The Central Bank Playbook: Navigating Inflation, Stability & Growth

Catalog description

Around the world, central banks have been given primary responsibility for keeping inflation low and stable, and for stabilizing the business cycle. In addition, many countries have given their central banks responsibilities for stabilizing their financial systems as well. Central banks have existed for hundreds of years, but their responsibilities, goals and operations have changed considerably through time. Recent crises raised questions about the appropriate role of central banks. This course will provide students with an understanding of the changes taking place today in the theory and practice of central banking, with a primary emphasis on monetary policy. The course will explore developments taking place in the United States but will extend that analysis to other places including Japan, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The assignments in this class focus on student presentations and written works that simulate communications in a central bank. Professional presentation and writing skills will be developed over the semester. The writing assignments will use formats applied in central banks, notably policy memos. The presentations will include data from primary sources, student-analysis of the data, and careful visualization to support a specific policy argument. All students will engage in in-class presentations, although assignments may be organized as group assignments. Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Prereq: ECON 102 and ECON 103 .