INTRODUCTORY MACROECONOMICS

Introductory Macroeconomics provides an introduction to modern macroeconomic analysis. Macroeconomic analysis focuses on the national economy and its international economic relations. This encompasses such topics as growth and employment, wage and price dynamics, and consumption and saving behavior. The course examines the scope for, and limits of, monetary and fiscal policy, and other policies such as privatization and tax reform. However, economies are complex, and before we offer public policies to improve their working, we need some idea of how economies work. This means formulating models of the macro economy. Unlike (in general) microeconomics, there have been many 'schools of thought' in macroeconomic theory and policy. The 'macroeconomics tree' described early in the course shows how macroeconomics has evolved. In this course, we will learn something about the two main modern schools of macroeconomic thought: one broadly characterized as 'New Classical', one as 'Keynesian'.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Objectives:There are three general aims for this module and they are;               (i)         Provide a sound basis in the fundamentals of macroeconomics and their application to both theoretical and real world situations.(ii)        Develop analytical skills using the major methods of mathematics and diagrams.(iii)       Engender the ability to communicate and report findings, particularly via tutorial essays, presentations and exercises.