College ~45 hours
College Macroeconomics: Measuring and Managing the Economy
This path mirrors a first-semester college macroeconomics course: how we measure the economy, why it grows, why it fluctuates, and what governments and central banks can — and cannot — do about it. The AD-AS model is the spine: you will build it piece by piece and then use it to analyze fiscal policy, monetary policy, and supply shocks. Every step pairs theory with a simulator or calculator so the models stay visual. Finish with the policy debates step to practice weighing evidence on both sides.
Steps
Step 1: Thinking in Aggregates
From individual markets to the whole economy: the circular flow and the questions macroeconomics asks.
Step 2: GDP and National Income
Measuring total output and income, real versus nominal, and what GDP leaves out.
Step 3: Unemployment
Who counts as unemployed, types of unemployment, and why some unemployment is always present.
Step 4: Inflation and Price Indexes
How price levels are measured, what causes inflation, and who it helps and hurts.
Step 5: Long-Run Economic Growth
Why some economies grow faster: productivity, capital, technology, and institutions.
Step 6: Business Cycles and AD-AS
Short-run fluctuations and the aggregate demand–aggregate supply framework that organizes them.
Step 7: Fiscal Policy
How government spending and taxation stabilize demand: multipliers, lags, and debt.
Step 8: Money and Monetary Policy
The monetary system, central banking, and how interest-rate policy steers the economy.
Step 9: The Phillips Curve and Expectations
Inflation–unemployment dynamics and why expected inflation changes the trade-off.
Step 10: The Open Economy
Exchange rates, trade balances, and capital flows — how the rest of the world enters the model.
Step 11: Capstone: Policy Debates
Put the models to work on live debates — stimulus, inflation control, and debt — and review the full course.