Macroeconomics II

2021/2022

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

4

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

Department of Economics

Course type:

Elective course

When:

1 year, 4 module

Instructor

Azarnert, Leonid V.

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Macroeconomics is the study of economic growth and business cycles. This Macroeconomics II course is the second in graduate Macroeconomics courses sequence and is devoted to the study of economic growth. Schumpeterian theory focuses on industrial innovations arising from R&D as the mainspring of economic growth. It integrates the microeconomic theory of R&D into a macroeconomic growth model, making clear who gains and who loses from technological change, and showing how long-run growth is determined by the competitive process of creative destruction. The course will cover the details of model building and will also survey some of the literature confronting the theory with empirical evidence. We will consider the most recent contributions and debates on growth: in particular, the literature on human capital accumulation and its applications to wage inequality. More importantly, this course develops the understanding of the main concepts and techniques that are in use in the research of economic growth theory. We will learn and understand some of the reasons for the differences across countries in their levels of GDP per capita and standards of living. The final part of the course will present the Unified Growth Theory and discuss the deep rooted sources of comparative economic development.

Learning Objectives

• 1. To know the basic facts regarding the reasons and consequences for the differences in the rate of growth across the globe. 2. To know the basic models of endogenous economic growth, in particular, economic growth built on endogenous human capital investment and accumulation.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Be able to analyze, evaluate and estimate policy implications.
• Be able to modify basic growth models.
• Know basic neoclassical and endogenous growth models, growth “stylized facts” and puzzles, four growth paradigms.
• Know the most recent contributions and debates on growth.
• Understand the principles of growth model building

Course Contents

• 1. Empirical Facts
• 2. Taxonomy of Economic Models
• 4. Over Lapping Generations Model (OLG)
• 8. Income Distribution and Human Capital Investment
• 9. Gender Gap, Fertility and Growth
• 3. Real Business Cycles Model
• 5. Trade, Learning-by-Doing and Growth
• 6. Mass Migration, Norms and Growth
• 10. The Role of Inequality in the Process of Development
• 11. Quantity-Quality Trade-off in Investment in Children
• 12. The Great Divergence in Population and Output
• 13. Unified Growth Theory

Assessment Elements

• activity in class
• closed-book test
• Final exam
  Final exam will take 2 hours and contribute 70% to the final grade.

Interim Assessment

• 2021/2022 4th module
  0.2 * closed-book test + 0.1 * activity in class + 0.7 * Final exam

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Blanchard, O., & Fischer, S. (1989). Lectures on Macroeconomics. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=nlebk&AN=11345