Learn about GDP, Inflation, Exchange Rates, Monetary and Fiscal Policies from
India's New Chief Economic Advisor
Certificate Course on
Macro without Mystery, Exchange Rates Without Enigma
with
Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran
- India's Chief Economics Advisor,
- Former Chief Investment Officer, Julius Bear,
- MBA from IIM Ahmedabad & Ph.D in Finance from the University of Massachusetts
- Global Faculty & Renowned Author
Economics affects us all. Newspapers and news channels discuss the stock market. As you watch TV, the stock market ticker scrolls by at the bottom.
The Reserve Bank of India may be far away in Mumbai for many of us in India. But, it is no longer a remote institution. Mass media has brought the institution closer to all of us. Many of us want to know what RBI decided on interest rates because it influences the interest rates on our savings accounts and fixed deposits.
This course could be an important first step for many of you in making sense of the world of economics and finance.
The course discusses key macro-economic concepts such as GDP, inflation, current account balances, monetary and fiscal policies and illustrates these concepts with contemporary macro-economic reality around the world. In the second part, it discusses exchange rate concepts, theories and discusses exchange rate regimes and crises. The third part, deals with the crisis of 2008 and its aftermath, culminating in the Covid crisis of 2020. It concludes with an attempt to understand where the world might be heading.
After providing the basic building blocks of macro-economic concepts and terminology, the course would acquaint students with contemporary issues and developments in international financial markets. They include, but are not limited to, the Global Financial and Economic crisis of 2008, the debt crisis and the fate of the single currency in Europe, the US financial crisis and its aftermath, the accumulation of international reserves by developing countries and the outlook for Asia, etc.
Of course, above all, the policy response to the Covid pandemic is but an expanded and enlarged version of the playbook adopted post-2008 crisis. However, what it does to economic growth, inflation, asset prices and inequality in the United States and in the world at large will be of great interest, given that developed countries’ fiscal situation has become quite unsustainable.
By the end of the course, students should be confident of connecting the various economic and financial market to form a coherent view of trends in macroeconomics and financial markets:
- Understand the theoretical underpinnings of issues in macroeconomics and global financial markets.
- Know key economic and financial variables that concern market practitioners.
- Have the ability to source information and data to carry out analyses.
- Learn to connect the dots between politics, economics and markets.
At the very least, this course should help you become an intelligent user of economic and financial market news and analysis. The first step towards becoming an expert is to learn to ask the right questions. Answers will follow automatically over time, because there is one right answer to questions in economics. Learning that is also an important outcome of this course.
- Students, Professionals and Faculty who would like to have a better understanding of the world around us and be more perceptive to economic news.
- There are no specific pre-requisites. First-year courses in micro and macroeconomics would be helpful. More important, it would help if students read the assigned readings before the class. Then, again, after the class. They will realise how much more they understand, after the class.
- Since this course is not text-book based and since this course aims to connect political, economic and financial market dots, attention and hard work, diligent reading and preparation are important pre-requisites on the part of students to derive the maximum learning benefit out of the course.
- Class-room discussions of required readings, contemporary developments and PPT used by the lecturer. Expected and would like it to be highly interactive.
- Since most of these concepts are simple for graduate students to learn, students are expected to have completed their assigned course reading before they come to the class. Further, they should be able to, prepared to and are expected to apply concepts learnt in other courses to analyse situations discussed in this course.
- Class participation would be evaluated for attendance, level and quality of participation rather than on the positions taken on issues. There are no right or wrong answers.
Key Features
Self Learning Program
20 hours instructor-led, pre recorded lectures
Continuous Assessment
Two in-class quizzes
Case Studies
Constant Learner Support
Lifetime recording access on LMS.
Alumni Status
Industry event invitations + student network access
Projects
Project related to the course
Meet Prof. V. Anantha Nageswaran Your Course Faculty
Anantha-Nageswaran is India's Chief Economic Advisor.
He graduated with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1985. He obtained a doctoral degree in Finance from the University of Massachusetts in 1994 for his work on the empirical behaviour of exchange rates.
