About

Macroeconomic Analysis is a graduate course built around one skill: carrying out macroeconomic analysis. 

The undergraduate curriculum teaches what macroeconomic models say. This course asks when a model applies, how to tell whether it fits the data, and what to do when it does not.

The organising method is the cycle of theory, model and data. Theory identifies the mechanism, the model formalises it and derives testable implications, and data discipline the model through measurement, estimation and testing.

The course applies this method over two horizons:

• Long run: why some economies grow and become rich. Topics include growth models, growth accounting and the role of institutions.

• Short run: why output fluctuates around its trend, and how monetary and fiscal policy respond.

The course also prepares students for independent research. It surveys core research areas in growth, development, financial frictions, fiscal policy, open-economy macroeconomics and inflation. 

Students complete two linked assignments:

1. A literature review that identifies a research gap.

2. A research paper that addresses that gap and is shaped into a thesis chapter or a journal article.

By the end of the term, students should be able to frame a macroeconomic question in theory, formalise it in a model, confront it with data, and state the limits of their conclusions.