Macroeconomics:
Economic Cycles, Frictions and Policy
This is a first course in macroeconomics at the graduate level. We study workhorse models of consumption, saving, economic growth, business cycle fluctuations and unemployment. The objective is to study the main building blocks of macroeconomic models, understanding the mechanisms that drive their results in the simplest framework possible.
Syllabus
Lecture 1: Math refresher
Economic Cycles, Frictions and Policy
This is a first course in macroeconomics at the graduate level. We study workhorse models of consumption, saving, economic growth, business cycle fluctuations and unemployment. The objective is to study the main building blocks of macroeconomic models, understanding the mechanisms that drive their results in the simplest framework possible.
Syllabus
Lecture 1: Math refresher
- Kuhn-Tucker example in Matlab: main.m; objective.m
- Practice problems
- Calculating stylized facts of economic growth: code
- Discussion: Can we keep growing forever?
- The history of light: a podcast discussing the evolution of the technology to produce light