Author Description

When analysing the economic environment, whatever our field of study is, the approach should be directed to the understanding of the framework in which our activities are taking place, and therefore, knowing to what extent the issues such as the economic situation of the country, the functioning of the markets or the value of the CPI influence decision-making within the company. We will begin with the most detailed analysis of the economy, that is, the microeconomic analysis, in order to see how the markets of goods and services work, where the individual decisions of buyers and producers take place and how both reach an agreement based on the price mechanism. Once the criteria for individual economic decisions have been defined, we will move on to describe how the main economic problems are measured at an aggregated level, that is, at the macroeconomic level, to see how to calculate the inflation rate; the unemployment rate and the growth rate of an economy. Next, we will carry out an economic analysis with direct references to the case of Spain to see how the country achieves economic growth and establishes production factors, economic sectors and institutional aspects determining economic growth. Finally, and within the framework of current globalization and increasing internationalization of economic relations, we will review the main issues and problems of the current international economy. To start with the analysis of economic decision-making, we will begin by raising some basic questions in order to understand the economic reasoning and will propose the definition of “economics”, which will serve as the starting point for the analysis of the economic environment.