Module Identifier |
EC30710 |
Module Title |
TOPICS IN MACROECONOMICS 1 |
Academic Year |
2006/2007 |
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 Type | Assessment Length/Details | Proportion |
Semester Exam | 1.5 Hours | 80% |
Semester Assessment | One 1500 word essay | 20% |
|
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:
-
Real Business Cycle theories, and whether economic fluctuations can be explained by technology shocks
-
Models of efficiency wages and insider-outsiders, and how they may contribute to real wage rigidity and unemployment
-
The dynamic nature of unemployment dynamics and the concept of hysteresis
-
The role of labour market institutions and their effects on macroeconomic outcomes
-
Theories of nominal price rigidity, and whether they can explain economic fluctuations
-
The pure life-cycle hypothesis of consumption and saving; analysis and evidence for and against
-
The implications of non-life-cycle behaviour such as precautionary saving and spending in the face of credit constraints
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
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
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6