International Macroeconomics – MEP

aje on April 10, 2026

This course places students in a decision-making context to gain a thorough understanding of international affairs. It considers the role of monetary and fiscal policy in a globalized content and equips students with an array of insightful case studies. The capacity to set and maintain economic policies that deliver a stable macroeconomic environment is more important than ever, and students will gain confidence in their ability to contribute to this field.

As countries attempt to deliver on their sustainability objectives and manage disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, familiarity with the basics of macroeconomic policy will become increasingly useful.

Macro Risk

aje on December 10, 2025

Lecture handout: Macro Risk. Here is the quiz.

To keep up to date with my thoughts on economic issues either follow me on X/Twitter or see Kaleidic Economics.

Recommended reading

  • Carlsson-Szlezak, P., and Swartz, P., “How to assess true macroeconomic risk” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2024
  • You can read the 2025 AXA Future Risks Report here.
  • IMF Annual Report 2025 here.

Recommended audio

  • The Economy in 2026: What Risks Lies Ahead? with Gita Gopinath, The Economics Show, Financial Times, January 23rd 2026 – Martin Wolf interviews the IMF economist. The discuss post-Brexit impact, elevated debt levels and rising fiscal dominance.
  • The limits of monetary policy, with Agustin Carstens, The Economics Show, Financial Times, November 14th 2025 – Carstens talks about the critical importance of macro stability for emerging markets and expresses concern that a system of national central banks may no longer be fit for purpose in a world of more complex global financial instability.

Don’t forget that macro risk is only one component of global risk!

Here is the 2025 AXA Future risks report:

Macro Policy Seminar

aje on November 9, 2025

Lecture handout: Macro Policy Seminar

The purpose of this session is to bring together the twin elements of Aggregate Demand (AD) management in a practical and action based format.

Group activity: ECB Simulation, April 2025

You can read more details about the Bank of England’s MPC here. I used to regularly participate in the Shadow MPC. A useful resource may be the Kaleidic Dashboard.

Group activity: Canadian Multiplier, April 2025 (used with “Fiscal Multiplier Worksheet“, March 2018)

In the lecture I briefly mention the relevance of a specific Reinhart-Rogoff paper for the austerity debate. For more on that see here:

Group activity: “Macro Policy Assignment“, November 2021 and complete the Macro Policy Assignment Form.

The concepts discussed in this session should help students to understand the rationale for Georgia’s “Law on Economic Freedom”, which limited the government to the following (see Lawson and Powell, 2019, p. 114):

  • Annual budget deficit of no more than 3% of GDP
  • National debt of no more than 60% of GDP
  • Annual government spending of no more than 60% of GDP
  • No new tax without voter approval

AI integration

Anthropic have an Economic Advisory Council which helps to create the Anthropic Economic Index.

Also:

Recommended podcast

  • The limits of monetary policy, with Agustin Carstens, The Economics Show, Financial Times, November 14th 2025 – Carstens talks about the critical importance of macro stability for emerging markets and expresses concern that a system of national central banks may no longer be fit for purpose in a world of more complex global financial instability.

To keep up to date with my thoughts on economic issues either follow me on X/Twitter or see Kaleidic Economics.

EMBA Economics for Managers – ESCP

aje on September 3, 2025

This course presents key economic models, concepts and tools that managers need to master to analyse, understand and predict trends affecting the corporate environment. We address the major contemporary macroeconomic issues with the objective to enhance the capability of each participant to imagine how they may affect their own business environment.

Course textbook:

Course handouts: download here

Schedule: download here

Instructions for the group report: download here

Practice final exam: access here

 

Pre-class activities
All cases need to be read and prepared in advance. Textbook chapters are not mandatory but are highly recommended for students without a strong background in economics. I’ve also provided a few videos and quizzes which should be helpful.
Day 1: Micro
To verify you have the maths skills necessary for this course, complete this quiz.

1. Incentives matter* (+)

2. Understanding cost* (+)

3. Auctions (+)

4. Market applications (+)

Extra activity: The Dutch flower auction
Day 2: Macro: closed economy
Before class you should watch this video and pass this quiz.

5. Inflation*

6. Macro Policy*

7. Macro Risk*

8. Macro Policy Workshop (+)

After class you should watch this video and pass this quiz.

