Macroeconomics and History
Study Board of Market and Management Anthropology, Economics, Mathematics-Economics, Environmental and Resource Management
Teaching language: English
EKA: B560011102
Censorship: Second examiner: None
Grading: 7-point grading scale
Offered in: Odense
Offered in: Autumn
Level: Master
Course ID: B560011101
ECTS value: 10
Date of Approval: 19-02-2018
Duration: 1 semester
Course ID
Course Title
Teaching language
ECTS value
Responsible study board
Study Board of Market and Management Anthropology, Economics, Mathematics-Economics, Environmental and Resource Management
Date of Approval
Course Responsible
Offered in
Level
Offered in
Duration
Mandatory prerequisites
Recommended prerequisites
There are no formal requirements for following the course, except for having acquired an understanding of macroeconomics and econometrics at the level of the BA. Having followed the undergraduate class ‘An Introduction to Economic and Business History’ would be an advantage.
Aim and purpose
The course is designed to introduce a selection of themes from macroeconomic history with a focus on understanding how history impacts on current economic outcomes and debates. The idea is thus not simply to gain an understanding of economic history for its own sake, but most importantly a realization that it is not possible to have a full understanding of the world economy today without knowing how we got here. For example, only history can teach us why some countries are rich and others are poor. What did some countries do ‘right’ and others do ‘wrong’? The euro was the result of a long history of experiments with various currency regimes in Europe. Have policymakers learned the lessons of history? Present day globalization mirrors events that took place before the First World War which were subsequently met by a policy backlash and a collapse in the world economy in the 1930s. Can we avoid this fate for the current globalization?
To understand why knowledge of economic history is important, just note that (to a large extent) it was the lessons from the macroeconomic history of the Great Depression that formed the Fed's policy response to the Great Recession of 2007/08. Indeed, before taking up the position as Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke was a renowned economic historian. Moreover, the Chair of (President Obama’s) Council of Economic Advisors from January 2009 to September 2010 was Christina Romer, also a prominent economic historian, and two more economic historians, Tyler Goodspeed and Marianne Wanamaker are on the present Council.
The course will be global in scope; that is, it will deal with both emerging markets as well as OECD economies.
The aim is also to prepare students for writing a masters’ thesis which explicitly recognizes the role of history for current economic outcomes and debates.
Content
The lectures will cover the following themes
•The timing of the divergence in living standards around the world, the reasons for this, and the prospects for the future
•Historical and present concerns about natural resource constraints and the environment
•Denmark as a development case study
•International trade and tariff policy
•Globalization and backlash
•The welfare state and the socialist experiment
•Inequality within nations and social mobility
•Banks and banking crises
•Monetary and exchange rate regimes
•Financial panics and crashes
•Global imbalances
•Emerging markets, export-led growth and international adjustment
Learning goals
Description of outcome - Knowledge
Demonstrate knowledge about the course’s focus areas, enabling the student to
- Identify, explain and reflect upon historical antecedents of current macro policy issues
- Discuss and analyze the ‘great divergence’ in living standards around the world
- Discuss and analyze historical debates about natural resource constraints, and the impact of economic growth on the environment
- Discuss and analyze Denmark’s emergence as a rich country in the late 19th century based on agricultural exports
- Discuss and analyze historical trade regimes, how policymakers have used trade policy, and its impact on economic growth performance
- Discuss and analyze historical episodes of globalization and backlash in relation to current debate
- Discuss and analyze the origins of the welfare state and the reasons for the failure of socialism/communism
- Discuss and analyze income and wealth inequality within nations and social mobility
- Discuss and analyze the development of banking as well as historical and recent banking crises
- Discuss and analyze the history of monetary and exchange rate regimes, what lessons can be learned from these, and how they impact on the present debate in Europe
- Discuss and analyze historical and recent financial crises
- Discuss and analyze the role of international and domestic political forces and international macroeconomic coordination (and lack thereof) for international adjustment
- Discuss and analyze the role of China’s export-led growth for recent international adjustment.
Description of outcome - Skills
Demonstrate skills, such that the student is able to:
- Find and use relevant literature and data to work on a specific topic relevant to macroeconomics and history
- Use econometric methods to analyze historical data
- Apply economic theory as it relates to macroeconomics and history
- Write an academic paper which answers a problem relevant to macroeconomics and history.
