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Course Aims
Macroeconomics is the part of economics that studies the behaviour of the economic system as a whole. This
course aims to develop a macroeconomic framework, to provide microfoundations for macro relationships, to
emphasize interactions within economies, and to examine some topical issues in policy design.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course students will understand intertemporal budget constraints, determinants of long-run
growth of the economy, sources of business cycles and fluctuations in short run aggregate demand, the demand
for and supply of money, and the role of monetary and fiscal policy. Students are encouraged not merely to learn
theoretical models but to appreciate their relevance in practice, including in the design of economic policy.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the academic year, you are expected to:
Organisation
During the course, there will be a weekly lecture combined with a class in which students present their solutions
to that week's problem set.
Test: The test will take place during the lecture hour on the following date: Tuesday February 15, 2005. The test will
follow the approach of the seminar class worksheets. It will count for 20% of your final grade in this course, if this
improves your overall average. If the mark in your final examination is higher than the mark in the mid-term test, the
marks for the mid-term test will be discarded, and your final grade will come entirely from the final examination.
Examination: The three hour examination will take place on the following date: Tuesday, March 22, 2005. It counts
for 80% of the final grade in the course. The examination tests your ability to construct written answers to a
variety of macroeconomic questions and your ability to coherently use the analytical tools taught throughout the
term.
Recommended Reading
Measurement: Measuring GDP; Nominal and Real GDP and Price Indices; Savings, Wealth and Capital;
Labour Market Measurement
Business Cycle Measurement: Stylised Facts; Comovements
*Williamson Ch.s 1, 2, 3
Week 2: Consumer and Firm Behaviour: The Work-Leisure Decision and Profit Maximization
*Williamson Ch. 4
* Williamson Ch. 5
* Williamson Ch. 8
* Williamson Ch. 10
Baumol, W., (1952), The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theory Approach, Quarterly Journal of
Economics, Vol. 66, pp. 545-556.
*Bullard, J. (1999), Testing Long-Run Neutrality Propositions: Lessons from the Recent Research, Federal
Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, November, pp. 57-78.
*Blinder, A., (1998), Central Banking in Theory and Practice, Cambridge: The MIT Press, chapters 1-2.
Laidler, D., (1969), The definition of money: theoretical and empirical problems, Journal of Money, Credit and
Banking, 1, 508-525.
*McCandless G., W. Weber (1995) Some Monetary Facts, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review,
Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 211
*Mishkin, F. (1995), Symposium on the Monetary Transmission Mechanism, Journal of Economic Perspectives
9, no. 4, 3-10.
*Mankiw Ch. 9
*Williamson Ch. 12
* Williamson Ch. 12
* Mankiw Ch. 13
* Williamson Ch. 12
Week 9: Inflation, the Phillips Curve and the Central Bank Commitment
Inflation-Unemployment Trade Off; The Phillips Curve; The Friedman-Lucas Model Money Surprise
Model
* Williamson Ch. 17
*Barro, R., and D. Gordon (1983) A Positive Theory of Monetary Policy in a Natural Rate Model, The
Journal of Political Economy, 91, pp. 589 -610.
*Blinder, A., (1998), Central Banking in Theory and Practice, Cambridge: The MIT Press, chapter 3.
Cukierman A, Miller, G. and B. Neyapti (2002) Central Bank reform, liberalization in transition economies-an
international perspective, Journal of Monetary Economics, pp.237-264
*Hayo, B. and C. Hefeker (2002), Reconsidering Central Bank Independence, European Journal of Political
Economy 18, pp. 653-674.
* Williamson Ch. 11