS 1.1 What is macroeconomics about? 1.2 GDP and its components. 1.3 GDP and GNP 1.4 Nominal and real GDP 1.5 Price indexes: GDP deflators and Consumer Price Indexes. Inflation rate. 1.6 Employment and unemployment rates, interest rates. 1.7 Basic macroeconomic identities 1.8. Stock and flow variables in macroeconomics. 2. A MODEL FOR SHORT RUN MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS 2.1 The market for goods and services. 2.2 Financial markets. 2.3 Real and financial markets: the IS-LM model in a closed economy. 2.4. Real and nominal interest rate, risk premium and the role of financial intermediaries: the extended IS-LM model. 2.5 From a real estate crises to a financial crises and a global recession. 2.6. Real and financial markets in the open economy and the balance of payments. 2.7 Output, interest rates and exchange rates. 2.8 Fixed exchange rates. 3. A MODEL FOR MEDIUM RUN MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS 3.1 The labour market. 3.2 The Phillips curve, the natural unemployment rate and the inflation rate. 3.3 Production, unemployment and inflation: the IS-LM-PC model. 3.4. From the short run to the medium run. 3.5. Supply side shocks: increases in the prices of energy commodities. 3.6 The effects of social distancing during a pandemic. 4. A MODEL FOR LONG RUN MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS 4.1 Economic growth: the main facts. 4.2 Savings, capital accumulation and output growth. 4.3 Technical progress and output growth. 4.4 Technical progress: effects in the short, medium and long run.

O. Blanchard, A. Amighini, F. Giavazzi “Macroeconomia. Una prospettiva europea”. Il Mulino, 2024. Additional readings will be suggested in class, and will be available on Moodle2.

SHORT SYLLABUS (For reasons of space, the detailed program is available on the Moodle2 page of the course). 1. INTRODUCTION AND BASIC NOTIONS 1.1 What is macroeconomics about? 1.2 GDP and its components. 1.3 GDP and GNP 1.4 Nominal and real GDP 1.5 Price indexes: GDP deflators and Consumer Price Indexes. Inflation rate. 1.6 Employment and unemployment rates, interest rates. 1.7 Basic macroeconomic identities 1.8. Stock and flow variables in macroeconomics. 2. A MODEL FOR SHORT RUN MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS 2.1 The market for goods and services. 2.2 Financial markets. 2.3 Real and financial markets: the IS-LM model in a closed economy. 2.4. Real and nominal interest rate, risk premium and the role of financial intermediaries: the extended IS-LM model. 2.5 From a real estate crises to a financial crises and a global recession. 2.6. Real and financial markets in the open economy and the balance of payments. 2.7 Output, interest rates and exchange rates. 2.8 Fixed exchange rates. 3. A MODEL FOR MEDIUM RUN MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS 3.1 The labour market. 3.2 The Phillips curve, the natural unemployment rate and the inflation rate. 3.3 Production, unemployment and inflation: the IS-LM-PC model. 3.4. From the short run to the medium run. 3.5. Supply side shocks: increases in the prices of energy commodities. 3.6 The effects of social distancing during a pandemic. 4. A MODEL FOR LONG RUN MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS 4.1 Economic growth: the main facts. 4.2 Savings, capital accumulation and output growth. 4.3 Technical progress and output growth. 4.4 Technical progress: effects in the short, medium and long run.

Lectures, interactive lecture, group work, exercises.

The course will use the Moodle platform.

Student’s knowledge of the subject is checked through a final exam consisting in a written test, to be completed in two hours. The test consists in 6 questions, covering all of the topics presented in class. Each question is articulated in various sub-questions with increasing degree of difficulty. The questions are open questions with short answers, constructed so as to verify the knowledge of fundamental concepts, the ability of properly using the language of economics, the capacity of analysis and synthesis, and the degree of in-depth study of the subject. Each question graded on a 30 scale, and the overall grade is the average of the grades on the six questions.

The course touches topics which are correlated to the following goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG): Goal 8 - Decent work and economic growth (specific topics: employment and unemployment, economic growth) Goal 10- Reducing inequalities (specific topics: income growth, crosscountry inequality)