Dr. Andrzej Cieślik

Macroeconomics and International Trade Theory Division

Department of Economics

Warsaw University

44/50 Długa  St.

00-241 Warsaw

email: cieslik@wne.uw.edu.pl

 

 

Advanced Macroeconomics:

Microfoundations, Growth and Business Cycles

 

 

1. Description:

This is a 45-hour graduate course in advanced macroeconomics that focuses on real macroeconomics. The topics cover microeconomic foundations of macroeconomics, growth theories and business cycles. This course is designed mainly for Master of Arts in International Economics Program, however foreign students visiting the Department of Economics at Warsaw University are also welcome to participate. Polish students with good knowledge of English from other specialization fields can enroll subject to instructor’s approval. The course is offered in the spring term. The class meets twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays for two hours (9.45-11.20).

 

2. Objectives:

The main objective of this course is to familiarize students with key analytical models in real macroeconomics. The course consists of three parts. The first part is devoted to microfoundations of macroeconomic models such as consumption, investment and the government sector. The second part focuses on exogenous and endogenous growth theories and covers neoclassical models such as Solow-Swan, Ramsey and OLG models as well as more recent models such as AK, Lucas-Uzawa, Romer and Grossman-Helpman models. The third part concentrates on business cycles and covers real business cycle and new Keynesian theories.

 

3. Detailed program:

 

Class 1. Introduction to macroeconomics                                                                            

Snowdon B., Vane H., Wynarczyk P., 1995, A Modern Guide to Macroeconomics: An introduction to competing schools of thought, Edward Elgar, ch. 1, Visions of the macroeconomy, 1-31, ch. 9, Conclusions and reflections, 408-419.

 

Part I. Microeconomic Foundations

 

Class 2. Dynamic microeconomic models

Barro R.J., 1997, Macroeconomics, MIT Press, ch. 2, Work effort, production and consumption – The economics of Robinson Crusoe, 59-83, ch. 3, The behavior of households with markets for commodities and credit, 92-123.

 

Class 3. Consumption

Romer D., 2001, ch. 7, Consumption, 331-362.

 

Class 4. Investment theory

Romer D., 2001, ch. 8., Investment, 367-409.

Sala-i-Martin X., 2000, Internal and external adjustment costs in the theory of fixed investment, lecture notes.

Hall R., Jorgenson D., 1967, Tax policy and investment behavior, American Economic Review 57, 391-414.

Hayashi F., 1982, Tobin's marginal q and average q: A neoclassical interpretation, Econometrica 50, 213-224.

 

Class 5. Government sector

Romer D., 2001, ch. 11, Budget deficits and fiscal policy, 531-582.

 

Part II. Growth Theory

 

Class 6. Solow-Swan model

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 1, Growth models with exogenous saving rates, The neoclassical model of Solow and Swan, 23-59.

Romer D., 2001, ch. 1, The Solow growth model, 5-43.

 

Class 7. Convergence debate

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 11, Empirical analysis of regional datasets, 461-496.

Islam N., 1995, Growth empirics: A panel data approach, Quarterly Journal of Economics 110, 1127-1170.

Mankiw N.G., Romer D., Weil D.N., 1992, A contribution to the empirics of economic growth, Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, 407-437.

 

Class 8. Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans (RCK) model

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 2, Growth models with consumer optimization, 85-133.

 

Class 9. Fiscal policy in the RCK model

Romer D., 2001, ch. 2, Infinite horizon and overlapping generation models, Part A: The Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans model, 47-74.

Blanchard O.J., Fischer S., 1989, Lectures on Macroeconomics, ch. 2, Consumption and investment: Basic infinite horizon models, section 2.3, Government in the decentralized economy, 52-58.

 

Class 10. Overlapping generations (OLG) model
Romer D., 2001, ch. 2, Infinite horizon and overlapping generation models, Part B: The Diamond  model, 75-90.

Blanchard O.J., Fischer S., 1989, Lectures on Macroeconomics, ch. 3, The overlapping generations model, section 3.2, Social security and capital accumulation, 110-114.

Barro R., 1974, Are government bonds net wealth?, Journal of Political Economy 82, 1095-1117.
Diamond P., 1965, National debt in a neoclassical growth model, American Economic Review 55, 1126-1150.

Samuelson P.A., 1958, An exact consumption-loan model of interest with or without the social contrivance of money, Journal of Political Economy 66, 467-482.

