Economic Growth

Macro – Economic Growth, the Economic Cycle and Sustainability

In this course, Dr Silvia Dal Bianco (University College London) looks at economic growth, the business or economic cycle and sustainability. In the first module, we will focus on what economic growth is. Then, in the second module, we will focus on the costs and benefits of economic growth, and the impact of growth on individuals, the economy and the environment. After this, we will look at the concept of inclusive economic growth and some economic policies which can be pursued to promote inclusive economic growth. In the penultimate module, we investigate the concept of sustainable economic growth and analyse a few policy recipes that can be pursued to achieve the objective of sustainable economic growth. Finally, we investigate the concept of the business cycle and study how the economy behaves in the short run when there are fluctuations around the long run trend.

Economic Growth

In this module, we will focus on what economic growth is. In particular, we will look at: (i) defining economic growth and recent trends in growth, including ow this can be represented on a Production Possibility Frontier and Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply diagram; (ii) what cause economic growth in the short run, including a look at the different components of aggregate demand; and (iii) what causes economic growth in the long-run, including how this can be represented on a Production Possibility Frontier and Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply diagram.