Macroeconomic Financial Accounts (Coursera)

The lectures, the tutorials and the activities lead the participants, step-by-step, through the system of financial accounts and provide unique hands-on guides to the macroeconomic databanks of the major national and international institutions (OECD, European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve System, Bank for International Settlements, IMF). At the end of the course students will gain a clear overview of the financial connections among the institutional sectors in market economies. Student activities include manipulations of data obtained from institutional websites with spreadsheets in order to construct tables and graphs.

Syllabus

WEEK 1

This course is primarily designed for undergraduates attending their final year or Master’s students in monetary and financial economics, international macroeconomics and data mining. Professionals in Government institutions, Central Banks, business and the financial industry, along with other professionals interested in finance and macroeconomics, may also benefit from this course. The lectures, the tutorials and the activities lead the participants step-by-step through the system of financial accounts and provide unique hands-on guides to the macroeconomic databanks of the major national and international institutions (OECD, European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve System, Bank for International Settlements, IMF). At the end of the course students will gain a clear overview of the financial connections among the institutional sectors in market economies. Student activities include manipulations of data obtained from institutional websites with spreadsheets in order to construct tables and graphs.

WEEK 2

Deriving net lending/net borrowing : national economy vs. rest of the world, balancing items, sectoral breakdowns

WEEK 3

Financial Transactions. Instruments and interconnections

WEEK 4

Stocks. Net Worth. Financial Wealth

WEEK 5

Accumulation

WEEK 6

Financial Accounts, Economic and Monetary Policy, Stability