In this 4-week course, Professor Murphy will survey the sovereign debt crisis roiling world financial markets. The class will provide an overview of the worldwide housing bubble and its impacts on various countries and their banks. It will explain the formation of the euro, and the theories–both mainstream and Austrian–of the optimal size of a currency area. The course will also document the fiscal situation of the various at-risk countries, and will outline the various interventions that governments, the European Central Bank, and the Fed have used to postpone the day of reckoning. Finally the course will assess the current situation and offer prospects for the future.

For more information, see Professor Murphy’s Mises Daily article on the course.

Topics

Week 1: Housing bubble and debt loads across countries
Week 2: Forming of Euro and Optimal Currency Area, Mises vs Mainstream
Week 3: Chronology of interventions to date
Week 4: Prospects for the future from an Austrian perspective

Lectures

The video lectures are online.  Lectures will be Wednesday evenings, 6:00-7:30 pm EDT. They will be recorded and made available for enrolled students to download.

Reading

All readings for the course will be free and available online.

Grades and Certificates

The final grade will depend on quizzes.  Taking the course for a grade is optional.  The Mises Academy is currently not accredited, but this course is worth 3 credits in our own internal system.  Feel free to ask your school to accept Mises Academy credits.  You will receive a digital Certificate of Completion for this course if you take it for a grade, and a Certificate of Participation if you take it on a paid-audit basis.

Refund Policy

If you drop the course during its first week (7 calendar days), you will receive a full refund, minus a $25 processing fee.  If you drop the course during its second week, you will receive a half refund.  No refunds will be granted following the second week.