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Back to Country Level Economics: Macroeconomic Variables and Markets

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Country Level Economics: Macroeconomic Variables and Markets by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4.4
stars
899 ratings

About the Course

This course discusses how macroeconomic variables affect individuals’ personal, professional, and public activities and lays the foundation for the analysis of the mechanisms that drive macroeconomic variables. It starts by introducing the key macroeconomic variables and explaining how they are defined and measured to interpret macroeconomic data properly. Then, the course offers a perspective for separating out various parts of the economy driven by different processes and for combining those components to develop a richer view of the whole. In particular, it applies this approach to the analysis of the relationship of the trade deficit with the budget deficit and private savings, offering insights about some key determinants of the balance of payments. The third and fourth modules focus on the analyses of the foreign currency and money markets to provide fundamental models of the interest rate and exchange rate determination. They also discuss how these variables interact with each other and with the macroeconomic conditions, particularly monetary policy, and the expectations about the future trends in the economy. You will be able to: • Systematically assess the national and international economic environment in which you live and work • Analyze macroeconomic issues using key tools • Be a more effective professional in your line of activity. This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/....

Top reviews

ML

Mar 8, 2020

The quizzes and assignments may be hard but that's how I learned so much from this class. Prof Hadi brought this course in a way that made me understand the actual situations.

GN

Jun 13, 2020

I really enjoyed the course. Professor Hadi is great. This is my first Economics course. Professor explains all the fundamentals in a very easy and detailed manner.

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1 - 25 of 164 Reviews for Country Level Economics: Macroeconomic Variables and Markets

By Andras I

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Dec 9, 2019

I was looking forward to this course as the next step in the Managerial Economics. Little did I expect that after the brilliant Microeconomics (Firm Level Economics) course it will become such a chore to get through.

There are multiple issues with this course:

1, The presentation style: whereas in most courses you get to engage with the presenter, here there is too much screen time for not well edited, overly verbose slides that just get read out by the Professor. So it's a double distraction...you just keep staring at the same text as he mumbles on. I put it to 1.5x speed just to get through faster (and I'm taking notes on paper, still not too fast)

2, The material is not very well structured: in the first lesson I thought, we have a lot of definitions to get through...but it just keeps going like a huge, growing list of unstructured "stuff" the whole time. There is no weighting of higher level concepts, just a flood of information. Maybe also doesn't help that the videos are longer than the usual Coursera lesson(18-20 minutes vs 6-7 minutes) without much rhythm to them. So I just ended up watching a week's videos then from the notes tried to piece it together into a cohesive point.

3, Narrow minded look: I'm also not sure if forcing the Keynesian thinking all across the course in such tedious detail (and wasting time on useless, incoherent views about politics affecting economics) is more useful than mentioning other alternatives like the AD/AS model, neoclassical model, Money View (great course on Coursera, highly recommended!) or just in general open up from the dogma and try to make sure students understand that they're all modeling the same economic reality with different tools.

The good:

The quizes make you think and force some usage of the otherwise dry material.

The assigments are not bad but a bit on the simple side but unfortunately on Coursera longer submissions cannot be expected to be properly reviewed anyways.

Unless you really have to (as specialisation or iMBA requirement), I wouldn't recommend taking this course, you're better off reading a book (Theory and Applications of Macroeconomics or the OPENSTAX books - both free) or watch the (free) Khan Academy course, while they cover the same material (and more), they're much more engaging.

This was the hardest course for me to follow (not the content, the format) until I put it on hold and learned the material from other sources to come back and finish.

Although I really like Coursera and the format/content it offers, this one I cannot recommend. Such a shame...

By Kyle F

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May 17, 2019

Very monotone and therefore very hard to follow and pay attention to. The Prof also seemed to frequently interject random material that distracted you from the learning objectives.

