Brief Introduction
An Introduction to Macroeconomic Ideas and Models in EconomicsDescription
All happy students are alike, each unhappy student is unhappy in its own way. Fundamentally, happy students are the students that have internalised the courses material so profoundly that, when assigned an individual project or task (may that be coming from a professor or an employer), can carry it out, completely independently, from A to Z in a way that is both perfectly rigorous and more-or-less innovative.
The What
The purpose of this course is to get you started towards that lofty yet achievable target of knowing what’s what when it comes to Macroeconomics. Oftentimes students think that Macroeconomics is too abstract to be useful and makes sense in the first place. I was one of those students: fresh off of Microeconomics, most of Macroeconomics really seemed pie-in-the-sky kind of material. After countless lectures, even more countless textbooks and an infinite amount of seminars, I have changed my mind. I hope I shall be able to convey to you why Macroeconomics (especially certain topics in it) can be so wildly compelling and, indeed, useful.
This is a course about Introductory Macroeconomics. As such, its purpose is to lay the foundations for deeper and more comprehensive studies in Macroeconomics. Hence, I spend little time dwelling on the mathematics and more time trying to convey the intuition, the concept and, essentially, why should you care. Also, I go as slow as possible in the explanations to give the opportunity to both fast and slow learners to benefit from the course: it is possible to increase the speed in case of need. I think it’s, didactically, the best approach. In light of my personal experience, and the experiences of other friends, I believe it’s better for students walking into a proper Intermediate Macroeconomics course to have already understood the concepts, so that during the course they can focus, exclusively, on the mathematics. As such, instead of teaching an Introductory Macroeconomics level course, I have taken the most fundamental core of an Intermediate Macroeconomics course, stripped it of the mathematics and tried to convey, for each of the topic, why whatever I have decided to talk about it's such a big idea to be part of the canonical "core Macro". This is particularly important in Macroeconomics because, as you shall see as you progress with the studies, that, unlike Micro (that just becomes more mathematically precise), the content of a Macroeconomics course changes dramatically as the level increases. In other words, while the content of a Microeconomics course at an MSc level is very similar to the first-year BSc course, the content of a Macroeconomics course at an MSc level is very different from the first-year BSc course. As such, for example, I have decided to introduce you, from the very beginning, to the idea of Microfoundations of Macroeconomics: usually, this is material that is not taught at a first-year level but, because, the entire modern Macroeconomics is based on these Microfoundations, I felt I would have done you a disservice had I not taken at least some time to walk you through some of these ideas. Nonetheless, because it’s an Introductory Macroeconomics course, I expect nothing more than some basic high school algebra under your belt. What follows is what I believe to be the core of Macroeconomics that I have written about in the last few lines: exogenous growth theory, endogenous growth theory, political economics of growth, micrcofoundations, early business cycle theory (IS-LM-MP and AD-AS) and financial crises.
The Who
Having established the importance of the what, the question as to why you would want to be introduced to it by me over somebody else is legitimate. I am in the process of completing my second MSc at the London School of Economics and Political Science after having completed, always at the LSE, an MSc in Political Economics and, before that, a BSc in Economic Sciences (Summa Cum Laude), with Best Dissertation and the Holy Quaternity of any BSc Economics (Microeconomics, Game Theory, Macroeconomics and Econometrics) with the highest grades available in each of these courses.
During these years, I have sat in a number of Macroeconomics (and subfields) courses which is higher than I can possibly remember. Last but not least, my work has been and is being supervised by future winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
The Why=The What+The Who
The Why is, then, really quite simple: I have already met what you are about to meet and, probably most importantly from your standpoint, I have already had to share, teach and discuss what I have learnt. I have addressed countless questions from friends of mine throughout the years about anything that you find covered in this course. I have, hence, tried to put together the course in a way to address all most common problems that I have seen my friends have. You get to see the answers and the recommendations I have given to my friends that have allowed them to improve drastically their understanding of the subject. If anything, this course (and the others) was born out of the simple realisation that I was not able, at some point, to keep up with the demand for advice and discussion but I still wanted to help the people I care about. The reason why this course is on this platform stems from the simple realisation that, if my friends from the BSc and the MSc had all these questions, odds are that other students around the world also had them. And so, why not share the answers to them.
Requirements
- Requirements
- High School Algebra
- Introductory Microeconomics
Econ Academy
5 Raiting
Introduction to Economics: Macroeconomics
- 0.0
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Learn how a national economy works, including the determination of equilibrium levels of national income and prices Determination of national income and price level...
Introductory Econometrics
- 4
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
An Introduction to Empirical Methods in Economics All happy students are alike, each unhappy student is unhappy in its own way....
Macroeconomics: A Comprehensive Economics Course
- 5
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
A Course Designed to Give You a Better Understanding of the World Around You--Perfect for University and Adult Learners! Introduction to Macroeconomics...
The Power of Microeconomics: Economic Principles in the Real World
- 4.7
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
In this course, you will learn all of the major principles of microeconomics normally taught in a quarter or semester course to college undergraduates or MBA students....
