MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Pietro Reichlin

Obiettivi formativi

Provide basic notions and methods of advanced macroeconomic theory with special focus on consumption, asset pricing, economic growth and equilibrium

Prerequisiti

Elementary macroeconomic and microeconomic theory, basic notions in calculus and optimization

Risultati di apprendimento attesi

1. Knowledge and understanding: Being able to grasp main factors explaining economic development, individuals' savings and consumption decisions, asset allocation, and the scope for economic policies in market economies. 2. Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will be able to: • apply theoretical results to make cross-country comparisons in growth performance and understand and interpret empirical regularities in macroeconomic models of consumption and savings • examine major public policies by comparing the experiences of countries in Europe as well as in the rest of the world. 3. Communications Skills: This course will give the students the possibility to acquire and understand major terms and concepts in order to communicate their ideas, proposals, analysis and critical reasoning in the field of public policy in the most effective and appropriate way. 4. Learning skills: This course will give students the tools to determine why certain public policies are followed and others are not and to evaluate and explain the models in an independent way.

Contenuti Del Corso

Introduction to advanced macroeconomics with focus on the theory of consumption and asset pricing, neoclassical growth, endogenous growth and equilibrium.

Testi Di Riferimento

Lecture notes provided on the instructor's webpage

Metodologie Didattiche

Lectures, review sessions based on class assignments where students have to make presentations.

Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento

Written exam supplemented by a mid term exam and evaluation of the presentations in the review sessions.

Criteri per l’assegnazione dell’elaborato finale

NA

Settimana 1

The Solow growth model. Dynamic Efficiency.

Settimana 2

Optimal growth: framework and solution methods.

Settimana 3

Stability analysis, optimal growth with overlapping generations, introducing uncertainty

Settimana 4

Savings and consumption in market economies: preferences, budget sets, debt limits, Ponzi games, present value representation of the life-time budget constraint.

Settimana 5

The consumption function, the permanent income hypothesis.

Settimana 6

Savings and consumption and Euler equations under uncertainty with complete and incomplete markets.

Settimana 7

The certainty equivalence model and the notion of precautionary savings.

Settimana 8

Asset Pricing, risk premia and market fundamentals.

Settimana 9

Equilibrium with complete markets, consumption smoothing and risk sharing.

Settimana 10

Competitive equilibria in the Overlapping Generations Model.

Settimana 11

Validity and Failure of the First welfare Theorem.

Settimana 12

Review.