MA Macroeconomics

This is the class website for University College Dublin module MA Macroeconomics (ECON 41990) in  Autumn 2014.

Information and Assessment

A syllabus for the course (including details of the assessment) is available here.  The School of Economic gradescale is here.

Here is a handout with guidelines on the final exam and sample questions for the first section of the exam.  (Final edition).

Here are sample questions for the second part of the final exam as well as some guidelines for answering the questions. (Final edition).

 Lecture Notes

1. The IS-LM Model. (From MIT Open Courseware)

2. The AS-AD Model. (From MIT Open Courseware)

My summary of IS-LM and AS-AD

Click on the name of the topics below to obtain the lecture notes. Note these are longer and more detailed than the slides.

3. Introducing the IS-MP-PC Model. Slides here.

4. Analysing the IS-MP-PC Model. Slides here.

5. The Taylor Principle. Slides here.

6. The Zero Lower Bound and the Liquidity TrapSlides here.

7. Rational Expectations and Asset Prices. Slides here.

8. Rational Expectations, Consumption and Asset Pricing. Slides here.

9. Sticky Prices and the Phillips Curve. Slides here.

10. Growth Accounting. Slides here.

11. The Solow Model. Slides here.

12. Endogenous Technological Change: The Romer Model.  Slides here.

13. Cross-Country Technology Diffusion.  Slides here.

14. Institutions and Efficiency.  Slides here.

Readings

John Hicks (1937). Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation

Mark Bils and Peter Klenow (2004). Some Evidence on the Importance of Sticky Prices

Alvarez et al (2005). Sticky Prices in the Euro Area

Carl Walsh (2002): Teaching Inflation Targeting: An Analysis for Intermediate Macro

Milton Friedman (1968): The Role of Monetary Policy.

John Taylor (1993): Discretion Versus Policy Rules in Practice

Bank of England (2012): State of the Art of Inflation Targeting

Richard Clarida, Jordi Gali and Mark Gertler (2000): Monetary Policy Rules
and Macroeconomic Stability: Evidence and Some Theory

Athanasios Orphanides (2001). Monetary Policy Rules, Macroeconomic Stability and Inflation: A View from the Trenches

Ben Bernanke (2003):  Some Thoughts on Monetary Policy in Japan

Lars Svensson (2003). Escaping from a Liquidity Trap and Deflation: The Foolproof Way and Others

Paul Krugman (2012): Earth to Ben Bernanke. Chairman Bernanke Should Listen to Professor Bernanke

Eugene Fama (1970): Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work

Eugene Fama (1991): Efficient Capital Markets II

Robert Shiller (1981): Do Stock Prices Move Too Much to be Justified by Subsequent Changes in Dividends?

John Campbell and Robert Shiller (2001). Valuation Ratios and the Long-Run Stock Market Outlook: An Update.

Gavyn Davies: The Nobel  Laureates on Equity Bubbles

NBER Workshop on Behavioural Finance.

Robert Lucas (1976). Econometric Policy Evaluation: A Critique.

Robert Hall (1978). Stochastic Implications of the Life Cycle-Permanent Income Hypothesis: Theory and Evidence.

John Campbell and Gregory Mankiw (1990). Permanent Income, Current Income, and Consumption

Robert Barro (1974). Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?

Jonathan Parker, Nicholas Souleles, David Johnson and Robert McClelland (2011). Consumer Spending and the Economic Stimulus Payments of 2008.

Jonathan Parker (1999). The Reaction of Household Consumption to Predictable Changes in Social Security Taxes.

Chang-Tai Hsieh (2003). Do Consumers React to Anticipated Income Changes? Evidence from the Alaska Permanent Fund

Bureau of Labor Statistics MFP Trends up to 2013

Karl Whelan: Is the U.S. Set for an Era of Slow Growth?

Kieran McQuinn and Karl Whelan (2014): Presentation on Demographics, Structural Reform and the Growth Outlook for Europe.

Alwyn Young (1992): A Tale of Two Cities: Factor Accumulation and Technical Change in Hong Kong and Singapore

Edward Miguel and Gerard Roland (2009): The Long Run Impact of Bombing Vietnam

Paul Krugman (1994): The Myth of Asia’s Miracle

Paul Romer (1990) : Endogenous Technological Change.

Robert Gordon (2012): Is U.S. Economic Growth Over? Faltering Innovation Confronts the Six Headwinds

Robert Gordon (2014): The Demise of U.S. Growth: Restatement, Rebuttal and Reflections

Joel Mokyr (2013): Is Technological Progress a Thing of the Past?

Robert E. Hall and Charles I. Jones (1999). Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output per Worker than Others?

Douglass North (1999). Institutional Change: A Framework of Analysis.

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson (2001). The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.

Dani Rodrik, Arvind Subramanian, and Francesco Trebbi (2002). Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions over Geography and Integration in Economic Development.

Robert Gillanders and Karl Whelan (2014). Open For Business? Institutions, Business Environment and Economic Development.