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| Semester | spring semester 2020 |
| Course frequency | Every spring sem. |
| Lecturers | Philip Turner (philip.turner@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) led central banks to take exceptional measures. These policies have been widely seen as “unconventional” – at least by the standards of monetary theory and policy frameworks that had developed by the 1980s. The crisis also revealed major failings in the international monetary and financial system. Yet many measures have antecedents in earlier policy frameworks. In addition, policies adopted reflected lessons learnt from the macroeconomic policy failures of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Many current debates on what central banks should do can be illuminated by historical controversies, some of which remain unsettled. And monetary theories that preceded the current Neo-Keynesian paradigm posed questions that now seem pertinent. In this course, we consider some specific controversies which are very live today from an historical perspective. The aim is to explore, using several sources, themes of particular relevance for monetary economics. Not of course comprehensive economic history. |
| Bibliography | There is no textbook. Some (short) readings will be suggested for each section. (Some additional references will be given for the essay topics.) In some cases, these readings will be the texts of speeches by central bank governors, who often explain the economic logic of what they have done. A good start would be the four lectures by Ben Bernanke on the Federal Reserve and the financial crisis. This is available http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/lectures. It is also available as a book with this title published by Princeton University Press. It is very clear and readable. On relevant macroeconomic theory, a short recent book is P Temin and D Vines Keynes: useful economics for the world economy. MIT Press, 2014. |
| Weblink | Weblink to ADAM |
| Admission requirements | Prerequisites: Bachelor in Business and Economics. |
| Course application | Registration: Please enrol in MOnA. EUCOR-Students and students of other Swiss Universities have to enrol at the students administration office (studseksupport1@unibas.ch) within the official enrolment period. Enrolment = Registration for the exam! |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Core Module: Core Areas in Monetary Economics (Master's Studies: International and Monetary Economics) Modul: Europäisierung und Globalisierung (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Specialization Module: Monetary Economics and Financial Markets (Master's Studies: Business and Economics) |
| Assessment format | end-of-semester examination |
| Assessment details | The course will require that students take an active part in discussing what are live and controversial questions. Students will be invited to prepare a very short presentation (7 to 10 minutes) on one article or a section of a book relevant to a theme. They should explain the point of the article is and should say on what they agree or disagree. They can suggest a few key questions for the class to discuss. Making presentations is an active way of learning both individually and from others, and is an important skill to acquire for any job. This will not be graded and students should feel relaxed about it. Each student will be asked to write an essay on a topic/question drawn from a list covering the six themes (50% of the grade), and give a 15-minute talk on that essay (25% of the grade). Not more than 4000 words plus a few well-chosen graphs and tables. Each student should feel free to discuss this essay with the lecturer at any stage. 25% of the grade will be for class participation. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Registration: course registration |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,1 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Business and Economics , studiendekanat-wwz@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Faculty of Business and Economics |