Econ 429: Advanced Macroeconomics III

Welcome to this web page! This class is taught by Christian Zimmermann. This class meets on Tuesdays 9:30-10:45 AM in room 311, Monteith Building.

Office hours for this class are Wednesdays 7:30-12:00 AM or by appointment.

Textbooks

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. The books should be available at the UConn Bookstore (Co-op). macro.

We will not cover every chapter of the textbook, and we will cover some material not covered in the textbook (yet).

Topics

  1. Arrow-Debreu Markets

    losely follwoing Mas-Colell, Whinston and Green, Chapter 19

  2. Recursive equilibria

    Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapters 7, 8, 12.

  3. Real business cycles

    Cooley, Chapters 1, 2

  4. Asset Pricing

    Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapter 13.

  5. Search Theory

    Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapters 6, 26

  6. Self-Insurance

    Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapter 16.

  7. Incomplete Markets

    Ljungqvist and Sargent, Chapter 17.

Grades...

There will be two mid-terms and a final exam. Each will last a full class. We will also sprinkle a certain number of homeworks here and there, both to entice you to work without delay and to allow us 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:

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 At least three must be articles (no more than two from the same journal), at least three must be unpublished working papers.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.

To contact me: Phone: 6-3272, Email: christian.zimmermann@uconn.edu