ECON 451
Topics in Macroeconomics Fall 2017
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

This seminar explores some of the central topics in macroeconomics, including economic growth, saving and investment, business cycle fluctuations, monetary policy, and financial crises. The first part of the course focuses on long-run economic growth. Using economic theory and evidence, we will attempt to answer some of the most important questions in all of economics: Why are some countries poor and other countries rich? What can governments do to achieve faster and environmentally sustainable rates of growth? What are the growth consequences of sustained budget deficits? Understanding the behavior of the economy in the long run is one of the key tasks of macroeconomics. But as we have seen during the recent financial crisis, the short run matters as well. In the second part of the class, we will turn our attention to economic downturns and financial crises. Using historical work on past crises and the accumulating evidence on the current one, we will study a host of short-run topics, including financial markets, the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policies, consumer expectations, asset prices, employment, and productivity. Because this is an advanced class in macroeconomics, we will approach these issues as practicing economists working with the best possible models and empirical techniques. Students will have an opportunity to apply these methods in a required end-of-term research paper.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 19
Expected: 19
Class#: 1154
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: midterm, final, class participation and research paper
Prerequisites: ECON 251, ECON 252, and (ECON 255 or STAT 346)
Enrollment Preferences: senior Economics majors
Distributions: Division II

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