Course description
Title of the Teaching Unit
Macro Economics
Code of the Teaching Unit
12UEC52
Academic year
2025 - 2026
Cycle
Number of credits
4
Number of hours
48
Quarter
2
Weighting
Site
Anjou
Teaching language
English
Teacher in charge
ROMAN Philippe
Objectives and contribution to the program
The main objective of the course is to extend and deepen knowledge and understanding of economic theories and facts, in a pluralistic and critical way, and to acquire tools in economic analysis.
The course contributes to developing critical thinking abilities. It is theoretically pluralistic, and students are encouraged to understand the normative implications of competing macroeconomic theories.
The course also aims at enhancing analytical/conceptual rigour when looking at contemporary socio-economic issues.
Students are expected to seek and interpret relevant statistical and factual information.
The course also aims to put different macroeconomic models into historical, social and ecological perspective, thereby helping to develop the ability to design desirable futures.
Prerequisites and corequisites
Content
The course content is broadly structured as follows:
Introduction to the field of macroeconomics, including the central topics it explores and the typical questions it seeks to answer.
Overview of the main macroeconomic indicators—such as real and nominal GDP, investment, consumption, and the inflation rate—explaining how they are calculated, their intended purposes, as well as their scope and limitations.
Outlook of the principal dimensions of economic inequality, the methodologies employed to quantify them, and their implications for macroeconomic performance.
Description, modelling and interpretation of macroeconomic fluctuations (business cycles), including recession, depression, stagflation etc.
Introduction to the main macroeconomic labour issues, its key indicators (e.g. unemployment, participation rate), types of unemployment (frictional, structural, cyclical), and theoretical approaches to understanding labour market performance.
Overview of macroeconomic policy instruments—monetary and fiscal—with their rationale, implementation, and modelling of their effects on the economy.
Elaboration of a macroeconomic framework to model the consequences of shocks and macro policies on selected performance criteria of the macroeconomy.
International aspects of macroeconomic performance and policy are addressed in as much depth as time permits.
Teaching methods
Lectures will be delivered in class, with the possibility of online sessions if necessary. The course is designed to foster active student participation through interactive tools (e.g. Wooclap quizzes), Q&A, exercises, and moments of critical reflection.
Assessment method
The final grade is based on a 2h exam held at the end of the semester.
Summative assessment (final exam)
The final assessment consists of a written, closed-book 2h exam held on campus. No external materials or calculators are permitted. The exam includes multiple-choice and open-ended questions, with no ‘negative points’ for incorrect answers in the multiple-choice section.
The August/September session follows the same rules.
Continuous learning and training
Frequent Wooclap quizzes are used to help students engage with and better understand key concepts, facts, and theories.
The course encourages active participation through in-class discussions and collaborative research and interpretation of online data and information, fostering critical thinking and analytical skills.
References
Course material is provided during the course, and available on Moodle.
A few useful websites:
• Core-Econ (free online textbook)
• Exploring Economics
• cepr.org/voxeu
• ineteconomics.org