Office hours for this class are Wednesdays 8:00 AM to 12:25 PM, or by appointment.
A second edition of the book is now available. You may still use the first edition without much loss. The study guide is not available online anymore, but you may find a copy from previous students. The second edition has some added material that is covered by supplementary material that you can download in the schedule below.
We will not cover every chapter of the textbook, and I will cover some material not covered in the textbook. Supplementary material along with links to more on certain topics on the web are provided below.
As the first edition of the study guide has now disappeared from the publisher's website, and the second edition is apparently not ready yet, I am making the first edition available for a limited time.
15/30% means that the lowest of the mid-terms and final will count for 15%, the two others for 30%. A 5% extra-credit project will also be offered towards the end of the term.
A word about grades. When I grade, the average is usually around 60%. This
allows me to reward better those who do well. Do not be too alarmed when
you get a grade that is lower than those you get in other classes. But if
it is really low, you should do something about it...
There are past exams available on the Spring
2003
page, the Fall 2003 page and the Spring 2004 page. More are
on the Fall 2002 page,
but this class followed somewhat different schedule and/or material.
If I encourage you to do
particular
exercices, keep in mind that I may ask similar questions.
Textbook pages Recommended Exercices Date Topic Ed. 1 Ed. 2 Ed. 1 Ed .2 1 31 Aug Course
Introduction 2 2 Sep Macroeconomic
measurement I 39-63 37-56 C2: S1-6, S8-9, S12, G1-2 C2: 3 7 Sep Dealing with business cycle data
65-75, notes 1-11 63-74, notes 1-11 4 9 Sep Business
cycle facts I 75-83, notes 12-21 74-84, notes 12-21 C3:
S1-3 C3: 5 14 Sep Quiz 1 (3, 4),
Business
cycles facts II, Data problem handed
out notes 12-21 notes 12-21 6 16 Sep Household
decisions I 89-103 91-104 C4: S1-2, G1-2, G6 C4: 7 21 Sep Household decisions
II, Firm decisions I 103-120 104-120 C4: S3, G3-4 C4: 23 Sep Class cancelled 8 28 Sep Quiz 2 (3, 4), Firm
decisions I, A first macroeconomic model:
statics I 120-126, 131-134 120-126, 133-136 C4: S5, G5 C4: 9 30 Sep Data problem due, Review
session 10 5 Oct Mid-term
I (3, 4) Material: all until class 8 Material: all until class 8 11 7 Oct A first
macroeconomic model: statics II 134-149 136-151 C5: S2-5, S7, S10-12, G3 C5: 12 12 Oct Bringing some
dynamics: consumption and savings 165-192 235-265 C6: S1-2,
S4-6,
G1, G3 C8: 13 14 Oct Quiz 3 (3, 4), Bringing some
dynamics: Ricardian equivalence 192-204 265-274 C6: S8-9,
G4 C8: 14 19 Oct Bringing
some dynamics: investment and interest rates
215-235 293-314 15 21 Oct Bringing
some dynamics: market equilibrium I 235-249 314-327 C7: S1-4,
G1 C9: 16 26 Oct Quiz 4 (3, 4),
Bringing some dynamics:
policy; Growth introduction 249-259 327-338 C7: S7-9, G2 C9: 17 28 Oct Growth:
the Maltusian model notes 1-8 174-185 C6: 18 2 Nov Growth: modern stylized
facts notes 8-12 168-174, notes 8-12 19 4 Nov Growth: Growth accounting, the
Solow model 265-280 185-191, 200-205 20 9 Nov Review
session 21 11 Nov Mid-term
II (3, 4) Material: classes 11-19 Material: classes 11-19 22 16 Nov Growth:
Solow revisited, Golden Rules 280-297 191-200, 214-219 C8: S3-7,
G1-2 C6: 23 18 Nov Engogenous growth: a
survey 297-309 220-231 C9: S9-10 C7: 24 30 Nov Quiz 5 (3, 4), Money: what
it is 317-323, 513-520 349-354, 536-542 C9: S1, C14: S1-4 C10:, C15: 25 2 Dec Money: what
it does I, Extra-credit problem handed out, Teacher evaluation 323-339 354-363 C9: G1, S2-4 C10: 26 7 Dec Money: what
it does II 339-343, 352-357 363-373 C9:
S5-6 C10: 27 9 Dec Quiz 6 (3, 4), Extra-credit problem due, Money: what
it does III 343-363 543-550, 375-378 C9: S7-8 C10: Dec 13, 9am and 2pm, Monteith 311 Review sessions Sct 3: Dec 14, 1-3pm, TLS 154
Sct 4: Dec 15, 8-10am, BSP 130Final
exam (3, 4) Material: all of the above Material: all of the above Grades...
There will be two "mid-terms" and a final exam. Each will last a full
class. I will also sprinkle a certain number of quizzes here and there,
both to entice you to work without delay and to allow me to check whether we are
on the right track. The formula will be:
Mailing list
Students registered for this class receive regular emails with various
updates about the material covered and about grading. Be sure to give me a
valid email address that you regularly use.
Supplementary material and links
Classified by chapter, not necessarily by the order we cover the topics in
class.
To contact me:
Phone: 6-3272, Email: christian.zimmermann@uconn.edu
Statistical offices
around
the world.
The Boskin
Report
The
article that first used the Hodrick-Prescott filter. Published two
decades after its writing...
US business cycle
dates, as determined by the NBER.
An
article on stylized facts for US business cycles.
A
working paper with stylized facts for many countries.
An
article on the robustness of business cycles facts through time, in
particular the comovement between output and prices.
MyRichUncle.com
Malthus'
Essay on the Principle of Population.
The
Penn World Tables.
An
interactive tutorial for the Solow growth model (bad link, try this)
Robert
Solow
Simon Kuznets
Paul
Romer
Canadian
Tire Money
Milton Friedman
The
article that started RBC theory.
A
criticism of RBC theory by Gregory Mankiw.
A
response by Charles Plosser
A
criticism of the representative agent construct.
A
response by Charles Plosser.
Finn
Kydland
Edward
Prescott