Postgraduate - UnitECC5901 - Macroeconomics

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Business and Economics
Organisational Unit	Department of Economics
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Day) Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Siew-Ling Yew (Semester 1); Dr Michael White (Semester 2)

Synopsis

This unit focuses on macroeconomic theory and policy; managing aggregate demand; economic growth and fluctuations. Content covers the following topics in detail:

open-economy IS-LM framework and AD-AS framework
principles of monetary and fiscal policy and problems of implementation
alternative theories of aggregate supply; imperfect information; labour market rigidities
explaining and correcting inflation and unemployment.

This unit provides an intermediate level treatment of macroeconomic theory and policy. Its central focus is the analysis of the factors and processes that determine the macroeconomic performance of a nation as reflected in such indicators as aggregate output, employment, the price level and exchange rate, and the balance of payments.

Implications of this analysis for the formulation of national economic policy are explored with particular application to Australia.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

analyse systematically the forces that determine change in macroeconomic performance and living standards in Australia
understand the relationship between the domestic economy and the international economic environment as reflected in the behaviour of the balance of payments and exchange rates
evaluate critically the issues underlying important contemporary policy debates in Australia and elsewhere
understand the nature and relevance of some significant recent developments in macroeconomics
practice rigorous economic analysis and put that to constructive use in decision-making.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 40%
Examination: 60%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Siew Ling Yew (First semester)
Dr Michael White (Second semester)

Prohibitions

ECC2010, ETC2010, ECC9010, ECX9010