This course is structured in three modules, all taught in the second semester.
The first module deals with microeconomics, i.e. the set of tools economists use to study the choices made by individuals in their roles of consumers and business managers and the effects of individual choices on market outcomes. In particular, this first module focuses on: -The cost-benefit approach to understanding economic choices; -Demand, Supply and competitive equilibrium; -The rational spending rule; -Short-run cost functions; -Firms’ choices and industry equilibrium in perfect competition; -Monopoly and Imperfect Competition.
The second module deals with market failures and the role of the government -Externalities, Taxes and Subsidies.
The third module deals with macroeconomics, the set of tools the economists use to analyze the working of the economic system as a whole and the interactions between groups. The main pathologies of contemporary economic systems will be also analyzed together with the main tools of macroeconomic policy. In particular, the third module focuses on: -Main macroeconomic indicators; - Functioning of the economic system in the short-run; - Aggregate consumption function, aggregate investment, government spending; - Equilibrium in the goods market and role of effective demand; - Money demand, money supply and the interest rate determination; - Equilibrium in the bond markets as a mirror of the equilibrium in the money market; - State intervention: fiscal policy and its tools; - Role of the central bank: monetary policy and its tools. - Introduction to the open economy and exchange rates Tentative course schedule
