MWF 9:05 am – 10:00 am Huntley 321
| Fall 2015 Schedule | ||||
| Week I | Fri | 11-Sep | Introduction: Macroeconomic Controversies | How Do We “Know” in Macro? |
| Mon | 14-Sep | Goal #1: Capstone | Capstone research resources | |
| Wed | 16-Sep | Goal #2: Empirics | time series issue overview | |
| Fri | 18-Sep | Goal #3: Theory | intro to “modern” macro | |
| Week II | Mon | 21-Sep | Goal #4: Data | spreadsheet analysis of LF data |
| Wed | 23-Sep | Potential Capstone Topics | present your initial brainstorming | |
| Fri | 25-Sep | Playing with Macro Regressions | your STATA results, my handout | |
| Week III | Mon | 28-Sep | Growth Models (I) | Solow |
| Wed | 30-Sep | Growth Models (II) | TFP | |
| Fri | 2-Oct | Growth Models (III) | TFP pessimism, TFP optimism | |
| Week IV | Mon | 5-Oct | Consumption: Lee brief paper UNDP Natl Transfer Accounts | LCM and intertemporal decisions |
| Wed | 7-Oct | Investment and Finance | more intertemporal decisions | |
| Fri | 9-Oct | Sketch of GEQ Macro; Data | Solow-plus; π | |
| Week V | Mon | 12-Oct | OLG | modeling work vs retirement |
| Wed | 14-Oct | OLG applied | OADSI | |
| Fri | 16-Oct | No Class! | Reading Day | |
| Week VI | Mon | 19-Oct | (Rational) Expectations | Friedman 1968 |
| Wed | 21-Oct | Endogenizing Policy | Taylor rules | |
| Fri | 23-Oct | RE Formalized | policy irrelevance?! | |
| Week VII
policy analysis: 3 approaches |
Mon | 26-Oct | DSGE Overview | Solow extended, Solow constrained |
| Wed | 28-Oct | VARs | atheoretical macro | |
| Fri | 30-Oct | VARs in practice: “the” (fiscal) multiplier | Gordon & Krenn | |
| Week VIII | Mon | 2-Nov | (Fiscal) Multipliers: Ramey & Zubairy. 2014. “Government Spending Multipliers in Good Times and in Bad.” Working Paper 20719. National Bureau of Economic Research. | NBER Working Paper |
| Wed | 4-Nov | Multipliers in models: Woodford. 2010. “Simple Analytics of the Government Expenditure Multiplier.” NBER Working Paper 15714. | NBER Paper | |
| Fri | 6-Nov | (Fiscal) Multipliers the Outside the US: Corsetti, Meier, and Müller. 2012. “What Determines Government Spending Multipliers?” WP/12/150. International Monetary Fund. | Paper of VARs | |
| Week IX | Mon | 9-Nov | Capstone Presentations | your progress to date |
| Wed | 11-Nov | Capstones (cont) | continued | |
| Fri | 13-Nov | Fiscal Multipliers: Summary. Ramey, Valerie A. 2011. “Can Government Purchases Stimulate the Economy?” Journal of Economic Literature 49 (3): 673–85. | Link via AmerEconAssoc | |
| Week X | Mon | 16-Nov | Debt and Deficits (I) | Clements et al. The Fiscal Consequences of Shrinking Populations, Staff Discussion Note 1521. |
| Wed | 18-Nov | US and Japan | how far from sustainable? | |
| Fri | 20-Nov | China | dividends: demographics and Solow | |
| Thanksgiving | ||||
| Week XI | Mon | 30-Nov | Freshwater vs Saltwater | Krugman, Paul (2009). ‘How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?’ New York Times Magazine, 2 September, 36f. |
| Wed | 2-Dec | Microfoundations | De Vroey, Michel, What Can Civil Society Expect from Academic Macroeconomics? (2013) Intellectual History |
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| Fri | 4-Dec | What Happened to Monetarism? | Laidler, David (2013). Three Revolutions in Macroeconomics: Their Nature and Influence. |
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| Week XII | Mon | 7-Dec | Methodology of Knowledge | Kuhn, Objectivity, Value Judgement and Theory Choice |
| Wed | 9-Dec | Retrospective | Blanchard, Cerutti, and Summers (2015). Inflation and Activity: Two Explorations and Their Monetary Policy Implications. |
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| Fri | 11-Dec | Discussion: What Should US Macro Policy Look Like? | Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Transfers, Investment | |
| Final Exams | ||||