Length Length

13 modules, accessible at any time

Effort Effort

2-4 hours per module

Price Price

FREE

Languages Languages

English

Video Transcripts Video Transcripts

English, Pусский

Prerequisites Prerequisites

None

Requirements Requirements

An internet connection to access course materials

GDP AND WELL-BEING
How do we measure progress?

Are those measures enough?

GDP AND WELL-BEING
SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT PRINCIPLES
How does business investment relate to

consumption and saving

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT PRINCIPLES
THE CHANGING LABOR MARKET
Considerations from digitization, to unemployment,

to the minimum wage

THE CHANGING LABOR MARKET
NEW ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES
Internalizing social capital and

environmental impact

NEW ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES

Overview

This course is self-paced – you can enroll immediately and complete the course materials at any time before August 31, 2025.

Unemployment. Inflation. Protectionism. Trade barriers. Fiscal deficit. These are not just terms in an economics textbook or in newspaper headlines. These real-life challenges carry societal and environmental implications for billions of people around the world. How do we balance the pursuit of economic growth with the right of all people to thrive on an increasingly fragile planet? To answer this question, we must reframe our understanding of macroeconomics in the context of a highly interdependent world.

Led by two leading economic minds – Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs and former Chilean Minister of Finance Felipe Larraín – this massive open online course explores traditional macroeconomic principles and tools, updated for the age of sustainable development and the current wave of globalization. Is a thriving global economy possible in an equitable and environmentally thoughtful way? Find out here.

structure

  • Pre-recorded lectures
  • Readings
  • Quizzes and final exam
  • Discussion forum

Lead Faculty

  • Faculty Image

    Jeffrey Sachs

    Columbia University

  • Faculty Image

    Felipe Larraín

    Federal Government of Chile

This course is for

Graduate students and advanced undergraduate students studying international development, economics and/or sustainable development

Economists interested in the balance of macroeconomic principles and ESG (environmental, societal and governance) criteria

Sustainable development practitioners – as well as private-sector actors, such as those who work in the financial sector – who need to understand the economic models that support and depend on sustainable development

Questions?

Course logistics and requirements

This course is self-paced. All course components are available now and can be completed at any time that is convenient for the learners.

Please note that this course is not facilitated by a course team. We encourage learners to engage with one another via the discussion forum. Any specific questions can be sent to the SDG Academy team at courses@sdgacademy.org.

Certificates

Learners who successfully complete the course will be eligible to purchase a verified certificate signed by the course instructors.

syllabus

Module 1: Introduction to Macroeconomics

1.1

Introduction to Macroeconomics

1.2

Macroeconomic Pathologies

1.3A

21st Century Perspectives on Macroeconomics

1.3B

International Comparisons of Income (PPP)

1.4

GDP & Well-Being

Module 2A: Output Determination & Employment

2.1

The Full-Employment Econom

2.2A

Deriving GDP | Part I

2.2B

Deriving GDP | Part II

2.3A

Labor & Saving | Part I

2.3B

Labor & Saving | Part II

Module 2B: Output Determination & Employment

2.4

Economic Growth

2.5

Partial-Employment Economy

2.6

Focus on Business Cycles

2.7

The Basics of Aggregate Demand Management

2.8

Three Big Problems with Aggregate Demand Management

2.9

Output Determination in the IS-LM Model

Module 3: Labor Markets

3.1

Labor Markets, Concepts, Definitions & Groups

3.2

Labor Market Institutions: Minimum Wages, Unionization & Contracts

3.3

Costs of Unemployment, Digitization of Labor Markets, Informality & Underemployment

Module 4: Money & Central Banking

4.1

Money vs. Barter: History & Concepts

4.2

Money Demand

4.3

Money Supply & the Role of the Central Bank

4.4

The Central Bank & New Approaches to Monetary Policy

Module 5: Exchange Rate Themes

5.1

Exchange Rate Arrangements

5.2

PPP & Interest Rate Arbitrage

5.3

The Real Exchange Rate & the Role of Non-Traded Goods

5.4

Monetary Policy Under Fixed & Floating Exchange Rates

5.5

Currency Crises

Module 6: Financial Markets & Financial Crises

6.1A

Bank Runs & Panics | Part I

6.1B

Bank Runs & Panics | Part II

6.2

How to Prevent Bank Runs

6.3

Bubbles & Crashe

6.4

Managing Insolvencies

6.5

What Happens When Governments Go Broke?

Module 7: Inflation, Unemployment & Stabilization

7.1

Inflation, the Fiscal Deficit & Seigniorage

7.2

The Costs of Inflation

7.3

Inflation, Unemployment & the Phillips Curv

7.4

Stabilization Themes

Module 8: Consumption, Saving & Investme

8.1

Consumption, Saving & the Intertemporal Budget Constraint

8.2

The Permanent Income Consumption Theory

8.3

The Life Cycle Model of Consumption & Saving

8.4

Investment

8.5

The Basic Theory of Business Investment

Module 9: Fiscal Policy and Institutions

9.1

The Budget, Public Revenues & Expenditures

9.2

Saving, Investment, the Fiscal Deficit & the Management of Public Deb

9.3

Interactions Between the Public & Private Sectors

9.4

Fiscal Institutions & Policies

Module 10: Open Economy Issues

10.1

The Aggregate Demand in an Open Economy

10.2

Aggregate Demand with a Flexible Exchange Rate

10.3

Aggregate Demand with a Fixed Exchange Rate

10.4

The Current Account & External Indebtedness

10.5

The Intertemporal Budget Constraint of a Country

Module 11: Economic Growth

11.1

Economic Growth in History, Patterns & Sectors

11.2

Sources of Economic Growth

11.3

Solow’s Growth Convergence Model

11.4

Growth & Inequality

11.5

Growth Traps

Module 12: Globalization

12.1

What is Globalization?

12.2

Development of the Global Economic System

12.3

Globalization of Population Systems

12.4

Crises of Poverty & Inequality

12.5

The Challenge of Sustainable Development