GRA 6631 Macroeconomic Policy

GRA 6631 Macroeconomic Policy

Course code: 
GRA 6631
Department: 
Economics
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Tommy Sveen
Course name in Norwegian: 
Macroeconomic Policy
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Applied Economics
Semester: 
2020 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole. The course offers an introduction to the main tools of macroeconomic policy – monetary and fiscal policy. It provides the students with analytical skills and applied insights to understand the tradeoff faced by policymakers. The course uses workhorse models used in central banks and other policy institutions and develops digital tools to help analyzing and understanding important policy problems. Special attention is put on UN's sustainable development goals and how macroeconomic policies can help attaining them.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

By the end of the course, students will know

  • the tradeoffs faced by a central bank when deciding key policy rates and the gains from commitment.
  • the new policy tools – such as forward guidance and macroprudential policy – developed during and in the aftermath of the recent international financial crises.
  • what is needed for public debt to be sustainable and long-run consequences of fiscal policy.
  • UN's sustainability goals and the implications for macroeconomic policy. We focus on growth, inequality, and the climate.
Learning outcomes - Skills

Students will be able to:

  • analyze monetary and fiscal policy using advanced macroeconomic models.
  • apply intertemporal macroeconomic models to analyze long-term macroeconomic policy and sustainability.
  • calibrate and analyze models using MatLab.
General Competence

This course should lead students to reflect about the forces that influence the economy as a whole and how policy will affect macroeconomic outcomes.

Course content

The course consists of four parts:

  1. Monetary policy in the new Keynesian model.
  2. Macroprudential policy and financial stability.
  3. Fiscal policy.
  4. UN's sustainable development goals.
Teaching and learning activities

Complementary learning tools will be used during the course. There will be student presentations in addition to lectures.

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/It's learning or text book.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course start.

At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.

Software tools
Matlab
Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Required prerequisite knowledge

GRA 6634 Advanced Macroeconomics and GRA 6639 Business Cycles or equivalent

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Presentation
Weight: 
20
Grouping: 
Group (4 - 6)
Comment: 
Presentation
Exam code: 
GRA66311
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Invigilation
Weight: 
80
Grouping: 
Individual
Support materials: 
  • BI-approved exam calculator
  • Simple calculator
  • Bilingual dictionary
Duration: 
3 Hour(s)
Comment: 
Written examination under supervision
Exam code: 
GRA66311
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.