The Econ 611 Page

Here is the Syllabus. Here are some references with some links to the literature.

1. Economic growth. Some notes.

    1/7/08: Introduction to the class and to Economic growth.  Class notes from 1/7/08.

    1/9/08: Economic growth, Solow growth model. Class notes on the Solow model..

        Here is homework 1 and resources related to productivity data; the assignment will be due on Wednesday, Jan 23.

        Here is the solution to homework 1 and an associated worksheet that contains the calculations.

    1/14/08: Solow growth model, optimal growth model. Class notes on optimal growth, pt 1.

        Here are some additional simple problems on the Solow model.

    1/16/08: Optimal growth model. Class notes on optimal growth, pt 2.

    1/23/08: Transition dynamics in the optimal growth model.

Here is homework 2; the assignment will be due on Monday, Feb. 4. 

Regarding obtaining and using Matlab: I believe that Matlab is available for students to load onto their own machines from ITAP Contracts and Licensing; the phone number is 494-5100. Numerous authors have offered free "primer" articles on using Matlab, as a Google search will inform you. Here is one Matlab Primer that is widely circulated. I think that the online documentation available through the Matlab help GUI is quite good, and perhaps you should look there first if your looking for an introduction to Matlab.

1/28/08, 1/30/08: Analyzing transition dynamics; numerical implementation.

This compressed folder contains a very simple Matlab program that implements the optimal growth model.

2/4/08: Analyzing transition dynamics: application to a two-sector optimal growth model.

2/6/08: Decentralizations of the optimal allocation.

2/11/08: Exam 1.

2/13/08: Endogenous growth models, Romer's (1986) externality in production model.

2/18/08-2/20/08: Endogenous growth models, Lucas's (1988) human capital model.

    Here is homework 3; the assignment will be due on Friday, Feb. 29. HW3 Matlab Program

2/25/08-2/27/08: Endogenous growth models, Romer's (1987) R&D model.

3/3/08: Introduction to the study of business cycles. Class notes from 3/3/08.

    [Read sections 1-3 in King and Rebelo (2000).]

3/5/08: Developing intuition for RBC model; analytical versions.

    [Read sections 1-2 of McCallum (1990).]

    Here is homework 4; the assignment will be due on Wednesday, March 19. 

3/10/08-3/12/08: SPRING BREAK.

3/17/08: Developing (more) intuition for RBC model; analytical versions.

3/19/08: Toward numerical analysis of the RBC model: linearization and method.

3/24/08: Numerical analysis of the RBC model: calibration and Uhlig's implementation.

    Here are some notes for the 3/5-3/24 lectures. The form of the retroactive notes is rather rough; sorry for that! (To clarify, slides 1-12 summarize previous lectures and I did NOT hand them out in class!)

    This compressed folder [THE RIGHT LINK, NOW (4/4/08); SORRY!] contains the Matlab program that implements the RBC model in conjunction with Uhlig's programs. (See the references folder above to get Uhlig's stuff.)

3/26/08: The labor market in RBC theory. Notes for 3/26 lecture. Here is a link to Hansen and Wright (1992).

    Here is the solution to HW 4.

3/31/08: Exam 2...

4/2/08: Hansen's (1985) indivisible labor model. Notes for 4/2 lecture.

    Here is homework 5, tentatively due on Monday, April 14.

4/7/08-4/9/08: Accounting for capital utilization; re-measuring productivity shocks.

4/14/08: Introducing money into the model.

Here are some extra problems for you to work on.

4/16/08: Mo' money.

    Here is a correction to the solution to Exam 2; enjoy!

4/21/08: A model of monopolistically competitive intermediate producers.

4/23/08: An introduction to models with nominal rigidity. Here are some notes and some (crudely articulated) exercises.

    Our final exam is Wednesday, April 30, 10:20-12:20 in 2079 Rawls; it will cover all of the material we covered after the endogenous growth models.

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