Country Level Economics - Macroeconomic Variables and Markets

Overview

The Country Level Economics - Macroeconomic Variables and Markets course offered by Coursera in partnership with University of Illinois discusses how macroeconomic variables affect individuals’ personal, professional, and public activities and lays the foundation for the analysis of the mechanisms that drive macroeconomic variables. 

It starts by introducing the key macroeconomic variables and explaining how they are defined and measured to interpret macroeconomic data properly.

Then, the course offers a perspective for separating out various parts of the economy driven by different processes and for combining those components to develop a richer view of the whole. In particular, it applies this approach to the analysis of the relationship of the trade deficit with the budget deficit and private savings, offering insights about some key determinants of the balance of payments. The third and fourth modules focus on the analyses of the foreign currency and money markets to provide fundamental models of the interest rate and exchange rate determination. They also discuss how these variables interact with each other and with the macroeconomic conditions, particularly monetary policy, and the expectations about the future trends in the economy.

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Systematically assess the national and international economic environment in which you live and work.

• Analyze macroeconomic issues using key tools.

• Be a more effective professional in your line of activity.