This course focuses on the activities of banks, as providers of money and credit, and on the linkages between banks, financial markets and the real economy in a global economic context. The course consists of three parts. Part 1 addresses the fundamentals of money, credit, banking, asset pricing and exchange rates and discusses the monetary and financial system (domestic and international). Part 2 explores the money supply process and investigates issues in monetary theory including theories of money demand and theories about the relationship between money, credit and overall economic activity. Part 3 focuses on monetary policy and the monetary policy transmission mechanism with specific attention to the European Central Bank.

The course combines a traditional didactic approach with a strong emphasis on case studies and the analysis of monetary and financial data. The main goal of the course is to enable students to understand how banks, financial markets and monetary policy affect economic activity in a global economic context. At the end of the course students should be able to understand documents discussing monetary and financial issues.