SYLLABUS

I.- OBJECTIVES

Students will develop an introductory understanding of the effects of politics on macroeconomic outcomes. Along the course, we will learn to analyse data and make inference, and to use the conceptual tools of economic analysis. Topics include: the political economy of economic growth, including the roles of democracy and legal institutions; determinants of religiosity; determinants of terrorism; the analysis of inflation, monetary policy, and monetary unions; budget deficits and fiscal policy; and the effect of economic integration on the size and number of nations.

II.- LIST OF TOPICS

1. Basic tools. Notes and slides

Readings: Material 1

2. Economic growth and institutions: Distribution, policy, and democracy. Notes and slides

Readings: Material 2, Growth Instruments.xls.

3. Religion, terrorism, and macroeconomic performance.

Readings: Material 3.

4. Fiscal policy and politics: Public debt and budget deficits.

Readings: Material 4.

5. Monetary policy and politics: Rules versus discretion, Central Bank independence, currency unions.

Readings: Material 5.

6. The number and size of nations.

Readings:

The following material will be provided for each unit:

- Notes for each unit,

- web links to optional reading material.

III.- METHODOLOGY

* Lectures. Notes will be available in the course web sight. These copies can be further elaborated with students´ own notes.

* Problem sets. I will provide 3 or 4 problem sets along the course to help you learn the material. Answers to the problem sets will have to be returned to me hand-written in about one and a half weeks, and will be graded.

Assigment #1 is due March 5.

Assigment #2 is due March 22.

* Presentations. Students, in groups of 3 or 4 members, will have to write a paper on a topic related to the course, and present it in class. Presentations will last 45 minutes and take place during the last month of the course.

IV. ASSESSEMENT

* Problem sets: 33%.

* Paper presentation: 34%.

* Final exam: 33%.

The final exam will mainly contain questions extracted from the problem sets. In addition, students that obtain in the problem sets and presentation an average score equal or higher than 6.5 will have passed the course already, and will not need to take the final.

V. BIBLIOGRAPHY

The material covered in the course will be based on journal articles that can be downloaded from the Virtual Campus. We will also use material from the following two books:

· Barro, R., Getting It Right: Markets and Choices in a Free Society, MIT Press, 1996.

· Easterly, W., The Elusive Quest for Growth, MIT Press, 2001.

VI. VIRTUAL CAMPUS: http://www.ua.es/es/univirtual/index.html.

In the Virtual Campus, you will be able to download the journal articles (voluntary reading), and the notes with the material that I will present in class. All the files will be pdf that can be easily open and print out using the software Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/).

VII. CONTACT INFORMATION AND OFFICE HOURS

I can be reached by phone at 965 903400, ext. 3234, or at the e-mail address fidel@merlin.fae.ua.es.

My office hours are Mondays from 14:00 to 17:00, and Fridays from 9:00 to 12:00.