Economics of Money and Banking

Economics of Money and Banking ranks first in the list of the best online economics courses. The institutions that form the current monetary system have seen extraordinary evolution during the previous three or four decades. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 served as a wake-up call that they require a similar evolution in the analytical apparatus and theories they employ to comprehend that system. This course, produced and supported by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, attempts to start the process of new economic thinking by resurrecting and updating some neglected traditions in monetary philosophy that have become freshly relevant.

Three aspects of the new system are crucial. Most importantly, the fusion of formerly distinct capital and money markets has resulted in a system with new dynamics as well as new vulnerabilities. The financial crisis exposed those flaws for all to see. The result was two years of desperate experimentation by central banking authorities as they attempted this and then that to halt the collapse. Second, the global nature of the crisis has highlighted the global nature of the system, which is novel in postwar history but not novel in a longer time perspective. Central bank cooperation was critical to preventing the collapse, and the nuances of such cooperation hint at the contours of a new international monetary order forming.

Third, the operation of crucial derivative contracts, most notably credit default swaps and foreign exchange swaps, was absolutely central to the crisis. Modern money cannot be comprehended apart from contemporary finance, and modern monetary theory cannot be built apart from modern financial theory. That is why this course positions dealers in both capital and money markets at the center of the narrative, as profit-seeking suppliers of market liquidity to the new market-based credit system.

Time to Complete: 33 hours
Format: Self-paced, fully online
Google rating: 4.9/5.0
Enroll here: coursera.org/learn/money-banking