OAFP 6495 - Applied Macroeconomics - From theory to practice

OAFP 6495 · Fall semester 2026-2027

Language of tuition
English
Course type
Cours séminaire
Number of hours
24
Credits
4

Information

Description

The course examines major political economy topics from a practitioner's perspective. For a bank, international organisation or central bank economist, how do you estimate a country's fiscal space? How do you forecast inflation? How do you forecast the level of real interest rates? How do you analyse the transmission of monetary policy? How financial markets react to budget or reform announcements? The course presents the policy debate as currently discussed in financial markets and is therefore useful for those willing to work in banks, Treasuries, and international organisations. It provides students with practical tools to forecast the economy and analyse the policy debate.

Prerequisites

Familiarity with macroeconomic concepts and models is required, at an intermediate level. Having taken already at least one module related to macroeconomics and/or International economics (such as Macroeconomics for Public Policy or International economics : money and banking) is recommended.

Teaching format

Each session starts with a discussion of the document(s) to be read. Then, the professor summarises the main lessons from the previous session and proceeds with the agenda for the day.

Assessment

midterm short exam20%
group homework30 %
final exam40%
participation10%

Workload

There will be one or several documents to read for each session.

Readings

Main readings 1

  1. Blanchard, O. (2022), “Fiscal Policy Under Low Interest Rates,” MIT press

Further readings 3

  1. Ball, L. et al. (2022), “Understanding U.S. Inflation in the Covid Era”, NBER

  2. Benassy-Quéré et al. (2018), “Reconciling risk sharing with market discipline: A constructive approach to euro area reform”, CEPR

  3. Summers, L et al. (2019), “On falling neutral real rates, fiscal policy, and the risk of secular stagnation”, Brookings

Teaching units

Unit no.Unit type Teaching unitsTeachers Number of hoursCredits
16358Cours séminaire Applied Macroeconomics - From theory to practice Jean-Baptiste PETHE244