Objectives

This is a second year course for students in the M.Sc. in Economics. The purpose of this course is to study macroeconomic policy through the lens of theoretical and empirical research in macroeconomics. Students will learn to answer practical questions by synthesizing existing research.

Contents

The course covers three main topics: monetary policy, fiscal policy and the international dimension of policy, with a focus on both developed and emerging economies. The course is mostly theoretical but with a strong emphasis on data and examples from the real world. We will study seminal empirical studies, and the Great Financial Crisis as well as the Great Lockdown and Post-Covid inflation will provide illustrations to many of the topics.

Pre-requisites

The course is self-contained, but it is advised to have followed a course on business cycles and international macroeconomics to attend the class.

Evaluation

First attempt

Exam:

Without exam (cf. terms)  

Evaluation:

The students must sit for an open-book, midterm exam (35%), they must present a research paper in class (30%) and they must prepare and conduct a debate on a specified topic (35%).

Retake

Exam:

Without exam (cf. terms)  

Evaluation:

Each one of the validations of the course (midterm, presentation and debate) can be retaken individually per Unil regulations. If the debate cannot be done in a group, the student must provide the blueprint of the debate as an alternative.