By Kendra G

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Jun 6, 2019

I thought I would really like this course because I really enjoyed microeconomics, but this course was not very intuitive, could really use an update, and the teaching style was not effective for me. Would recommend a curriculum designer come in, or maybe work with the microeconomics professor to re-shape how a lot of the concepts are explained. Definitely the most difficult to understand course I've taken so far.

By Innocent O

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Apr 26, 2019

The instructor was not engaging and made the course quite boring

By Winthrop Y

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Apr 2, 2016

Good material, fair presentation, too many peer evaluations.

By Dennison L

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Jun 13, 2020

Basically, you're given a bunch of formulas and have to deduce the macroeconomic principles from them yourselves. Also, the quizzes are much more detailed than the course - applying concepts that connect multiple formulas that are not taught. Good luck!

By Shinapat K

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Aug 5, 2017

The instructor is't engaging. Needs more concepts explanations and examples. For introductory to macroeconomics course, should have fewer equations and more concepts, reasoning, and illustrations.

By Philip L

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Feb 7, 2020

Professor is very dry, unclear, and hard to follow with this difficult material.

By Gurpreet S N

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Jun 14, 2020

I really enjoyed the course. Professor Hadi is great. This is my first Economics course. Professor explains all the fundamentals in a very easy and detailed manner.

By Prathamesh M

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Nov 15, 2020

The professor does an excellent work of linking the concepts of monetary, FX, GDP and interest rate. May be in he can explain the calculation in more detailed manner. It would further help to better understand these functions.

By Diego M A R

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Sep 19, 2020

Me gustó mucho. Lo encontré desafiante y sobre todo muy entretenido. Éste tipo de cursos (en general todo el programa especializado de 'Managerial Economics') valen la pena para invertir tiempo.

By May S L

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Mar 9, 2020

The quizzes and assignments may be hard but that's how I learned so much from this class. Prof Hadi brought this course in a way that made me understand the actual situations.

By B S

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Jul 21, 2020

I tried the course to get my basics in macro right , too much theory , monotonous in nature.

By JEFFREY H

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Jun 11, 2020

This course really helped me to understand what drives the exchange rate, interest rates and money supply of the global markets. Great insight into the part the central banks and government play in the growth and stability of our currency. Nicely presented as well!

By Dhinesh A D

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Jun 13, 2020

Great course on the core concepts of Economics. Very helpful for aspirants who want to learn about market, exchange rate and when to invest. Going through the lectures and materials often gives better clarity for beginners and non-finance professionals.

By Alberto A U C

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Aug 11, 2020

Extremely interesting subject. As an engineer with no background in Economics, this has been one of the most interesting course as I learned a lot of new things, which are very useful for your personal use and understanding of economics phenomena.

By Misael G

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Nov 16, 2020

Excellent course providing a sound understanding Macroeconomic variables and Markets. This is a very fundamental knowledge that will sharpen skills to perform an organized and informed analysis of different economies I work with!

By Mbaunguraije T

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Jun 18, 2020

Very enjoyable course. Prof is able to explain the topics very well and I was able to understand and connect it to my everyday life and to my own country.

By Ankita B

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Jul 23, 2017

Great course for a beginner like me. All the concepts are explained clearly with examples. The language used is simple which makes it easy to understand.

By Sandeep K

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Feb 11, 2020

This course was a great insight to how economies work, and what is the relationship between money demand, supply, interest rates and yields.

By Norma I R C

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Jun 18, 2020

Muy buen curso para aprender macroeconomía básica. El temario es muy parecido al que vi en la licenciatura en mi primera clase de macro.

By Data J

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Sep 19, 2018

Concise yet very helpful. The reading material is well prepared. After this course, I can fully understand all the financial news.

By Emi K

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May 24, 2020

This class was really great. As long as you commit to being intrinsically motivated to learn the material, it's really enjoyable.

By Lawrence A

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Feb 13, 2020

The course is quite enlightening, gained invaluable experience in understanding and interpreting a countries economic status

By Suman D

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Jun 11, 2018

Amazing way delivering the courseThis was my first Coursera courseI loved every bit of it.Thanks a lot Professor