Free online coursePrinciples of Macroeconomics

Course Description

Macroeconomics helps you make sense of the news you hear every day: rising prices, interest-rate decisions, unemployment reports, trade disputes, and debates about economic growth. This free online course builds a clear foundation for understanding how an economy works, why outcomes can change over time, and how individual decisions connect to national trends. You will develop the ability to read economic indicators with confidence and explain the forces behind common headlines, from inflation shocks to recessions and recoveries.

Starting with core economic principles and the idea of scarcity, the course shows how economists think: using simplified models to focus on what matters, then testing those models against real-world behavior. You will learn how trade can make people and countries better off, and why markets rely on prices and incentives to coordinate decisions. From there, you will connect micro-level intuition to big-picture outcomes through tools used across macroeconomics, including measures of national income, the cost of living, and the drivers of long-run prosperity.

As you move deeper, you will strengthen practical understanding of major metrics and institutions: what GDP captures and what it misses, what the CPI measures and why it matters, and how savings and investment flow through the financial system. The course also clarifies why unemployment statistics can be misleading, how money is created and managed, and why inflation is closely linked to money growth in the long run. These ideas help you interpret policy discussions and understand why different choices create trade-offs.

Finally, you will bring everything together with the aggregate demand and aggregate supply framework to see how economies fluctuate in the short run and why policy can influence output and prices. Interactive exercises throughout help you check your understanding and build exam-ready confidence, making this course a strong fit for school study, college preparation, or anyone looking to improve economic literacy for careers, business decisions, or informed citizenship.