EC2102: Macroeconomic Analysis I
AY2012/2013, Semester 2, Lecturer: Ho Kong Weng
Course Coverage:
1. National Income
2. Money & Inflation
3. Unemployment
4. Economic Growth
5. Growth Models
6. AD-AS Model
7. IS-LM Model
8. Dynamic AD-AS Model
9. Stabilization Policies
10. Government Debt & Budget Deficit
This introductory level macroeconomics module provides an overview of the aggregate economy with some mathematical foundation, and presents the trade-off of macroeconomic objective in a more technical framework. Note that the recent curriculum has shifted towards monetary models and thus this review is no longer accurate.
The first half of the module focus on macroeconomic relationship between national income, inflation, unemployment and economic growth. Economic growth is illustrated extensively using Solow's Growth Model, which presents the optimization problem as a differential equation. However, technical knowledge of differential equations are unnecessary because numerical data are often given in this course.
The second half of the module focus on aggregate national income models. The IS-LM framework is used extensively to illustrate the movements in the output and money markets, as well as deriving the AD-AS model from the set of equilibria. Numerical computation is not required for this segment as the focus in on the economic intuition and analysis of dynamic variables. The module closes with stabilization policies for short run economic fluctuations and a brief introduction to effects of government debt and budget deficits.
Honestly, I find macroeconomic analysis interesting but the examinations are rather discouraging. Most people that took macroeconomic analysis this semester will share the same sentiments as me, especially for final exam. Most people did well for midterms, but I flunked it somehow and thus the horrible result. However, it's one of the core modules of economics, so you will eventually have to face it unless you switch major. I believe that with hard work, it is still possible to score for this module!
Workload: Moderate
Difficulty: Difficult
Grade: C+
Course Coverage:
1. National Income
2. Money & Inflation
3. Unemployment
4. Economic Growth
5. Growth Models
6. AD-AS Model
7. IS-LM Model
8. Dynamic AD-AS Model
9. Stabilization Policies
10. Government Debt & Budget Deficit
This introductory level macroeconomics module provides an overview of the aggregate economy with some mathematical foundation, and presents the trade-off of macroeconomic objective in a more technical framework. Note that the recent curriculum has shifted towards monetary models and thus this review is no longer accurate.
The first half of the module focus on macroeconomic relationship between national income, inflation, unemployment and economic growth. Economic growth is illustrated extensively using Solow's Growth Model, which presents the optimization problem as a differential equation. However, technical knowledge of differential equations are unnecessary because numerical data are often given in this course.
The second half of the module focus on aggregate national income models. The IS-LM framework is used extensively to illustrate the movements in the output and money markets, as well as deriving the AD-AS model from the set of equilibria. Numerical computation is not required for this segment as the focus in on the economic intuition and analysis of dynamic variables. The module closes with stabilization policies for short run economic fluctuations and a brief introduction to effects of government debt and budget deficits.
Honestly, I find macroeconomic analysis interesting but the examinations are rather discouraging. Most people that took macroeconomic analysis this semester will share the same sentiments as me, especially for final exam. Most people did well for midterms, but I flunked it somehow and thus the horrible result. However, it's one of the core modules of economics, so you will eventually have to face it unless you switch major. I believe that with hard work, it is still possible to score for this module!
Workload: Moderate
Difficulty: Difficult
Grade: C+