Duration: 3 hours per week - 13 weeks [ECTS: 5]

Course outline

The objective of the Economic Growth course is to introduce the student to a thinking methodology that leads to an understanding of a fundamental macroeconomic research question, why and how economies grow.
On this basis, we develop the conceptual discussion of economic development, the methodology of recording the phenomenon and its importance in the welfare of households. After the conceptual introduction, we develop the neoclassical model of economic growth, ascertaining whether it answers the key questions and captures the key features of economic growth. Delving deeper into the study of the phenomenon and concluding with the analysis of exogenous growth models, we introduce micro foundations and analyze the model of optimal economic growth.
The discussion concludes with an introduction to models of endogenous economic growth with special reference to technology, human capital and government spending.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of the lectures and successful completion of the course, students should:

• Have a deeper understanding of key concepts related to economic growth and economic development
• Be able to choose the appropriate statistics and variables to describe, understand and analyze the phenomenon of economic growth
• To have a deeper understanding of the evolution of economic growth theories and their evaluation
• Be able to develop and solve elementary mathematical models of economic growth and apply the results to the interpretation of empirical data
• To be able to choose an appropriate model for the qualitative analysis of the current economic situation