ec9a2 - advanced macroeconomic analysis

Info

The course covers dynamic optimization in discrete and continuous time, labor-leisure choice problems, decision-making under uncertainty, and heterogeneous agent models.

1. Syllabus
2. Office Hours: Tuesdays 13-14

MATLAB Intro

This MATLAB into will cover basic matlab syntax and function used in this course. You should read through the document and work through the m-file before you attempt the first problem set.

1. MATLAB Intro
2. MATLAB File

Other Resources

This course does not have a required textbook but additional material for each lecture can be found in the book linked below. QuantEcon is a great resource for learning more about the computational tools used in economics. Although we will be using MATLAB and QuantEcon provides lectures and code in Python or Julia, it is still a great resource to learn the basic algorithms for coding up economic problems.

• MACROECONOMICS
• QuantEcon

Problem Sets

Problem set should be completed by Firday of every week and emailed to the TA before seminar. The TA will go over the answer, work through the code, and answer any questions. I will post the answers and matlab solutions the following week.

Problem Set 1

1. Questions (Answer)
2. MATLAB (Answer)

Problem Set 2

1. Questions (Answer)

Problem Set 3

1. Questions (Answer)
2. MATLAB (Answer)

Problem Set 4

1. Questions(Answer)
2. MATLAB (Answer)

Problem Set 5

1. Questions (Answer)
2. MATLAB (Answer)

Lecture 1 - Foundations of Dynamic Optimization

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Lagrangian Method vs Dynamic Programming
• Simple Intertemporal Choice Problem

Additional Material

• Geometric Series Notes

Lecture 2 - Infinite Horizon Consumption-Savings Problem and Intro to Dynamic Programing

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Infinite Horizon and steady state analysis
• Mathematical foundations of dynamic programing
• MACROECONOMICS 4.3 and 4.4

Additional Material

• Guess and Verify
• IES notes

Lecture 3 - Neoclassical Growth with Exogenous Labor

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans Model
• Phase Diagram
• Recursive Competitive Equilibrium
• MACROECONOMICS 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.4

Lecture 4 - Neoclassical Growth with Labor-Leisure Choice

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans Model
• Leisure as a control variable
• Recursive Competitive Equilibrium
• MACROECONOMICS 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.4

Lecture 5 - Capital Taxes and Intro to Uncertainty

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Policy application: capital taxes
• Intro to uncertainty
• MACROECONOMICS 15.3, 7.1

Lecture 6 - Consumption-Savings Under Uncertainty

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Expectations and stochastic Euler equation
• Value function iteration under uncertainty
• MACROECONOMICS 7.2 and 7.6

Lecture 7 - Consumption-Savings Under Uncertainty Cont.

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Huggett (1993)
• MACROECONOMICS 11.4.1

Lecture 8 - Consumption-Savings Under Uncertainty Cont. (Again)

Lecture notes

• Notes

Material Covered

• Aiyagari (1994)
• MACROECONOMICS 11.4.2