Required in stage
Optional in stage
Second term
Both terms
Not organised
This year
Next year
Alternating years
External
Prerequisites
Identical coursesMacroeconomics (BBEng) (B-KUL-HBE22E)
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contract
Maes Marjan (coordinator) | Maes Marjan Aims
Regarding the general learning outcomes to be achieved at the level of the program:
Students
-know and understand the leading concepts in economics, and are able to use them to analyse and solve typical problems from an economic conceptual framework.
-can describe and interpret the behaviour of economic actors and can assess their consequences for an organisation and society at large.
-can communicate clearly in the language of the programme as well as in two foreign languages.
-recognise the international dimensions of business management and policy making, and can analyse (business-)economic issues as part of an international framework.
-develops a professional attitude and professional and academic skills that allow him/her to offer a meaningful contribution to society.
-In his/her acting and thinking, the student pays attention to the environment, the human being and society and he/she develops a critical attitude in this context
Regarding the specific learning results of this course:
The aim is that the student familiarizes himself with a coherent integrated framework of major macroeconomic models that allows them to analyse and to grasp diverse macro-economic phenomena and problems. In doing so, he adopts a critical science-based attitude. The student...
- interprets and analyses, on the macro-economic level, the behaviour of the different economic agents (consumers, firms, governments) on the various domestic and foreign markets (goods market, money and financial market, exchange market and labor market)
- Defines, explains and uses, both graphically and model-based, macro-economic concepts and variables (e.g. GDP, economic growth, inflation, unemployment, devaluation, balance of payments, competitiveness, intrest rate, …)
- Analyses a simultaneous equilibrium model and explains how the economy evolves towards a state of equilibrium, using both a graph as well as explaining the economic intuition in words
- Evaluates the effectiveness of government intervention (fiscal and monetary policy, labor market policy, exchange rate policy)
- Understands macro-economic articles in the daily press and macroeconomic events in the real world and is able to situate them critically in the field of macroeconomics
Previous knowledge
It is required that students previously passed the course Economics II (HBE02U) in 1st stage of BBEng. This course is only open for students who have passed Economics II (HBE02U) in 2022-2023 or later.
Is included in these courses of study
Activities
2 ects. Macroeconomics Part I (BBEng) (B-KUL-HBE22e)
EnglishFormat: Lecture
26 
First termContent
The OLA starts with a quick review of the content of the course Economics II. The latter developed macro-economic models for the goods and financial market, both for the short run and medium run, under the assumption of a closed economy.
This OLA provides extensions in several directions and relies on the coursebook used for Economics II. In a first part, the course focuses on the determinants of long term growth. After a look at historical trends, the Solow model is used to explain the large observed increase in the standard of living of OECD countries since 1950. We analyze in particular the role of capital accumulation in explaining economic growth. We also look at the role of technological progress and institutions in sustaining growth. The final chapter of this first part looks at the role of economic growth in explaining climate change, at the potential impact of AI for future growth and at the relation between economic growth and inequality.
In a second part, the course extends the core models developed in Economics II to an open economy. We first introduce basic concepts like the exchange rate (bilateral, effective, nominal and real) and the relationship between exchange rates and interest rates in the domestic and foreign economy. These are used to study the goods market equilibrium in the open economy (45degree model). In a further chapter, we extend the IS LM model to the open economy (Mundell-Fleming model). The final chapter of this second part discusses the role of policy (monetary, fiscal) under fixed and floating exchange rate regimes and explains the concept of an optimal currency area that will be further analysed in the OLA Macroeconomics part II (BBeng).
Course material
The reference book for this OLA is Oliver Blanchard. Macroeconomics. Global Edition. Pearson, 6th, 7th or 8th Edition. It is not compulsory.
Lecture notes for each lecture will be available on Toledo.
Interesting articles from high quality magazines (f.e. The Economist) may be discussed during the lecture to make macroeconomic models more concrete and easier to grasp. They will also be made available on Toledo.
Format: more information
Practice session
Traditional lectures. Active participation from students during the lectures is very welcome.
Examples of exam questions (both open questions and multiple choice) will be made available on Toledo in order to allow students to train and prepare themselves properly for the exam. Practice sessions will be organized.
3 ects. Economics of Monetary Integration (B-KUL-HBA50c)
Content
The OLA aims at giving insight into the costs and benefits for a country of joining (or staying in) a monetary union. This should lead to a better understanding of the conditions necessary and sufficient for a monetary union to function properly. We rely on the Theory of optimum currency areas (Mundell).
The OLA then analyses the fragility of incomplete monetary unions like the Eurozone (cfr. souvereign debt crisis in 2011) and aims at giving insight into the possible ways to deal with some of the challenges.
The OLA also examines the monetary policy by the ECB (including the new regulatory and supervisory structure leading towards a banking union) and the need for fiscal discipline (including the revised Stability Growth Pact) in the eurozone.
The course content corresponds to the following chapters:
1. The costs of a common currency
2. The theory of optimum currency areas: a critique
3. The benefits of a common currency
4. Costs and benefits compared
6. The transition to a monetary union (Maastricht treaty)
8. Political economy of deconstructing the Eurozone (2 case studies: Greece and Italy)
9. The European central bank
10. Monetary policy in the Eurozone
11. Fiscal policies in monetary unions
Course material
https://webapps.odisee.be/Ancor/SSM/Pages/BekijkSSM.aspx?OID=26510
compulsory coursebook: Degrauwe, P. (2020), Economics of the Monetary Union, Oxford University Press: Oxford.
A few copies of the coursebook are freely available in the library for students.
Lecture notes (in ppt) for each lecture will be available on Toledo under the "Course documents".
Interesting articles on relevant topics from quality newspapers or scientific journals may be discussed during the lecture. They will also be available under the "Course documents" on Toledo.
Language of instruction: more information
English language program
Format: more information
Traditional lectures. Active participation from students during the lectures is very welcome.
Is also included in other courses
Evaluation
Evaluation: Macroeconomics (BBEng) (B-KUL-O74118)
Explanation
For the OLA Macro-Economics I (BBeng) :
Evaluation characteristics: written exam in the first week of November. The exam takes 3 hours. It consists of a mix of multiple choice and open questions. The 10 multiple choice questions provide each 4 possible answers and apply a guess correction. The open questions, that can be inspired by real macroeconomic situations, test the ability of the student to demonstrate his economic intuition and reasoning, while illustrating this also graphically.
For the OLA Economics of Monetary Integration:
Evaluation characteristics: written exam during the examination period. The exam takes 2 hours. It consists of open questions.
Determination final result: the exam for the OLA Macro-economics I counts for 10 out of 20 points. The exam for the OLA Economics of Monetary Integration counts for 10 out of 20 points. In order to pass this course, 1) students have to participate in both the exam for the OLA Macroeconomics I and the exam for the OLA Economics of Monetary Integration and 2) students have to obtain an average score on these two exams of at least 10 out of 20. Provided the average score on these two exams is at least 10, it is hence possible to compensate a fail grade on the exam for one OLA by a pass grade on the exam for the other OLA.
Information about retaking exams
Students that obtain a final result for this course that is less than 10/20, have to redo both the exam for OLA Macro-Economics I and the exam for the OLA Macro-Economics II during the second exam opportunity. The features for the determination of the final result in this second exam opportunity are identical as for the first examination opportunity.