Econ520 - Advanced Macroeconomic Theory

Fall 2023 - Prof. Lutz Hendricks

Announcements

• Sep-26: Office hours are now MW 12 to 1pm (to avoid conflicts with faculty meetings).

• Peer tutoring is available in the EconAid Center

• Econ recruiting / internship fair

• Syllabus (contains the wrong email address! The correct one is lhendri at email unc edu)

• Final exam:

  • Dec 8, 4pm. You will have 3 hours, but I expect that you will need less time than that.
  • Material covered: TBA

• Midterm exam:

  • Oct 16 (in class).

  • Material covered: TBA

• Writing assignments

  • due dates moved by one week to account for missed classes at the end of August

• Important: students who do not attend the first week of classes will be dropped from the course. This is department policy. Please contact me if you need an accomodation.

• Slides will be updated as the course progresses.
• Tips for taking exams

Schedule of Classes

Short Run

• Aug-21 (Mon): Introduction, IS-LM model (each of these links leads to the slides that were used in class)
• Aug-23 (Wed): IS/LM Equilibrium
• Aug-28 (Mon): UNC closed
• Aug-30 (Wed): UNC closed
• Sep-4 (Mon): Labor day
• Sep-6 (Wed): IS/LM Equilibrium (cont.)
• Sep-11 (Mon): IS/LM Equilibrium (cont.)
• Sep-13 (Wed): UNC closed
• Sep-18 (Mon): IS/LM Monetary Policy | Assignment 1 due

Medium Run

• Sep-20 (Wed): Labor market
• Sep-25 (Mon): Wellness day
• Sep-27 (Wed): Labor market (continued)
• Oct-2 (Mon): AS-AD model
• Oct-4 (Wed): AS-AD model (continued)
• Oct-9 (Mon): AS-AD applications
• Oct-11 (Wed): Midterm exam
• Oct-16 (Mon): Inflation and unemployment
• Oct-18 (Wed): Inflation expectations and monetary policy. Jeffrey Fuhrer on when the Fed should loosen monetary policy.
• Oct-23 (Mon): Fiscal Deficits | Assignment 2 due

Open Economy

• Oct-25 (Wed): Trade deficits
• Oct-30 (Mon): Trade deficits (contd.)
• Nov-1 (Wed): IS-LM model
• Nov-6 (Mon): IS-LM floating exchange rate
• Nov-8 (Wed): IS-LM fixed exchange rate
• Nov-13 (Mon): AS-AD model: fixed exchange rate, Policy analysis: fixed exchange rate
• Nov-15 (Wed): Floating exchange rate model, Choice of exchange rate regime. Carlos Arteta on international spillovers from higher U.S. interest rates.
• Nov-20 (Mon): Costs and benefits of international trade | Assignment 3 due
• Nov-22 (Wed): Thanksgiving

Long-run Growth

• Nov-27 (Mon): Growth facts
• Nov-29 (Wed): Methods for identifying causes and effects
• Dec-4 (Mon): Institutions
• Dec-6 (Wed): Solow model, Solow diagram
• Dec-6 (Wed): Solow Applications
• Dec-6 (Wed): Romer model, Policy implications
• Dec-6 (Wed): Last class. All questions answered! (or almost all...). A Model summary may be useful for your review.

How to Study for This Class

Much of our time will be spent on analyzing models. There is only one way to learn how to do this: solve lots of practice problems. The exams from previous years offer a good selection of such problems.

If you feel that you are falling behind or if you have trouble with the practice problems, come to my office hours (listed on my web page).

You should also read the textbook sections corresponding to the material we study in class. Additional reading material is listed at the end of the slides.

Feedback

You can help improve this course by letting me know what you like and what you don't like. Drop me an e-mail or come to my office. Feel free to suggest topics you would like to discuss in class.

Past exams

(material in early years differs substantially from current year):

• 2023 Spring: Midterm, Final
• 2022 Fall: Midterm, Final
• 2021 Fall: Midterm, Final
• 2021 Spring: Midterm, Final
• 2017 Spring: Midterm, Final
• 2016 Spring: Midterm, final
• 2015 Spring: exam1, exam2, final
• 2013 Fall: exam1, exam2, final.
• 2012 Fall: exam1, exam2, final.
• 2012 Spring: exam1, exam2, final.
• 2010 (course title was Econ499): exam1, exam2, final.

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