Principles of Macroeconomics

Instructors

SUNAKAWA Takeki

Term / Language / Credits

S2 / English / 2

Objectives

This course is designed to provide a fundamental knowledge of macroeconomics to students who will learn macroeconomics for the first time.
First we will learn some basic concepts regarding macroeconomic data, such as GDP and its component and measuring inflation. Then, we will cover the fact and theory of economic growth. The growth theory is the standard economic theory for the economy in the long-run. The theory aims to provide answers to the following questions: Why are there rich and poor countries in the world? Why are some countries growing faster than others?
After that, we will focus on the short-run fluctuation of the economy. We will learn the standard IS-LM and AS-AD models for analyzing the economy in the short-run. Using the models, we will analyze the role of monetary and fiscal policies on the aggregate demand, and short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.
We also apply the theories we learn to understand current global macroeconomic issues. The topics we will cover are, for example, economic growth and inequality, social security reform, unconventional monetary policies, etc.

Keywords

Macroeconomics, Economic growth, Saving and investment, Money, Inflation, Unemployment, Monetary and fiscal policies

Schedule

1. Macroeconomic data
2. Economic growth
3. Money and inflation
4. Aggregate demand and supply
5. Monetary and fiscal policies
6. Short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment

Teaching Methods

Lectures will be taught in English.
Students can download lecture notes from the following website:
https://sites.google.com/site/takekisunakawa/teaching

Grading

Take-home Exams (Problem sets) (30-40%)
Final Exam (60-70%)

Required Textbook

Mankiw, N. Gregory, Principles of Macroeconomics, 6th International ed. (paperback). South-Western Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 978-0-538-45338-7

Reference Books

Mankiw, N. Gregory, Principles of Economics, 6th International ed. (paperback). South-Western Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 978-0-538-45342-4
Mankiw, N. Gregory, Macroeconomics, 8th ed. W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd.
Jones, Charles I., Macroeconomics, 3rd ed. W. W. Norton & Company.

Related Websites

https://sites.google.com/site/takekisunakawa/teaching

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