Econ 429: Advanced Macroeconomics III
Welcome to this web page! This class is taught by Christian
Zimmermann. This class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays
7:45-9:30 AM in room 311, Monteith Building.
Office hours for this class are Wednesdays 8-12 AM or by
appointment.
Textbook
This class will use the following textbook: Lars Ljungvist and Thomas J.
Sargent, Recursive Macroeconomic Theory, MIT Press 2000. A second edition was published in 2004, you can use either for this class.
It should be
available at the UConn Bookstore (Co-op). Also, if you
have David Romer, Advanced Macroeconomics, McGrawHill 1996, from
Econ 419, keep it. We will also cover a few chapters in Thomas F. Cooley
(ed.), Frontiers of Business Cycle Research, Princeton University
Press, 1997, which you may want to buy if you intend to specialize in
macro.
We will not cover every chapter of the textbook, and I will cover some
material not covered in the textbook. In particular, some recent working
papers or articles will also be covered. They are mentioned below,
whenever possible with a link to an online version.
Topics
- Value functions and Bellman equations
Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapters 3, 4, 5. A refresher with emphasis on numeraical solutions.
- Recursive equilibria
Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapters 7, 8, 12.
- Real business cycles
Cooley, Chapters 1, 2. More details than in ECON419.
- Ricardian Equivalence
Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapter 10.
- Asset Pricing
Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapter 13.
- Search
Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapters 6, 26.
- Self-Insurance
Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapter 16, as well as Deaton (1991) and Hansen-Imrohoroglu (1992).
Grades...
There will be a mid-term and a final exam. Each will last a full
class. I will also sprinkle a certain number of homeworks here and there,
both to entice you to work without delay and to allow me to check we are
on the right track. You will also be asked to write a short essay on a
rather narrow topic from Ljungqvist and Sargent. The
formula will be:
- 35% mid-term
- 40% final exam
- 10% problems
- 15% essay
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...
Essay Topics
The essay should be 8 pages long, plus a bibliography of at least 10
items. At least three must be articles (no more than two from the same
journal), at least three must be unpublished working papers. Topics can be
from those in the Ljungqist and Sargent textbook that we will not cover,
or another topic. The topic needs to be first approved by me. Topics covered by other students in recent years are not eligible.
A few links
To contact me:
Phone: 6-3272, Email: christian.zimmermann@uconn.edu