Extra activity: NGDP Masterclass
Day 3: Macro: wider issues
9. International economics (+)

10. Macro Trends* (+)

11. & 12. Group preparation and presentations
Revision
An optional online version of this course, which may be helpful for revision, is available here.

Note:

Cases marked with a pound sign (£) are available via the learning platform.

Neoliberalism

aje on August 5, 2025

I believe that the term “neoliberalism” is a valid one, both as a concept and as an ideology. In other words, it can be used in a descriptive and neutral sense, and also the thing that it describes is (relatively) desirable. I am one of very few academics to hold both of these positions!

Indeed I am an early pioneer of using the term “neoliberal” in a non-pejorative way, with my co-authored book from 2009 “The Neoliberal Revolution in Eastern Europe“. Since then, it has become more common, and I continue to research neoliberal ideas and neoliberalism as a distinct political and economic philosophy.

Here is an old interview about the book:

 

Some recent academic publications that focus on neoliberalism include:

  • 2025 “Four phases of neoliberalism” Journal of Private Enterprise, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 55-71
  • “A survey of recent critical histories of neoliberalism” forthcoming in Critical Review

I have also published a couple of formal book reviews:

I have also taken seriously a potential consequence of neoliberalism: state capitalism. See:

And I have used Medium to publish some notes about books that discuss neoliberalism:

Here is my webpage about The Museum of Neoliberalism.

Economics – IFBM

aje on July 9, 2025

Managerial Economics shows the application of economic principles and methodologies to key management decisions within organizations. It provides a better understanding of the external business environment in which an organization operates and the understanding of the principles relevant to foster the goals of the organization.

Textbook:

Lecture handouts: download here

Assessment instructions: download here

Schedule: here

Course content

Pre-course activity
An optional online course is available here: Economics for IFBM, ESCP.

To verify you have the maths skills necessary for this course, complete this quiz and see this Note on Differentiation.

Here is a short video about what to read:
Session 1 
1. Value creation* +

Textbook reading: Chapter 1.2
Session 2
2a. Cost curves* +

Evans, A.J., “La Marmotte”, January 2012

Instructions: Complete Exhibit 1 and provide suggestions for the two key decisions

Textbook reading: Chapter 2.3

2b. Auctions +

Hild, M., Dwidevy, A., and Raj, A., 2004, “The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe”, Darden Business Publishing (£)

Discussion question: What are the alternatives to auctions?

Textbook reading: Chapter 3.3

Extra activity: The Dutch flower auction

Extra activity: Porta Palazzo
Session 3
3a. Market applications +

Textbook reading: Chapter 3.2

3b. Adverse selection +

Textbook reading: Chapter 3.4
Session 4
4a. Read the following X/Twitter thread (also available here).

4b. Price discrimination – Debrief* +

Textbook reading: Chapter 1.3 and Chapter 4.3
Session 5: Online
5a. Group presentations

5b. Debrief
Notes: Sessions marked with an asterix (*) have a lecture handout available in advance, which can be downloaded. Cases marked with a pound sign (£) are available via Blackboard. Follow the + links for additional resources.

Extra: Best croissant in Paris (Luis); 48 hours in Paris (TOPJAW), Ploughman’s Lunch (Tweedy Pubs), a 3 course meal for £5 (Gary Eats) and how global warming is changing the wine industry.

Podcast: “What an economist eats for lunch (in 2026), with Tyler Cowen” The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes, Financial Times, February 6th 2026 [Here is a quiz]

Berlin

aje on April 5, 2025

Flying over Berlin in 1991 – aerial shots taken by a helicopter

Berlin 1990 the end of the war (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) – home movies shot by Derek Williams, who was in Berlin to see the Pink Floyd concert.

The BBC has a very useful web resource on Tunnel 29. The excellent podcast Criminal covers it in this episode:

Here I am visiting the Berlin wall in 2023:

Romania

aje on April 5, 2025

Collective (2020) – a heart wrenching account of how public officials and investigative journalists sought to bring awareness and justice for the 64 people who were killed, and 146 who were injured, in a preventable nightclub fire in 2015.

How did Ceaușescu’s rule of Romania come to an end? – a 20 minute account of the Timisoara uprising that led to the toppling of the Ceausescu regime.

To see Ceausescu’s speech on December 21st and the exact moment where he realised that it was all over, see here; to see him being tried, and shot, see here.