Homepage Econ 4230, Spring 2025
Macro Modeling
José Víctor Ríos Rull

Times, People and Location

• Lectures MW 1:45-3:14PM, PCPE 100
  
• CANVAS ​(for fectching and placing homeworks)
  
• Office Hours PCP 516: Mon 3:30-4:30 and by appointment. vr0j@upenn.edu
  

Diary of Classes

Teaching Slides

Handout Slides

Reading Materials

• Data on Inequality
  
  • Statistics of Income and Wealth Inequality for 2019
  • Inequality when considering Health
• Main Part of the Course
  
  • Lecture Notes Parts I-IV (Required Reading)
• Generational Accounting
  
  • Gokhale's (2013): Spending Beyond Our Means
  • Short Version of Generational Accounting (Required Reading)
• 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
  
  • What were the economic effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? (Brookings)
    
  • Investment Effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (NBER)
    
  • Making the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Permanent: Economic, Revenue, and Distributional Effects (York and Watson)
    
  • Revenue Implications of Tax Cut and Jobs Act Provisions in 2025 (Rasool, Reunsch and Denamiel)
    
  • Searching for supply-side effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act William G. Gale and Claire Haldeman
    
  • Coporate Income Tax to GDP Ratio
    
  • Alan J. Auerbach on Measuring the Effects of Corporate Tax Cuts
    
  • Barro and Furman on the Macroeconomic Effects of the 2017 Tax Reform
    
• Case Studies in Banking Troubles
  
  • The Problem with Credit Suisse
    
  • The Troubles of Silicon Valley Bank
    
  • The issues with Terra Luna
    
  • What happened in FTX?
    
• Externalities
  
  • The evidence on the effects of soft drink taxes by Rachel Griffith, Martin O'Connell, Kate Smith and Rebekah Stroud. (Longer Version)
• Climate Change
  
  • 2023 Intergubernamental Panel on Climate Change (Summary for Policy Makers)
  • Hassler and Krusell (2015): The Climate and the Economy
  • Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees Celsius (IPCC)
  • Policy Change and a Robust Global Climate Policy by John Hassler
• Other
  
  • Why do Retired Households Draw down their Wealth so Slowly

Course Outline and Overview

Topics Covered

• 1- Some Basic Empirical Facts
  
  • The Size of the Government
    
  • Some Issues with Measurement
    
  • Inequality in the US and Health
    
• 2- A Simple Model of Intertemporal Choice
  
  • Scattered Topics in Policy i: The Fall of Labor Share. Bankruptcy.
    
• 3- The Full Life Cycle Model
  
• 4- Positive Analysis of Fiscal Policy
  
  • Scattered Topics in Policy ii: The Pandemics. The Fall of Fertility. The Troubles of Silicon Valley Bank. The issues with Terra Luna. The Crimes in FTX. Other Timely Ones.
    
• 5. Pigou Taxation
  
• 6. Climate Change and the Economy
  
• 7. Optimal Policy
  

Textbooks & Required materials

Grades

• Homeworks
  
  • Homework will be available on the Canvas course web page. I will indicate in class and in the course web page http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~vr0j/4230-25/ when they are posted. The due date of the homework will be stated on the homework.
  • Due in CANVAS by the end of class (3:15pm) of the specified date. Late homework is not accepted. If you cannot make it, please make prior arrangements for your homework to be delivered on time.
  • In order to receive a passing grade in the course, all three homeworkers have to be handed in.
  • Work in groups on homework is permitted, but everybody needs to hand in his/her own assignment. Please state whom you worked with. Two students that hand in identical assignments will receive half of the score each.
  • Grading complaints: within one week of the return of the homework, provide a written statement specifying the complaint in detail. I will regrade entire assignment. No guarantee that revised score higher than original score (and may be lower).
• Exams
  
  • Three midterms each make up 25% of total grade.
    
  • Not cumulative.
    
  • Dates: Dates: February 19, March 31, April 30.
  • Department policies specify the (few) valid excuses for missing an exam. In case of such one such valid excuse I will either compute the final grade based on the two other exams and the homeworks (which will now have on third weight each) or design a make-up exam to be taken at a suitable date.
• Dates
  

  	Fraction	Points	Date
  Homework 1	8.33%	25	Due February 17
  Midterm 1	25%	75	February 19
  Homework 2	8.33%	25	Due March 26
  Midterm 2	25%	75	March 31
  Homework 3	8.33%	25	Due April 28
  Midterm 3	25%	75	April 30
  Total	100%	300

• Points into Grades
  

  Points Achieved		Letter
  285 - 300		A+
  270 - 284.5		A
  255 - 269.5		A-
  240 - 254.5		B+
  225 - 239.5		B
  210 - 224.5		B-
  195 - 209.5		C+
  180 - 194.5		C
  165 - 179.5		C-
  150 - 164.5		D+
  135 - 149.5		D
  less than 135		F

• Penn Rules
  
• Penn's Code of Academic Integrity
  
• Penn's Students Disability Services