DECO 25A29 - Economic Outlook Assessment: Methods, Tools and Debates for Economists & Policy Makers

Little theory, but facts, data, calculations and practical know-how. Economists seek to understand how countries perform, and policy makers (central banks, international institutions, governments) must take actions. The aim of this course is to train economists to critical thinking: how to find relevant and comprehensive data? How to compute and analyse them? How to deliver an objective assessment and sound policy recommendations? We will decrypt the main statistical sources used by economists & policy makers to forge their views. Surveys, GDP, inflation, unemployment, ‘imbalances’, ‘leading’ indicators: how are they built, what do they mean? Through hands-on work with data, students will develop the analytical autonomy to interpret current macroeconomic debates (e.g., in The Economist or the Financial Times) with an informed perspective and to form independent judgments.

Macroeconomics. Excel-like software will be used for simple calculations and case studies.