Module Identifier EC30710  
Module Title TOPICS IN MACROECONOMICS 1  
Academic Year 2003/2004  
Co-ordinator Professor Andrew Henley  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Pre-Requisite EC30330  
Course delivery Lecture   12 Hours  
  Seminars / Tutorials   4 Hours  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam1.5 Hours  80%
Semester Assessment One 1500 word essay20%

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
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.

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.

Reading Lists

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

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6