Course description

Title of the Teaching Unit

Macro Economics

Code of the Teaching Unit

12UEC50

Academic year

2025 - 2026

Cycle

Number of credits

Number of hours

Quarter

Weighting

Site

Anjou

Teaching language

French

Teacher in charge

DUTERME Tom

Objectives and contribution to the program

General objectives of the teaching unit
• Describe, understand, and evaluate what is happening in the economy (which provides a better understanding of the business environment).
• Describe, understand, and analyze the macroeconomic environment of businesses.
• Explain the behavior of economic agents based on aggregates.
• Establish relationships between variables in order to determine which relationships are stable over time (macroeconomic laws).
• Analyze macroeconomic imbalances (unemployment, inflation, etc.).
• Study ways to correct imbalances and achieve objectives (macroeconomic policies).
• Analyze national and international economic news.
• Share the results of the analysis.
• Develop critical thinking skills.

At the end of this teaching unit, students will:
1. Define and explain the key concepts learned in class.
2. Be able to link different economic variables, understand and develop the economic models discussed in class.
3. Be able to establish cause-and-effect relationships between economic phenomena in market economies and other types of economies.
4. Be able to explain fiscal and monetary policies.
5. Be able to evaluate economic policy recommendations.
6. Be able to articulate theory and reality; in particular, observe and analyze the general economic environment and the competitive environment of a sector of activity using various interpretive frameworks, understanding local and international societal challenges.
7. Uses techniques for document research and processing of collected information.
8. Demonstrates critical thinking in their choices among the various discourses on socio-economic issues and different paradigms, and justifies them.

The EU thus contributes to the teaching profile by preparing students to:
- Acquire general disciplinary knowledge and the tools necessary for management professions. This means that students will be able to reproduce knowledge and recontextualize it in a given situation.
- Raising awareness of the complexity and importance of critical thinking: this means that students will be able to question, research, and argue while maintaining a critical distance from sources of information and confronting opposing points of view.
- Being open to the world, in particular by reflecting on various global economic, social, and environmental issues.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Ideally Economics, and Mathematics (BAC)

Content

The topics selected are:
1. Current macroeconomic issues (growth, inflation, inequality, unemployment and the labor market, etc.)
2. GDP and sector classifications, GDP approaches, nominal and real GDP, price indicators and the limitations of GDP
3. Economic fluctuations and interpretations of economic cycles (classical vs. Keynesian)
4. Globalization of economic trade (degree of openness, exchange rates, interest rate parity)
5. Financialization and subprime crises (exotic products, shadow banking, hedge funds, etc.).

Teaching methods

Type of teaching for the macroeconomics course:
- Interactive lectures, either in person or online (Teams or PowerPoint presentations with commentary), covering theory and empirical illustrations
- Readings of press articles, academic papers, or institutional publications illustrating the principles covered in class
- Exercises or questions to be prepared individually (always corrected collectively).

Assessment method

Formative assessment:

Formative assessment is carried out throughout the course by means of questions (Wooclap, Moodle, etc.).

Certification assessment:

The certification exam takes place in person, closed book, and without the use of AI.

It consists of three parts: multiple-choice questions on the theoretical course (50% of the final grade), one or two open-ended questions (25% of the final grade), and a text analysis similar to that carried out collectively at the end of each course (25% of the final grade).

References

Teaching materials

Macroeconomics course website on Moodle (https://moodle.ichec.be) with:
o PowerPoint presentations (with or without commentary)
o Articles, newsletters, various reports, and videos
o Formative assessment exercises

Bibliographic references

See the respective course websites