Global Economic Environment

Economics is the "lingua franca" of business. GEE is a course in applied macroeconomics. Its goal is to help students develop a solid theoretical and practical understanding of the broad factors, including public policy, that affect the performance and management of firms in today's global economy. GEE looks at the long-term evolution of regional, national, and international economies, shorter-term fluctuations around these slower-moving trends, the impact of these developments on businesses, and the roles that are played by monetary policy, fiscal policy, and financial globalization in driving these changes. Some of the questions we examine include: Why are some countries doing so much better than others? What causes business cycles and what is the role of monetary and fiscal policy in shaping them? What moves exchange rates? What leads to persistent inflation and how can hyperinflation arise? What are the causes and consequences of global imbalances? To address these questions, we develop conceptual frameworks that allow us to understand the various interactions between key macroeconomic variables such as real output, economic growth, unemployment, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, and the current account balance. Since an important objective of this course is for students to become informed and sophisticated consumers of economic news, the issues discussed in this course are continually related to current events and real-world examples.