Advanced Macroeconomics 10 credits

Understanding the sources of economic growth and the causes of business cycle fluctuations is central to modern macroeconomic analysis. This course equips you with advanced analytical tools to study aggregate dynamics and to interpret macroeconomic data for explaining both long-run development and short-run instability. It emphasises formal reasoning and precision in model building, while maintaining close links to empirical evidence and policy debates that shape real-world decision-making. The course is divided into two main parts. The first part focuses on long-run growth and cross-country income differences, examining how productivity, capital accumulation, and innovation drive economic growth and explain differences in living standards across countries. You will evaluate competing theoretical frameworks and compare their predictions to observed data. The second part examines short-run fluctuations, analysing consumption, investment, unemployment, and inflation, and explores how fiscal and monetary policy transmit and mitigate shocks. Modern dynamic models of the business cycle are introduced and critically assessed for their explanatory power and policy relevance. After completing the course, you will be able to use advanced macroeconomic models to analyse complex economic mechanisms, evaluate competing explanations for empirical patterns, and assess policy responses to growth and stabilisation challenges. You will strengthen your capacity to connect theoretical modelling with data analysis and to apply macroeconomic reasoning in research, policy, and professional contexts that demand rigorous analytical thinking.