Economic Crises (14.454)
MIT's graduate macroeconomics course examines why economic crises happen and why some downturns last far longer than others. Topics include chronic unemployment in certain nations, the mechanics of modern liquidity crises, the rise and collapse of speculative asset bubbles, and the factors behind prolonged economic stagnation. The course builds on medium-run macroeconomic theory to analyze real-world episodes of financial instability and the role asset markets play in triggering or amplifying them. Materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include lecture notes, problem sets, and readings drawn from academic literature on macroeconomic fluctuations. No enrollment or certificate is offered since this is an OpenCourseWare archive, but all course materials are free to access and use for self-study. It is best suited to students with prior grounding in macroeconomic theory.