The idea of this course
has been for you to look at the main economies in the world;
and just by looking at their data,
learn some things about them that could be important for an investor to know.
Now, you may be interested in this because you plan to invest.
Because from a business perspective,
you'd like to know the the countries that are attractive for
investment and what sorts of risks and opportunities there are.
Or you may just want to know what these countries are like,
to see what their story is.
How they've grown, how they've developed,
what kinds of perils or pitfalls are along their path?
And again, you can do this by reading the macro data,
and so that's what I've tried to model for you.
How you can look at the macro data of a country,
see what its story is,
see where its problems lie,
and where its advantages lie,
and make some conclusions about that country,
about the nature of it and its growth strategies,
and maybe about its future.
I would be happy if you could then take
these tools and apply them to other countries on their own.
And in this course, in your homeworks,
I've pointed you to a lot of different sources of data that you can use to do this.
Once you know the concepts,
you find the data and you read it,
and you think about what kind of country this is and what potential it offers,
and what problems it offers.
This course was to build on the two other courses in this specialization.
The first one, understanding economic policy making,
sets out all of the different macro principles that can guide us through a macro-economy,
the relationships among variables,
and what policy can do to influence the economy,
both fiscal and monetary.
The second course in the specialization which is trade, exchange rates,
and migration in a globalized world,
goes outside of the macro-economy and says, okay,
what happens when countries trade,
what causes currencies to go up or down,
what is the real story on migration,
what about current accounts.
And again, looking at the data and thinking about things
that countries would need to change or problems that
countries face because of this set of indicators and of course making
an argument in favor of globalization which has so many benefits for the world,
for all countries that engage in it.
And finally, we wrap up that three course specialization with this course.
Which could be practical economy in a sense.
Looking at these countries,
figuring out how the principles of the earlier courses apply,
and what I can know
just by having that experience and by putting the data in front of myself.
What I can know. I hope that you can take away from this course,
a toolbox and especially from the entire specialization,
a toolbox of tools that will make you very literate and very
fluent in terms of understanding countries and reading their stories from their data.
And it should make you autonomous going
forward where you can actually analyze a country that comes
across your desk at work that comes to your attention in the papers
and think about what risks and opportunities they present based on macroeconomic,
and international theory, and the practice we've gained in this third course.
So thank you for being with us for this course,
and for those of you who were with us throughout the specialization,
you are very well equipped now and I hope
it changes your way of seeing the world in the future.