Module Identifier EC30710  
Module Title TOPICS IN MACROECONOMICS 1  
Academic Year 2000/2001  
Co-ordinator Professor Andrew Henley  
Semester Semester 1  
Pre-Requisite EC30330  
Course delivery Lecture   12 Hours  
  Seminars / Tutorials   4 Hours  
Assessment Exam   1.5 Hours   80%  
  Course work   One 1500 word essay   20%  

Aims
The module aims to teach more advanced topics in the macroeconomics analysis of economic fluctuations. Students will be taught the macroeconomic implications "non-competitive" or "non-optimising" forms of behaviour by households, as consumers and suppliers of labour, and by firms as price-setters and as users of labour. The module will contrast the ideal "New-Classical" world with "New-Keynesian" theories, and so address the important question of macroeconomic policy effectiveness.

Learning outcomes
Through lecture presentation, seminar discussion and reading you should grasp a firm understanding on recent work by economists to explain the source of rigidities in the economy and their role and importance in explaining unemployment and macroeconomic fluctations. You should also obtain an understanding and overview of recent work on consumption and savings and be able to understand the macroeconomicc consequences of behaviour that departs from the pure life-cycle theory. Specifically you should gain a working understanding of the following topics:

From these you should also be able to gain an understanding of how particularly types of behaviour in response to uncertainty and market imperfection lead to detrimental aggregate effects on the economy. In turn you should be able to further inform your ideas and views on the debate surrounding the effectiveness of macroeconomic policy.

Module outline
The current year's module outline can be found via The School's website

Reading Lists
Books
David Romer. (1996) Advanced Macroeconomics. McGraw Hill
Andrew Abel and Ben Bernanke. (2000) Macroeconomics. 4th. Addison Wesley Longman
N Gregory Mankiw and David Romer (eds). (1991) New Keynesian Economics, Volumes 1 and 2,. MIT Press