Loading course records
Macro is about linked aggregates, not isolated markets
The course trains students to think about entire systems of output, prices, interest rates, and policy instead of one market at a time.
Loading course records
01:220:321 · Economics · School 01 — New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences
Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis focuses on models of income determination, stabilization, and economic growth, with Rutgers explicitly highlighting unemployment and inflation. The sample syllabus points to a class organized around macroeconomic preliminaries, long-run growth, saving and investment, business cycle analysis, and policy questions in low-interest-rate environments. In practice, it is the course where students learn how large-scale economic models connect output, prices, public policy, and the behavior of the monetary economy.
Can I take it?
Intro To Microeconom · Introduction To Macroeconomics · Calculus I For The Life And Social Sciences
How hard?
Students rate teaching
SIRS · 1,676 responses · 2014–2025
Spring 2027
3 open in snapshot · 3 instructors
When it meets
College Avenue
Checked-in sections · current seat counts are unavailable.
MW 3:50 PM · College Avenue · 1 section · 1 open
TF 10:20 AM · College Avenue · 1 section · 1 open
MW 2:00 PM · College Avenue · 1 section · 1 open
AI-generated overview
Higher means more demanding · AI summary
5 units · topic sequence may vary by instructor
The course usually starts by defining the objects macroeconomists track: aggregate output, prices, interest rates, and the broad logic of monetary economies. This opening section builds the vocabulary needed before policy models like IS/LM can make sense.
The sample syllabus places long-run economic growth near the front of the course. That usually means asking what determines living standards over time, how capital and productivity matter, and why growth analysis looks different from short-run business-cycle analysis.
A core middle unit studies how saving and investment fit into a broader general-equilibrium picture. This is where the class starts tying household decisions, financial flows, and interest-rate logic into the macro model rather than treating them as isolated topics.
Rutgers' sample syllabus explicitly names business-cycle analysis and the learning outcomes call out IS/LM. This section is usually the operational core of the course: how output and prices respond when fiscal or monetary policy shifts the economy away from its current path.
Later material often asks what happens when standard policy tools become less straightforward, especially in low-interest-rate environments. The course description's emphasis on inflation and unemployment shows up here, along with current policy debates and the long-run solvency of the fiscal sector.
Public Rutgers discussion usually treats Intermediate Macro as more model-and-graph driven than math-heavy, especially compared with Intermediate Micro and Econometrics. Students still describe it as highly professor-specific, but the recurring theme is that keeping up with slides, practice problems, and graph interpretation matters more than advanced computation.
The course trains students to think about entire systems of output, prices, interest rates, and policy instead of one market at a time.
Growth theory asks how the economy's capacity changes over time, while stabilization analysis asks why output and prices move around that capacity.
Fiscal and monetary tools matter because they shift specific parts of a macroeconomic model, which then changes equilibrium output, prices, or interest rates.
In this course, a graph is rarely just a picture; it encodes assumptions, causal direction, and the answer to what changes after a shock.
Common pitfall
Instead
Practice explaining what variables each graph relates, what holds constant, and what type of shock shifts each side.
Common pitfall
Instead
Keep separate notes for growth, saving and investment, and business-cycle policy so you do not import the wrong assumptions into a problem.
Common pitfall
Instead
Redraw the major diagrams from memory and label the mechanism behind every movement, not just the final direction.
Common pitfall
Instead
Use the lighter computation load as room to focus harder on interpretation, sequencing, and how policy results depend on model assumptions.
3 open · College Avenue
| Section | Status | Instructor | Meeting | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0114644 | Open | Zhifeng Cai | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at FH A5; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at FH A5FH A5 | College Avenue |
| 0214645 | Open | Michael Cai | Tuesday 10:20 AM-11:40 AM at MU 210; Friday 10:20 AM-11:40 AM at MU 210MU 210 | College Avenue |
| 0314646 | Open | Esquivel Alvare | Monday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at FH A5; Wednesday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at FH A5FH A5 | College Avenue |
Historical student surveys
Teaching
4.03
Course quality
4.01
Response rate
46.4%
Coverage
55 offerings · 2014–2025
| Instructor | Offerings | Teaching | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zhifeng Cai | 11 | 4.03 | 3.97 |
| Brandon Li | 6 | 4.78 | 4.75 |
| Keister Todd | 4 | 4.65 | 4.55 |
| Rosemary Kaiser | 4 | 4.40 | 4.38 |
| Carlos Esquivel Alvarez | 4 | 4.08 | 3.95 |
| Diego Anzoategui | 3 | 4.23 | 4.00 |
Catalog and planning context
Credits
3
Current campuses
College Avenue
Current availability
3 open of 3
Catalog terms
Fall, Spring, Summer
Core codes
SOEHS
Loaded terms
6
(01:220:102 and 01:220:103 and 01:640:135 and 01:640:135) <em> OR </em> (01:220:102 and 01:220:103 and 01:640:151 and 01:640:151) <em> OR </em> (01:220:102 and 01:220:103 and 01:640:191 and 01:640:191) <em> OR </em> (11:373:121 and 01:220:103 and 01:640:135 and 01:640:135) <em> OR </em> (01:220:102 and 01:220:103 and 01:640:130 and 01:640:130) <em> OR </em> (11:373:121 and 01:220:103 and 01:640:130 and 01:640:130)
No direct degree-list membership appears in the checked-in requirement index.