Abel A., Mankiw N.G., Summers L., Zeckhauser R., 1989, Assessing dynamic inefficiency: Theory and evidence, Review of Economic Studies 56, 1-20.

Class 11. Externalities

Romer P., 1986, Increasing returns and long run growth, Journal of Political Economy 94, 1002-1037.

Romer D., 2001, ch. 3, New growth theory, Part B, Cross-country income differences, 120-122.

 

Class 12. AK models

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 1, Growth models with exogenous saving rates, Models of endogenous growth, 61-71.

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 4, One sector model of endogenous growth, 205-232.

Rebelo S., 1991, Long-run policy analysis and long-run growth, Journal of Political Economy 99, 500-521.

 

Class 13. Lucas-Uzawa model

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 5., Two-sector models of endogenous growth, 239-271.

Romer D., 2001, ch. 3, New growth theory, Part A, Research and development models, 98-160.

Lucas R.E., 1988, On the mechanics of economic development, Journal of Monetary Economics 22, 3-42.

 

Class 14. Expanding product variety models

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 6, Technological change: Models with an expanding product variety, 285-313.

Grossman G., Helpman E., 1993, Innovation and growth in the global economy, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, ch. 3, Expanding product variety, 45-76.

 

Class 15. Quality ladder models

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 7, Technological change: Models with improvements in the quality of products, 317-343.

Grossman G., Helpman E., 1993, Innovation and growth in the global economy, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, ch. 4, Rising product quality, 86-109.

 

Class 16. Growth empirics

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 10, Growth accounting, 433-460.

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 11, Empirical analysis of regional datasets, 461-496.

 

Part III. Business Cycle Theory

 

Class 17. Real business cycles

Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, ch. 9, Labor supply and population, 9.3, Labor/Leisure choice, 422-428.

Romer D., 2001, ch. 4, Real business cycle theory, 168-212.

Campbell J.M., 1994, Inspecting the mechanism: An analytical approach to the stochastic growth model, Journal of Monetary Economics 33, 463-506.

Ritter J.A., 1995, An outsider’s guide to real cycle modeling, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 49-60.

Christiano L., Eichenbaum M., 1992, Current real business cycle theories and aggregate labor market fluctuations, American Economic Review 82, 430-450.

Class 18. Coordination failures and macroeconomic policy

Cooper R., 1999, Coordination games: Complementarities and Macroeconomics, Cambridge University press, Cambridge.

Cooper R., John A., 1988, Coordinating coordination failures in Keynesian models, Quarterly Journal of Economics 103, 441-463.

Diamond P., 1982, Aggregate demand management in search equilibrium, Journal of Political Economy 90, 881-894.

 

Class 19. Imperfect competition, nominal and real rigidities

Romer D., 2001, ch. 6, Microeconomic foundations of incomplete nominal adjustment, Part B, Staggered price adjustment, 279-324.

Blanchard O., Kiyotaki N., 1987, Monopolistic competition and the effects of aggregate demand, American Economic Review 77, 647-666.

Rotemberg J.J., Saloner G., 1986, A supergame-theoretic model of price wars during booms, American Economic Review 76, 390-407.

Sheshinski E., Weiss Y., 1977, Inflation and the costs of price adjustment, Review of Economic Studies 44, 287-303.

Weitzman M., 1982, Increasing returns and the foundations of unemployment theory, Economic Journal 92, 787-804.

 

Class 20. Unemployment

Romer D., 2001, ch. 9, Unemployment, 410-461.

Yellen J.L., 1984, Efficiency-wage models of unemployment, American Economic Review 74, 200-205. 

Shapiro C., Stiglitz J.E., 1984, Equilibrium unemployment as a worker-discipline device, American Economic Review 74, 433-444.

 

4. Required reading:

There is no single textbook for this course. Materials for this course come from various textbooks and articles. All assigned readings are required readings. Most often reference is made to the following two books:

[1] Barro R.J., Sala-i-Martin X., 2004, Economic Growth, Second Edition, The MIT Press, Cambridge, M.A.,

[2] Romer D., 2001, Advanced Macroeconomics, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.

 

5.Prerequisites:

The main prerequisite for this course is knowledge of macro and microeconomics at the undergraduate level and mathematical methods in economics at the graduate level.

 

6. Exam:

Grading will be based on one, final written exam given at the end of the course that will count for 100% of the final grade.