This course aims to enhance students’ financial literacy and analytical skills by interactively examining macroeconomic and global financial developments through news articles, academic papers, and current reports. The curriculum includes a detailed examination of monetary policy, the functioning of the Central Bank, interest rate-inflation dynamics, the costs of interest rate cuts, and the relationship between negative interest rates and savings. The course focuses on Turkey’s risk ratings, credit ratings, CDS spreads, and the causes of the Turkish lira’s depreciation, as well as the stages of sound economic policy and structural reforms. Additionally, it examines the “growth through consumption” thesis, growth that leads to impoverishment, government intervention in the market system, the “Dutch Disease,” foreign capital reports, and the relationship between the democracy index and economic development. Finally, current socio-economic issues—such as the consumption craze, the Diderot effect, the ostentation effect, the misery index, and the story of the dollar’s rise as the world’s reserve currency—are analyzed to highlight the importance of financial literacy and to explore analytical solutions aimed at fostering this awareness.
