This course studies the global economic environment in which households, firms, policy makers, and regulators operate. This environment is complex and volatile, as the recent experience of four major crises, the financial, fiscal, covid, and war crises, has demonstrated. The risks emanate not only in the different origins and the lack of recent previous experience with some of the crises, but also in ambiguity as to policy and regulatory responses. We will build a coherent framework to understand the behavior of aggregate output, interest rates, consumption and investment, inflation, and unemployment, and how these are influenced by monetary, fiscal, and financial policies. This new framework has been developed in view of lessons from the financial crisis and represents an improvement on the typical content of macro-finance courses at this level. The goal is to allow you to understand the reporting and debates on policy responses in the sophisticated financial press, as these unfold.
- GDP, headline and core inflation, natural and cyclical unemployment, budget deficits and debt
- Business cycles and demand management
- The financial, fiscal, covid, and war crises
- Fiscal policy, fiscal stimulus, austerity, fiscal consolidation
- Monetary policy (conventional and unconventional), inflation targets, zero lower bound
- Causes of and remedies for inflation and unemployment
- Macroeconomic effects of financial market developments
This course is part of the prestigious part-time Master in Finance program, conducted in English on Fridays and Saturdays on Campus Westend. It offers a valuable opportunity to network and gain expertise without committing to a full degree program. As the number of seats is limited, we recommend to register early. If you’re a GBS alumni, explore our attractive alumni discount options.
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Participants have the choice of completing the course with a qualified certificate or attending as a guest auditor. As an auditor, you are not required to complete assignments, take exams or earn academic credits.
| ECTS | Certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| Guest auditor | - | Certificate of Participation |
| Full participant | 3 CP | Qualified Certificate |
Prof. Michael Haliassos, Ph.D.
Prof. Michael Haliassos, Chair of Macroeconomics and Finance at Goethe University, is Founding Director of the CEPR Network on Household Finance, and Research Fellow of CEPR and of NETSPAR. He has been an advisor to the European Central Bank on the Household Finances and Consumption Survey since its inception in 2006; and a consultant to ESMA on Investor Protection (2015-17). He was a two-term Director of the Center for Financial Studies (2010-15) and Founding Director of SAFE (2013-15). He received a B.A. from Cambridge and a Ph.D. from Yale under the supervision of Nobel Laureates James Tobin and William Nordhaus. He was among the early researchers in Household Finance, and he reviewed the Journal of Economic Literature 2021. His papers have appeared in leading journals, including the Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Monetary Economics. He recently received the 2021 RFS Hillcrest Prize for Best Behavioral Finance Paper.
| Date | Session |
|---|---|
| Fri., May 16, 2025 | 13:00-15:00 |
| Sat., May 31, 2025 | 11:30-16:30 |
| Sat., June 14, 2025 | 16:30-18:00 |
| Fri., June 27, 2025 | 15:30-20:00 |