3.0

Average Course Rating

This course covers some of the more contentious current debates in macroeconomics. Topics include: recent fiscal policy (did the 2021 stimulus overdo it? did workers benefit from the 2017 cut in the corporate tax?); unconventional monetary policies (have they helped?); modern monetary theory (sound doctrine or hokum?); why did interest rates trend lower for decades? backlash against globalization (warranted? unprecedented?); immigration (economic bane or boon?); rising income inequality (causes? consequences? pervasiveness?); has competition waned in US markets? Students will use the tools of economics to analyze these and other pressing issues. Though definitive answers may prove elusive, sound economic analysis can shed considerable light, not least by unmasking the political biases that often drive protagonists on both sides of these debates.