Description of outcome - Competences
Demonstrate competences, such that the student is able to:
- Independently apply simple modifications of historical analyzes (formal and/or informal) to shed light on contemporary macroeconomic issues (e.g., gold standard versus euro crisis)
- Independently apply simple modifications of historical analyzes (formal and/or informal) to formulate macroeconomic policy responses to actual and/or hypothesized macroeconomic issues
- Identify a need for further development of the models and theories related to macroeconomics and history
- Independently find a relevant research question for an academic paper, which might form the basis of future work on the master’s thesis.
Literature
The literature will be based on journal articles and book chapters, as well as non-academic sources such as clippings from the financial press and reports from international organizations as well as national institutions such as central banks.
Teaching Method
Scheduled classes:
2 lectures (2*2 hours) weekly for 7 weeks.
2 project supervision sessions (time to be arranged with the supervisor), concurrent with project work. Towards the end of the project-writing phase, one or more sessions will be organized for the students to present their work to each other and receive feedback. Students will be appointed as discussants for each other.
The first seven weeks will consist of standard lectures, including class debates. Students are expected to have read the reading material before they come to class. The rest of the semester will be for project work, with some class presentations and discussions.
Workload
The students' workload is expected to be distributed as follows:
Lectures - 28 hours
Preparation - 107 hours
Project writing (including supervision) - 130 hours
Project presentation and discussion – 5 hours
Total 270 hours
Examination regulations
Project
Name
Project
Timing
Exam: January
Reexam: February
Tests
Exam
Name
Exam
Form of examination
Take-home assignment
Censorship
Second examiner: None
Grading
7-point grading scale
Identification
Student Identification Card - Exam number
Language
Danish, English
Duration
Date for submission will appear from the examination plan.
Length
10 pages if one student, 16 pages in total if two students and 20 pages in total if three students (pages indicates number of physical pages and are all inclusive except the cover page).
Examination aids
All exam aids allowed.
Assignment handover
Course page in Blackboard.
Assignment handin
Via SDUassignment in the course page in Blackboard.
ECTS value
10
Additional information
Project assignment written individually or in groups of up to 3 students.
It must be clearly stated who is responsible for which part in order to make an individual assessment.
Internet Access: Necessary.
Re-examination
Form of examination
Oral examination
Identification
Student Identification Card - Date of birth
Duration
20 minutes.
Additional information
Examination form at the re-exam will be an oral exam (20 minutes) without preparation time, covering the whole curriculum.
EKA
B560011102
External comment
NOTE - This course is identical with the former course 9150001 Macroeconomics and History.
Used examination attempts in the former identical course will be transferred.
Courses that are identical with former courses that are passed according to applied rules cannot be retaken.
The student is automatically registered for the first examination attempt when the student is registered for a course or course element with which one or more examinations are associated. Withdrawal of registration is not possible, and students who fail to participate in an examination have used one examination attempt, unless the University has made an exemption due to special circumstances.
If a student does not meet the established university prerequisites for taking the exam, he or she has used one examination attempt, unless the University has made an exemption due to special circumstances.
The student is responsible for registering for 2nd and 3rd examination attempt.
Courses offered
| Offer period | Offer type | Profile | Education | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS German language profile International Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Arabic language profile International Market Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS German language profile Global Marketing Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Spanish language profile International Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS English language profile International Communication Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Arabic language profile Global Marketing Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS German language profile International Communication Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS English language profile International Market Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Spanish language profile Human Ressource Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS German language profile International Market Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Spanish language profile Global Marketing Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Arabic language profile Human Ressource Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Arabic language profile International Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Arabic language profile International Communication Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS English language profile Global Marketing Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Spanish language profile International Market Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS English language profile Human Ressource Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS Spanish language profile International Communication Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS German language profile Human Ressource Management | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | MA Negot 120 ECTS English language profile International Relations | Master of Arts (MA) in Business, Language and Culture | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | Cand.scient.oecon (Statistik) | MSc in Mathematics-Economics | Master of Science (MSc) in Mathematics-Economics | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | Cand.scient.oecon (Finansiering) | MSc in Mathematics-Economics | Master of Science (MSc) in Mathematics-Economics | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | Cand.scient.oecon (Operationsanalyse) | MSc in Mathematics-Economics | Master of Science (MSc) in Mathematics-Economics | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | Master of Science in Economics (with profile in Economics) | MSc in Economics | Master of Science (MSc) in Economics | Odense | |
| Fall 2018 | Optional | Master of Science in Economics (with profile in Finance) | MSc in Economics | Master of Science (MSc) in Economics | Odense |