Business Cycle Analysis

Students apply knowledge from several economic courses they studied, namely Micro and Macroeconomics, International Trade and Statistics. They will learn principles and methods of the business cycle analysis focused on (1) territories (countries, regions or integral groupings) and (2) markets for goods and services (e.g. commodities as crude oil, coffee, wheat, or products as toys, drinks, cars, or services as insurance, transportation, tourism) in international trade. In the first half of the semester students follow lectures of the instructor. In the second half of the semester they form groups of 1 - 3 members and present projects covering business cycle analysis of a selected market for the good or the service.

Students will show the ability to identify the territory or the market, to choose and work with statistical sources, combine data from different sources and analyze them. Students will be able to find the main factors influencing the behavior of countries or markets for goods and services in different phases of the business cycle, they will form a set of appropriate indicators describing this behavior and will forecast future development of the territory or the market.

The purpose of the course is to make students familiar with macroeconomic issues in reality and markets for goods and services behavior in the business cycle phases. Students should understand the complexity of factors influencing the macroeconomic reality and markets for goods and services operations. Students should learn the impact of macroeconomic policy measures of governments on countries and markets.