Studying economic growth, inflation, unemployment, fiscal policy, monetary policy, international trade, and global capital flows through real-world macroeconomic analysis.
About
ECON 1115 explored how entire economies function — from GDP and inflation to unemployment, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and long-run economic growth. The course extended into open-economy macroeconomics, covering international trade, saving and investment, and capital flows across borders.
The semester culminated in an international macroeconomic research project analyzing Malaysia's economy using IMF World Economic Outlook data from 2000–2026 — examining how domestic saving finances investment, how policy responded to global crises, and how net capital flows shape long-run growth trajectories.
Skills
Featured Project
Analyze Malaysia's long-run economic performance using IMF World Economic Outlook data by examining GDP per capita, national savings, investment, current account balances, and government fiscal policy. Evaluate how domestic saving finances investment, how policy responds to global crises, and how international capital flows influence long-run economic growth.
Visual Story
Malaysia Analysis Poster
Research poster summarizing savings, investment, and net capital flows in Malaysia (2000–2026).
Open Poster
Project Instructions
Capstone assignment guidelines, IMF data requirements, and deliverable specifications.
Open Instructions
Course Syllabus
Principles of Macroeconomics syllabus — topics, grading, and course expectations.
Open Syllabus
Downloads
Full research poster on Malaysia's savings, investment, and net capital flows using IMF WEO data.
Open PDFComplete project brief, data sources, and analytical requirements for the capstone.
Open PDFECON 1115 syllabus covering macroeconomic theory, policy, and assessment structure.
Open PDFLearning Outcomes
Measuring and interpreting national output, growth rates, and living standards over time.
Understanding price-level dynamics and their impact on households and policy.
Evaluating how central banks influence interest rates, money supply, and credit conditions.
Analyzing government spending, taxation, and deficits as macroeconomic stabilizers.
Explaining comparative advantage, trade balances, and global market integration.
Tracking net exports, income flows, and transfers in open-economy accounting.
Connecting domestic saving to capital formation and long-run growth capacity.
Working with World Economic Outlook datasets for cross-country macro research.
Reading and comparing standard metrics used by policymakers and institutions.
Interpreting projections and understanding limits of forward-looking macro models.
Assessing whether fiscal and monetary responses achieve stated economic objectives.
Presenting macroeconomic findings clearly through posters and written analysis.
Reflection
ECON 1115 strengthened my understanding of national economic growth, international capital flows, and the institutions that shape global performance. Working with IMF datasets, evaluating fiscal and monetary policy responses, and studying open-economy macroeconomics gave me a framework for reading economic news with far more precision than before.
The Malaysia project provided practical experience using real-world international economic data to evaluate investment, savings, and policy decisions — not simply learning macroeconomic theory in the abstract. That combination of institutional data literacy and policy analysis is exactly what professional economics and finance environments demand.