6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021455AER for all students in the 2nd semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Applied economics
Educational team
Luc Hens (course titular)
Selin Tunç
Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
26 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
128 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

Introduction to Macroeconomics explains:

  • the circular flow
  • the determination of a country's output and income
  • economic growth
  • employment and unemployment
  • the interest rate
  • the inflation rate

Introduction to Macroeconomics discusses:

  • monetary and fiscal policy
  • the macroeconomics of open economies

Introduction to Macroeconomics introduces:

  • the fundamental models of macroeconomics and illustrates the principles using real-world cases

Comparative and European perspective throughout.

Course material
Handbook (Required) : Economics, Mankiw, N. G. and Taylor, M. P., 4, Andover: Cengage Learning, 9781473768543, 2020
Digital course material (Required) : Course syllabus, Hens, L., 2021
Additional info
The textbook is available in the Standaard Student Shop.
 
I expect students to read the economic news. The Financial Times en The Economist are available in the library. During the semester I post references to newsppaer articles on the learning platform. During tutorials teaching assistents can hand out additional materials.
Learning Outcomes

General Competences

The student develops the first four competences described in Hansen, W. (2001). Expected proficiencies for undergraduate economics majors. Journal of Economic Education, 32(3): 231–242.

The student can:

  • track down economic data and data sources (on-line and in print) and can find information about the generation, construction, and meaning of macroeconomic data
  • explain key economic concepts and describe how these concepts can be used
  • summarize in a two-minute monologue or in a 500-word written statement what is known about the current condition of the economy and its outlook
  • summarize the principal ideas of an eminent economist
  • elaborate a recent controversy in the economics literature
  • state the dimensions of a current economic policy issue
  • explain and evaluate what economic concepts and principles are used in economic analyses published in daily newspapers and weekly news magazines (or nontechnical analyses written by economists for general purpose publications)
  • describe how these concepts aid in understanding these analyses
  • interpret and manipulate economic data: explain how to understand and interpret numerical data found in published tables such as those in the Annual Report of the National Bank of Belgium
  • covert nominal variables to  real variables; compute growth rates and percentage growth rates; n; convert variables to another exchange rate
  • construct tables from already available data to illustrate an economic issue
  • describe the relationship among three different variables (e.g., unemployment, prices, and GDP). 

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 90% of the final mark.
Practical Exam determines 10% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 90 which comprises 90% of the final mark.

Within the Practical Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Paper (group) with a relative weight of 10 which comprises 10% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

A Practical Exam (group paper) and a Written Exam.

The assignment for the group paper is posted on the learning platform. Evaluation is based on contribution to teamwork, the ability to link the economic issues to the course content, writing skills (spelling, grammar, and style), and the ability to respect deadlines. Students who, for a valid and documented reason, cannot participate in the group paper and who report this in writing to the teacher at least two weeks before the due date of the paper, can request an individual assignment.

The exam component "Practical Exam" (group paper) cannot be re-taken in the second exam session. The result for this part of the exam is transferred to the second exam session.  Students who are absent for the exam component "Practical Exam (group paper) will get a score of 0 for this component.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Business Economics: Startplan Business Economics
Bachelor of Business Economics: Business and Technology
Bachelor of Business Economics: International Business
Preparatory Programme Master of Science in International Business: Default track
Preparatory Programme Master of Science in Business Engineering: Business and Technology: Default track