Department of Economics University College London,
113.Drayton House.
Homepage http://www.econ.umn.edu/~vr0j/index.html
http://www.caerp.com
Thursday 18:00-21:00 Room 321 Drayton House. Until
March 19th. These are 9 days. There will be some
cancellation. Additional possible dates are Fridays
11:00-12:00 in Drayton Edgeworth B16 on the following dates:
30th Jan, 13th Feb, 27th Feb or 13th Mar. Any other change will
be posted in this page.
Off Hours: Before and after class and by appointment.
http://www.econ.umn.edu/~vr0j/uclecong207/, email:
vr0j@umn.edu
The class of March 12 is
moved to Monday 16th March from 18:00. We will anounce
when. Krisztina will be out of town on Th and Fr and we could
not find a suitable room/time on Wednesday. I will email the
room. Contact me if there is a problem.
From 5th
Feb, to March 12th on Drayton G26. 19th Mar, in Drayton
Jevons.
Chapters 5 and 6
of
these notes have the Lucas tree with shopping.
Course Description.
This is a course in how to do modern macroeconomics. As such
we will not review what the profession knows about a
particular issue. Instead we will look at how to answer
particular questions, with especial emphasis on tools. The
first part of the course will have some engagement in the
notion of recursive equilibrium.
The main content of this class is to learn how to do work in
macroeconomics. This requires T
Theoretical tools: The lens through which we look at the
data:Economic models.
Computational tools: What is needed to complete
characterize outcomes in those economic models.
Empirical tools. The ability to compute
statistics in models and data, and to compare outcomes of
the economic model with those of data.
Hopefully good sense.
The content of this course will ultimately depend on the
interests of its students. So it will take a week or two to
get determined. My main interests are in macroeconomics,
labor, health and family economics, and public finance.
This page is work in progress you should look in here to see
what is going on.
I want to start reviewing what equilibrium is. We will
emphasize the recursive nature of equilibrium by looking at it
in some detail. We will go over the part of the material below
that has not been seen by the students and/or it attract some
of your interest.
Homeworks and Grades
In the context of the course, I will assign some
homeworks: usually I will ask you to prove something during a
lecture, sometimes they will be posted in the homepage. These
problems are not required but will give you an idea of what is
expected for the exam.
I want the students to make presentations. Very short ones. To
answer a homework. To make a point. To present a paper or a
question. If all goes well, all students will present.
The grade will be based on the presentations and the
final exam.
Possible List of Material to Cover
This list is of material that I
want to go over. The first few items you have seen in a very
similar way, so I will go very fast over it, but I find it
very useful to go over them again.
Competitive equilibrium in the
growth model. Taking advantage of the welfare theorems.
Stokey and Lucas,
[1989], Chapters 15 and 16; Harris, [1987], Chapters 3 and
4; Cooley and Prescott,
[1995].
A stochastic version of the
growth model. What are complete markets? What are one
period ahead Arrow-securities? How to define Competitive
equilibrium in stochastic growth model.
COOLEY, T. F., AND E. C. PRESCOTT (1995): "Economic Growth
and Business Cycles," in Frontiers of Business Cycle Research, ed. by
T. F. Cooley, chap. 1. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
HARRIS, M. (1987): Dynamic Economic Analysis. Oxford
University Press.
LUCAS, R. E. (1988): "On the Mechanics of Economic Development,"
22, 3-42.
ROGERSON, R., R. SHIMER, AND R. WRIGHT (2005):
"Search-Theoretic Models of the Labor Market: A Survey," Journal of
Economic Literature, 43, 959-988.
ROMER, P. M. (1986): "Increasing Return and Long-run Growth," 94,
1002-36.
(1990): "Endogenous Technological Change," 98, S71-S102.
STOKEY, N. L., AND E. C. LUCAS, R. E. WITH PRESCOTT
(1989): Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics. Harvard University
Press.