Course title

Macroeconomics

Code

 ECN 210

Professor

Prof. Trajko Slaveski, Ph.D.

After completing the course the students should be enabled to:

• Understand the functioning of the economy as a whole. Hereby, the issues of special importance are: economic growth (how and whether a poor country can become a developed country); employment and unemployment; price movements and other important variables, such as interest rates, stock prices, and exchange rates. All these factors determine production, income, employment, and price levels. Although as individuals we do not possess control over macro economy, by studying Macroeconomics as a discipline we could understand the mechanisms of its influence upon our possibilities and choices. This implies that the knowledge of Macroeconomics could be very useful not only in the decision making process in leading macroeconomic policies, but also in managing own business, or for that matter a bigger company or financial institution.
• Understand the public debates and discussions led in the media. As engaged citizens participating in the democratic processes, the students could find a way to participate in those debates. By using the right to vote, as one of the most important rights, we elect our own government, thus indirectly participating in the realization of macroeconomic policies. Macroeconomic literacy enables us to differentiate the candidates who could be good macroeconomic managers from those who promise much more than they could deliver.

Macroeconomics research applies to aggregate economic variables, i.e. the functioning of economy as a whole. It operates with the following concepts: aggregate output of goods and services; inflation and unemployment rates; balance of payments, and exchange rates. It equally covers long-term economic growth and short-term economic fluctuations that constitute the economic cycle. Macroeconomic focuses upon economic behavior and policies that influence consumption and investment, the value of national currency and trade balance, determinants in wage and price changes, monetary and fiscal policies, state budget, interest rates and national debt. This means that Macroeconomics is concerned with the most important economic issues and problems of everyday life.