International Macroeconomics

Dozent/in	Prof. Dr. Manuel Oechslin
Veranstaltungsart	Vorlesung
Code	HS251049
Semester	Herbstsemester 2025
Durchführender Fachbereich	Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Studienstufe	Master
Termin/e	Mo, 22.09.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 29.09.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 06.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 13.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 20.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 27.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 03.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 10.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 17.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 24.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 01.12.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, 4.A05 Mo, 15.12.2025, 14:15 - 15:15 Uhr, HS 10 (Prüfung)
Umfang	2 Semesterwochenstunden
Turnus	weekly
Inhalt	Why did European leaders in the 1990s decide to establish the euro? Why did the Swiss National Bank introduce, and later abandon, a lower bound of 1.20 francs against the euro? Why has the euro been so weak in recent years? Why has the idea of currency weakening—and the fear of a "currency war"—repeatedly come up since the Great Recession? Questions like these have received a lot of attention lately—and will be addressed in this course. We will start by introducing basic concepts such as the balance of payments and the exchange rate. We will then discuss how exchange rates are determined, considering different exchange rate regimes. Further topics include the historical performance of alternative exchange rate regimes and questions of macroeconomic policy-making in an integrated world economy. Students will also have the opportunity to work through various theoretical problems and are encouraged to engage with current policy questions.
Lernziele	Students familiarize themselves with the basic concepts used in the study of open economies. Students become proficient in analyzing the short- and long-run consequences of monetary and fiscal policies under different exchange rate regimes, relying on a coherent framework which will be set up in class. Finally, students develop a deep understanding of important international monetary policy issues (such as how international policy-coordination problems are affected by the exchange-rate regime).
Voraussetzungen	None.
Sprache	Englisch
Anmeldung	To attend the course / exercise, registration via e-learning platform OLAT is required. Registration is possible from 1 – 26 September 2025. The students themselves are responsible for checking the creditability of the course to their course of study. Direct link to OLAT course: https://lms.uzh.ch/url/RepositoryEntry/17745707057
Leistungsnachweis	***IMPORTANT*** In order to take part in the examination, registration via the UniPortal within the examination registration period is REQUIRED. Further information on registration for the examination: www.unilu.ch/wf/pruefungen
Abschlussform / Credits	Written exam / 3 Credits
Hörer-/innen	Ja
Kontakt	manuel.oechslin@unilu.ch
Literatur	The course is based on lecture notes which will be published on OLAT. The lecture notes follow, more or less closely, selected chapters of the textbook "International Economics. Theory and Policy" by Paul Krugman, Maurice Obstfeld, and Marc Melitz (Pearson). The lecture notes refer to a number of research papers and books. These are not required reading materials, but they are recommended for students with a particular interest in international macroeconomics.