Deutsch Intern
Senior Professorship for Economics, Money and International Economic Relations

European Macroeconomics

This is a course in the bachelor program of the Economics Faculty. It presents an introduction into macroeconomics with a specific focus on the euro area. The theoretical part provides a critical presentation of the two key macroeconomic models: the (neo)classical approach and the Keynesian approach. This allows a comparative analysis of important macroeconomic topics:

- unemployment
- inflation
- government debt and Modern Monetary Theory
- banks and financial crises. 

The policy-oriented part discusses the monetary policy of the ECB and the specific challenges for fiscal policy in the euro area. The course also presents other euro area specific topics: Optimum currency area, euro crises, Next Generation EU and Green New Deal.

Organisational matters

This Bachelors course is offered every summer semester and includes a weekly lecture and online tutorials that students can work on at their own pace. Materials and further information will be provided in the WueCampus course room (search for course number 10111100). 

Exams: will take place during the regular exam period (1.) end of July / August (summer term) and (2.) February / March (retake exam in the winter term) each year. The exam is based on multiple choice questions and is held as an online exam.

Important: Please be sure to enroll in the WueCampus course room to get all course information and lecture materials!

Participation

  • Students from JMU Würzburg and foreign exchange students at the faculty can enroll in the WueCampus course room without further registration (students from all bachelor's programmes of the Economic Faculty can take part in the course and the exam, without CBE and CLE).
  • Students from other German universities can enroll as "Nebenhörer" (with tuition fee) via WueStudy:  Bewerberportal --> "Jetzt für das Sommersemester 20XX registrieren" --> register for "Modulstudium" --> "Wirtschaftswissenschaft" --> Globalisation. General information about study organisation at JMU can be found here.

Course language

English

ECTS 

5

Course description

By the end of the course, students will have gained a basic understanding of European macroeconomics. In particular, the course outline is as follows:

I. Targets of macroeconomic policy

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II. The mechanics of the two core macroeconomic models

a. The classical model of a self-stabilizing corn economy

b. The Keynesian model of a monetary economy with inherent instability

c. The financial system and banks in the two models

III. The diverging policy implications of the two paradigms 

a. Unemployment: wage rigidities versus rationing of the labor market by the goods market

b. Government debt: Crowding out versus Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)

c. Inflation: quantity theory versus Phillips curve

d. The incompatibility of the two worlds

IV. A simple IS/MP/PC model

V. The monetary policy of the ECB

a. The mandate of the ECB and possible trade-offs with unemployment and financial stability

b. Conventional/unconventional instruments of the ECB / The risk of fiscal dominance

c. ECB strategy and climate policy

d. The threat of deflation and the Zero-Lower Bound

VI. The difficult task of coordinating 19 independent national fiscal policies in the EMU

a. Specific challenges due to lack of political integration: Lack of coordination versus lack of fiscal discipline

b. The limitations set by Stability and Growth Pact

c. The rationale of fiscal rules: Maastricht Treaty, Fiscal Compact/Debt Brake, Golden Rule / reform proposals

VII. Specific EMU topics

a. Is the EMU an optimum currency area?

b. The financial crisis and the euro crisis: The dismal performance of the ECB until 2012 and the paradigm change by Mario Draghi (“Whatever it takes”)

c. The ECB in the Corona crisis and Next Generation EU

 

Course material

All course materials are available on WueCampus.

Contact

Prof. Dr. Peter Bofinger (peter.bofinger@uni-wuerzburg.de)
Felix Betz, B.A. (felix.betz@stud-mail.uni-wuerzburg.de)
Jonas Dix, M.Sc. (jonas.dix@uni-wuerzburg.de)
Leonie Streit, B.Sc. (leonie.streit@stud-mail.uni-wuerzburg.de​​​​​​​)

Why studying at University of Wuerzburg?

  • 14 Nobel Prize Alumni
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  • 270 Fields of Study
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  • 28,000 students - 3000 international students

Faculty of Business Management and Economics:

  • 3000 students
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