Reed College
Reed College

Economics 314

Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 2020
Jeffrey Parker, Reed College
Assignments

Daily Problems

  1. January 29: Aggregate production functions
  2. January 30: k-dot equation in Solow model
  3. January 31: Rate of convergence
  4. February 3: Two-period budget constraints
  5. February 5: Consumption smoothing
  6. February 6: Euler equation
  7. February 7: Dynamics of Ramsey model
  8. February 10: Government spending in Ramsey model
  9. February 12: Asset accumulation in OLG model 
  10. February 13: Dynamic inefficiency in OLG model
  11. February 14: Knowledge as a public good.
  12. February 17: Dynamics of the R&D model
  13. February 19: Dynamics of human capital
  14. February 20: Empirical studies of growth
  15. February 24: Budget constraint with endogenous labor supply
  16. February 26: Effects of shocks in the RBC model
  17. February 27: Steady-state inflation
  18. February 28: (Postponed to March 2) Money demand
  19. March 2: (Postponed to March 4) Multiplier
  20. March 5: Effects of shocks in the IS/LM model
  21. March 6: Basic analysis with aggregate demand and supply
  22. March 9: New Keynesian utility function
  23. March 11: Phillips curve (Formerly: New Keynesian LM curve)
  24. March 12: Lucas's imperfect-information model (Formerly Phillips curve)
  25. March 13: Solving the Lucas model
  26. March 16: Maximizing the Dixit-Stiglitz utility function
  27. March 30: Solving the imperfect-competition model
  28. April 1: Cooper and John's coordination failures 
  29. April 3: Profit-maximization and price adjustment 
  30. April 6: Dynamic price setting
  31. April 8: Fischer model
  32. April 10: Taylor model (2 for today)
  33. April 10: Calvo model (2 for today)
  34. April 13: Inflation inertia
  35. April 15: Intro to unemployment
  36. April 17: Shapiro-Stiglitz model setup
  37. April 20: Shapiro-Stiglitz equilibrium
  38. April 22: Matching model
  39. April 24: Capital theory
  40. April 27: Adjustment-cost model
  41. April 29: q model dynamics

Projects and Problems

  • Project 1: Problems related to the Solow model (Due: February 5)
  • Project 2: Ramsey model problems (Due: February 12)
  • Project 3: Dynamics of capita-income taxes in the Ramsey model and Social Security in the Diamond model (Due: February 19)
  • Project 4: Simulating Romer's RBC model in Dynare (Due: March 4) 
  • Project 5: Working with the IS/LM and AD/AS models (Due: March 11)
  • Project 6: The new Keynesian IS/LM model and the IS/MP model (Due: March 18) 
  • Project 7: Price adjustment and indexed wage contracts (Due: April 8)
  • Project 8: Unemployment models (Due: April 29)

Papers of the week

  • January 31: Mankiw, N. Gregory, David Romer, and David N. Weil. 1992. A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107 (2):407-37.
  • February 7: Pritchett, Lant. 1997. "Divergence, Big Time." Journal of Economic Perspectives 11 (3):3-17.
  • February 14: Gordon, Robert J. 2012. "Is U.S. Economic Growth Over? Faltering Innovation Confronts the Six Headwinds." National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series No. 18315.
  • February 28: Shapiro, Matthew D. 1993. Cyclical Productivity and the Workweek of Capital.  American Economic Review 83 (2):229-33.
  • March 6:  Keynes, John Maynard. 1936. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Chapters 8 through 10.
  • March 13: Friedman, Milton. 1968. The Role of Monetary Policy. American Economic Review 58 (1):1-17.
  • March 20: Ball, Laurence. 1994. What Determines the Sacrifice Ratio? In Monetary Policy, edited by N. Gregory Mankiw, 155-82. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
  • April 3: Sargent, Thomas J. 1982. The Ends of Four Big Inflations. In Inflation: Causes and Effects, edited by Robert E. Hall. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • April 10: Coibion, Olivier, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Rupal Kamdar. 2018. "The Formation of Expectations, Inflation, and the Phillips Curve." Journal of Economic Literature 56 (4):1447-91.
  • April 17: SELECT YOUR OWN PAPER 
  • April 24: Akerlof, George A. 2007. The Missing Motivation in Macroeconomics. American Economic Review 97 (1):5-36.