Between 1994 and 2004, he worked for Union Bank of Switzerland (now UBS) and for Credit Suisse in Switzerland and in Singapore. In July 2006, he joined Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. in Singapore as the Head of Research for Asia. In March 2009, he was appointed as the Chief Investment Officer for the bank. For about seven years from July 2011, he was a writer, consultant and teacher.
He was Dean, IFMR Graduate School of Business (Krea University) from October 2018 to December 2019. He has taught at the Indian Institutes of Management at Bengaluru and Indore. He has also been a visiting faculty at the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, the SP Jain Centre for Management in Singapore and the Essec Business School Campus in Singapore.
In October 2019, he was appointed as a part-time member to the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of India for a period of two years.
Currently, he is Visiting Distinguished Professor of Economics at Krea University and an Adjunct Faculty at the Singapore Management University.
His co-authored book, ‘Economics of Derivatives’ and ‘Derivatives’ were published by the Cambridge University Press in March 2015 and October 2017 respectively. Another co-authored work, ‘Can India grow?’ has been published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in November 2016.
‘The rise of Finance: Causes, Consequences and Cures’ published by the Cambridge University Press is his most recent (co-authored) work.
He writes a weekly column for MINT, an Indian financial daily, on Tuesdays (
https://www.livemint.com/Search/Link/Author/V.-Anantha-Nageswaran)
Course Curriculum
Macroeconomics
Setting the stage – Economics and Physical Sciences; Asymmetry and non-linearity in economics; law of unintended consequences; Current issues
Growth
Why GDP?
Growth accounting – nominal and real growth
Philips Curve; Middle Income Trap; Potential GDP and overheating
Policies
Monetary and fiscal policies
Export-led Asian Growth Model
Foreign Exchange and Interest Rates
International Parity conditions – PPP, IRP and Fisher Parities
Tests of PPP – Absolute PPP (Big Mac Test) and Relative PPP
Covered Interest Rate Parity – Forward Exchange Rate Market – Mimicking forward market in money market (example of Chile Pension Funds)
Uncovered Interest Rate Parity and Carry Trade
Nominal and Real Effective Exchange Rates (NEER & REER)
Exchange rate competitiveness.
Global Currency Regimes and Currencies: Historical and contemporary perspective
An Overview of International Monetary Systems and Recent Developments in International Financial Markets
US Dollar Devaluation - Shutting the Gold Window- Collapse of Bretton Woods
US Dollar since 1980s - Yen strength - Japan crisis - ERM crises - Eurozone origins – the present state of the Eurozone and its prospect
Asian crisis - Spat between IMF and World Bank – China FX Reserve Accumulation in the new Millennium – Implications
Global Financial Crisis – Causes and Consequences (Parts 1 and 2)
The cause of debt explosion since 1970s – Financialisation and Derivatives
Discussion on Credit Default Swaps – CDS and Morgan Stanley– Ban on short selling sought by financial institutions in the US
Is Speculation Stabilising or De-Stabilising?
Assigned Readings
Please note that the assigned readings have kept in mind that students have to allot their limited time among many courses.
It is a prerequisite to go through the reading materials before the session.
Click here to access the reading materials.
Alumni Track Record!
MDAE alumni working in diverse roles across leading companies.
Arushi Mishra
Data Consultant
Vallari Naik
Trainee Decision Scientist
Pooja Joshi
Senior Research Analyst
Nishitha Mehta
Risk Analyst
Swati Shrimali
Business Analyst
Ujas Shah
Research Analyst
What Our Students Say About Our Faculty
"The Course on Macroeconomics Concepts and Issues in November-December 2020 was nicely structured. Dr Nageswaran took great efforts to explain the various concepts in great detail and answer all the queries - many of them very basic as compared to his knowledge and expertise. It was a thoroughly enriching experience. Thank you team Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics"
Sudhanwa Kopardekar
"The macroeconomics concepts course was really helpful. At some times is did feel a little too basic but overall it was a very good learning experience.Dr Nageswaran gave a lot of sources for economic data which was really helpful. Now at least I know where to look for the data and how to make a little more sense of it. I have also registered for his upcoming course too"
Mohammed