Duration of the online course: 19 hours and 50 minutes
New
Build real-world macroeconomics skills in this free online course—understand GDP, inflation, unemployment and policy so you can interpret the news with confidence.
In this free course, learn about
Positive vs normative economics; interpreting economic statements and evidence
Factors of production (capital, labor) and trade-offs shown by the PPC; shifts in the PPC
Correlation vs causation: ceteris paribus assumption and unintended long-run policy effects
Absolute vs comparative advantage; gains from trade and specialization
Demand basics: law of demand and substitution effect; demand shifts (e.g., jeans demand rises)
Supply basics: why supply slopes upward and how equilibrium price/quantity are determined
Market interventions: effects of price ceilings/floors and shortages/surpluses
Taxes and elasticity: tax incidence with inelastic demand; efficiency effects
Externalities and public goods: negative externalities and club goods
GDP measurement: nominal vs real GDP; limits of GDP; market basket and real GDP
Inflation and unemployment: demand-pull inflation and types of unemployment (incl. cyclical)
Aggregate demand determinants: foreign income effects; short-run AS-AD response to AD shocks
Keynesian policy: fiscal stimulus, multiplier calculations, and Fed’s role in the 1930s
Macroeconomics is the lens that turns headlines into insight. When you hear about inflation cooling, interest rates rising, unemployment shifting, or governments debating stimulus, there is a set of core principles underneath the story. This free online course helps you develop those principles clearly and use them to make sense of real economic events, from everyday price changes to national growth and recession.
You will learn how economists think about choices, trade-offs, and incentives, and how these ideas scale up from individual decisions to the performance of the entire economy. Along the way, you will practice reading cause-and-effect in data and arguments: what it means to talk about correlation versus causation, why long-run effects can differ from short-run outcomes, and how assumptions shape the conclusions people draw from statistics.
The course builds a strong foundation in the language of markets and production, so concepts like opportunity cost, comparative advantage, demand and supply, and price controls stop feeling abstract. From there, you move into the measures that dominate public debate: nominal versus real GDP, what a market basket does to measurement, and why GDP can be useful while still missing important parts of well-being and economic reality. You will also develop an intuitive grasp of inflation, different types of unemployment, and how aggregate demand responds to changes at home and abroad.
A major focus is understanding the big policy tools and the models used to reason about them. You will work with the Aggregate Supply–Aggregate Demand framework and Keynesian ideas about recessions, stabilization, and the multiplier. You will also explore fiscal policy topics such as taxes and crowding out, and monetary policy topics including money supply control and how interest rates transmit through the economy.
With videos paired with frequent practice questions, you will strengthen your ability to analyze claims, avoid common misconceptions, and explain macroeconomic outcomes in plain language. Whether you are studying economics in school, preparing for further coursework, or simply want to understand how policy decisions affect jobs and prices, this course gives you a practical, structured way to think like an economist.
Course content
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 118m
Exercise: In the context of economics, which of the following statements best exemplifies positive economics?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 247m
Exercise: Which of the following is an example of capital in economic terms?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 346m
Exercise: In the discussion of long-run versus short-run effects in economic policy, what is an example of unintended long-run effects?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 440m
Exercise: In the study of macroeconomics, what assumption must be maintained when analyzing the relationship between two variables, such as income and education, to correctly interpret their correlation?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 546m
Exercise: In the context of the production possibilities curve, which situation would most likely lead to an outward shift of the curve?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 646m
Exercise: What is the primary difference between absolute advantage and comparative advantage in economic theory?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 843m
Exercise: In the context of macroeconomics, which of the following describes the 'substitution effect'?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1041m
Exercise: What is the law of demand in the context of macroeconomics?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1147m
Exercise: What concept explains why the supply curve typically slopes upward in a market?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1248m
Exercise: In a market scenario where the price of a product is set above the equilibrium price, what economic condition is mostly expected to occur?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1330m
Exercise: What happens when demand for jeans increases?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1443m
Exercise: In the context of price controls, what typically happens when a price ceiling is set below the equilibrium price?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1541m
Exercise: When a tax is imposed on a good, what is an expected outcome if the demand for the good is inelastic?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1638m
Exercise: In the context of externalities discussed in macroeconomics, what is a potential consequence of a negative externality?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1742m
Exercise: Which of the following goods would best be categorized as a 'club good'?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1838m
Exercise: What is a primary distinction between nominal GDP and real GDP?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 1918m
Exercise: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a widely used metric for measuring the economic performance of a country. However, it has several limitations. Which of the following is NOT a problem associated with using GDP as a measure of economic activity?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2043m
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 20.517m
Exercise: How does the choice of a market basket influence the calculation of real GDP?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2135m
Exercise: Which of the following scenarios best describes 'demand-pull inflation'?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2343m
Exercise: Which type of unemployment is considered 'bad' and should ideally be minimized to zero in an economy?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2442m
Exercise: What will generally happen to aggregate demand if there is an increase in foreign income?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2639m
Exercise: In the context of the Aggregate Supply-Aggregate Demand (AS-AD) model, what happens to the economy in the short run if there is an increase in aggregate demand while input prices remain fixed?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2734m
Exercise: Which of the following best describes the role of the Federal Reserve during the decline in aggregate demand in the 1930s according to the Keynesian perspective?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2840m
Exercise: In the Keynesian model, what is the suggested method to increase aggregate demand and move the economy towards full employment when it is below the full employment level of output?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 2942m
Exercise: In the context of the Keynesian economic model, if the marginal propensity to consume is 0.8 and there is an increase in government spending of $50 million, what is the expected total increase in income as a result of the multiplier effect?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 3145m
Exercise: Which of the following statements describes a regressive tax?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 3242m
Exercise: Which of the following best describes the concept of 'crowding out' in the context of fiscal policy?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 3337m
Exercise: Which of the following statements best explains the role of the Federal Reserve in controlling the money supply?
Video class: Eco 155: Principles of Macroeconomics Class 3444m
Exercise: In the context of monetary policy, what is the 'interest rate effect'?
