The basic design of the course allows teaching to proceed largely irrespective of Public Health regulations pertaining to the Corona situation. Working through papers and audio slides can be done by students from home. Class size for in-class teaching and the relative share of in-class and online meetings will be adjusted flexibly. If necessary, all meetings can be shifted online.

This course provides an in-depth analysis of monetary policy and the financial sector at the graduate level.

• Foundations of Monetary Policy and the Financial Sector
• Conventional and Unconventional Monetary Policy
• Macroprudential Policy
• Monetary Policy in Macro Models with Financial Frictions
• Inflation and Deflation
• Financial Crises and Policy Reforms
• Current Topics, e.g., Digital Money and Cryptocurrencies, Monetary Policy Strategy Review, Monetary Policy and the Corona Crisis

The course develops students' skills in monetary and financial economics to

• acquire a deeper understanding  of monetary policy and the financial sector from a theoretical, empirical, and policy perspective,
• gain insights into current economic crises and the role of monetary policy and financial regulation,
• understand the formal theoretical and empirical models underpinning modern monetary policy,
• critically discuss current policy issues with renowned experts,
• read and understand original research papers in economics,
• get prepared for writing a master's thesis.

The attendance requirement is met if a student is present at least 80% of the time at class and online meetings.

The backbone of the course is a series of original scientific papers written by renowned economists on money and the financial sector. The course combines elements of distance learning and in-class teaching for those students staying in Vienna as the general situation permits. Students compelled to continue  distance-learning in fall 2020 can also participate in the course.

• Students will work through papers assigned over the course of the semester.
• Audio slides on those papers (i.e. PowerPoint slides with comments by the course instructor) help to understand the material.
• In-class meetings with reduced class size on a rotating schedule and online sessions are flexibly set up to allow for direct interaction with the instructor, augmenting the material covered in the papers and providing opportunities for discussion.
• For students in full distance learning mode online meetings replace in-class meetings.
• Students write essays on home assignments related to the papers and collect points for participating in the discussions at the meetings.

Grading: 80% essays (each essay is is equally weighted) , 20% direct participation

Graduate level microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics

E-Mail: guido.schaefer@wu.ac.at

Tel.: + 431 31336 4579

Office Hours: Thursday, 4-5 p.m.

Students taking the accompanying Research and Policy Seminar should also take this course.