The course will provide an overview of macroeconomic developments in the EU since the inception of the euro, the (changing) settings of macroeconomic policy designs and governance mechanisms, and its analytical underpinnings.

Topics and issues covered will include:

    General issues ​

• The Maastricht-Treaty and the early years of EMU
• The “orthodox” economic policy paradigm at the turn of the century
•  Analytics: the new-Keynesian DSGE model and the "divine coincidence"
•  Bubbles, intra-area capital flows, economic convergence, and divergence
•  The financial crisis 2008 and its fall-out
•  Intellectual and institutional governance failure and repair
•  The main economic challenges at the current juncture 

         Special topics

•  EU enlargement and catching-up
•  Income inequality in the EU
•  Greece and the Troika
•  Brexit
•  The productivity paradox
•  The EU in the global economy
•  The secular stagnation hypothesis
•  Fiscal and monetary governance reconsidered
•  The macro-policy response to the Covid-pandemic
•  The return of inflation

Students will learn about the main macroeconomic developments in the EU over the past 25 years, and gain knowledge and a broad analytic understanding of the evolving patterns of macroeconomic policy settings, governance mechanism and institutional design at the Community level. Students will practise literature search, exercise teamwork, and improve presentation techniques and discussion proficiency.

Students must not miss more than two sessions, attendance at the introductory session is mandatory for students’ teams work assignment.  

The general issues will be covered by the instructor in a lecture format with Q&A; homework questions will be posed at the end of each lecture. Special topics will be dealt with in presentations (30 minutes max) and discussion by students’ teams; two topics per session.

Team special topic paper (40%)

Team presentation (35%)

Active participation in class (25%)

Basic knowledge of undergraduate macroeconomics

Available for questions after each class.

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