This course is designed to be practical and directly useful in the business world, giving you the tools to answer questions ranging from classic ones to more timely ones, such as: How does rising inflation affect the demand for businesses' products or their ability to hire and retain workers? How much control does the government have over inflation and can politicians really create jobs? What does it mean for business and workers when the Fed starts raising interest rates? How do tariffs affect the macroeconomy? How are new technologies such as artificial intelligence reshaping the economy?
To answer these questions, we develop a unified modeling framework, explore data that supports the model, and discuss current research that allows MBA students to answer these sorts of questions and to develop an understanding of how the broad economic environment affects business outcomes. We will then apply this framework to understand historical episodes like the Great Recession as well as to evaluate the importance to businesses of current macroeconomic phenomena such as the introduction of tariffs, rising and falling inflation, tightening monetary policy, large pandemic recovery packages, and the rise of AI. The applied focus of this course and its focus on providing a framework for business leaders makes it valuable even for those students who have taken previous macroeconomics courses as undergraduates.
Business 33001 or equivalent (recommended). Cannot enroll in BUSN 33050 if BUSN 33040 or 20200 taken previously: strict.
Optional: Abel and Bernanke, Macroeconomics. There will also be supplementary lecture notes and readings.
Based on quizzes, midterm and final exam.
Description and/or course criteria last updated: June 26 2026
