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LeadAfrik
Advanced · Self-paced2026 Edition

Exchange Rates & International Macroeconomics

How an open economy connects to the world. The balance of payments, exchange-rate determination and regimes, currency crises, capital flows and the external constraint, regional monetary integration, and the global cycle that sets the terms for the periphery.

8

Modules

~6h 30m

Reading time

Advanced

Level

Self-paced

Format

§

Syllabus

  1. 01

    The balance of payments

    The current, capital, and financial accounts, the accounting identity, and the twin-deficits relationship that links them.

    ~50 minModule 01
    →
  2. 02

    Exchange-rate determination

    Purchasing-power and uncovered-interest parity, the monetary and portfolio-balance models, and why none predict the short run.

    ~55 minModule 02
    →
  3. 03

    Regimes — fix, float, and the corners

    The trilemma revisited, currency boards and managed floats, and the gap between declared and actual regimes in Africa.

    ~50 minModule 03
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  4. 04

    Currency crises

    First-, second-, and third-generation crisis models, and what the 1997 Asian and 2022-23 frontier episodes had in common.

    ~50 minModule 04
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  5. 05

    Capital flows and the external constraint

    Surges and sudden stops, the case for capital controls, and the IMF's revised view of the capital-flow management toolkit.

    ~50 minModule 05
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  6. 06

    Reserves, remittances, and the FX market

    Reserve-adequacy metrics, the macro role of remittances, and what a parallel-market premium tells you about a currency.

    ~45 minModule 06
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  7. 07

    Regional monetary integration

    The CFA franc, the EAC monetary-union ambition, and the optimum-currency-area criteria that decide whether it could work.

    ~45 minModule 07
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  8. 08

    Global cycles and the periphery

    The US-rate spillover, the dollar's outsized role, and the global financial cycle that constrains small open economies.

    ~45 minModule 08
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How to use this course

Start with module 01 if the material is new; skip ahead if you have prior exposure. Each module is self-contained but the arc is sequential — the projects in the final module assume the toolkit from modules 1-11. Every module ends with key takeaways and a curated further-reading list with primary sources.