en
Ateneo
en
Ateneo

PhD – 39th cycle – Thematic fields – Macroeconomics

Macroeconomics

PhD in Economics 39th Cycle

Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University

The Macroeconomics course has been organized in two parts. The first part contains an introductory lesson on the history of macroeconomics and lessons on economic growth theory, real business cycle and New Keynesian models. The second part illustrates advanced theoretical models on monetary policy, network analysis and agent-based model. Matlab tools for macroeconomic models are introduced to support the two parts in terms of empirical applications.

Learning outcomes:

  • Ability to autonomously develop macroeconomics theoretical models.
  • Ability to empirically test theoretical models of macroeconomics.

Prerequisites:
Students should have knowledge of the following topics:

  • IS-LM model;
  • AS-AD model;
  • The Phillips curve;
  • Consumption and savings;
  • Investment spending;
  • Central Bank, money, and credit;
  • Financial markets;
  • Technological growth and progress;
  • Capital accumulation, savings and technological progress;
  • Expectations in macroeconomic models.


Textbooks:

MACROECONOMICS – PART 1

Syllabus

ꙩHistory of Macroeconomics

Prof. Mauro Gallegati

Hours: 3

  • Keynesian Macroeconomics.
  • DSGE Macroeconomics.

Reading list:

De Vroey, M.A., History of Macroeconomics from Keynes to Lucas and Beyond, Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Gallegati, M., Il mercato rende liberi – E altre bugie del neoliberismo, Luiss University Press, 2021.

ꙩ Economic Growth Theory

Prof. Giulia Bettin

Prof. Davide Ticchi

Hours: 16

  • The Solow growth model.
  • The Ramsey growth model.
  • A brief introduction to endogenous growth models.
  • Introduction to institutions and growth.

Reading list:

  • Barro R., Sala-i-Martin X. (2004), Economic Growth, Mc-Graw-Hill, chapter 1-2.
  • Jones, C. J. (2015). “The facts of economic growth,” NBER Working Paper No. 21142.
  • Acemoglu, D., Johnson S., Robinson J. A. (2001) “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation,” American Economic Review, 91, 1369-1401.
  • Acemoglu, D., Johnson S., Robinson J. A (2002) “Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107, 1231-1294.
  • Slides on e-learning platform.

Further readings:

  • Romer D. (2011). Advanced Macroeconomics, McGraw-Hill. Chapter 3.
  • Benassy, J.P. (2011). Macroeconomic Theory, Oxford University Press. Chapter 9.
  • Jones, C.J. (2019). Paul Romer: Ideas, Nonrivalry, and Endogenous Growth, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 121(3), 859-883.
  • Hall, R. E., Jones, C. I. (1999). “Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker Than Others?” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(1), 83–116.

ꙩ Real Business Cycle

Dr. Federico Giri

Hours: 12

  • The IS-LM model: an overview.
  • The Trend-Cycle decomposition.
  • The basic Real Business Cycle model: an introduction.
  • The demand side: The households’ problem and the Euler equation of consumption.
  • The supply side: from firms’ maximization problem.
  • Solution methods.

Reading list:

  • McCandless, G., (2008), The ABCs of RBCs, Harvard University Press.

ꙩ New Keynesian Model

Dr. Federico Giri

Hours: 12

  • The basic New Keynesian Model: An introduction.
  • The demand side: The households’ problem and the Euler equation of consumption.
  • The supply side: from firms’ maximization problem to the New-Keynesian Phillips curve.
  • The Policy block: The central bank and monetary policy rules.
  • Solution methods.
  • Policy applications:  Technological and monetary policy impulse response functions.

Reading list:

  • Galì, J. (2015). Monetary Policy, Inflation and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework, Second Edition, Princeton University Press.
  • Walsh, C. E. (2010). Monetary Theory and Policy, Third Edition, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.


ꙩ Matlab tools for Macroecnomics

Prof. Antonio Palestrini

Hours: 6

  • Introduction to the use of Matlab to analyse economic models in continuous and discrete time (hints of differential equations, difference equations and optimization in Matlab).

Reading list:

  • Matlab – for applications in Economics and Finance by Pocci, Rotundo, De Kok (2017).

MACROECONOMICS – PART 2

Syllabus

ꙩ Monetary Policy

Prof. Paolo Canofari

Prof. Alessandro Piergallini

Hours: 12

  • Welfare analysis and real and nominal rigidities.
  • Monetary policy under discretion.
  • Monetary policy under commitment.
  • Monetary and fiscal policy interaction.
  • Dynamic implications of the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates.

Reading list:

  • Galì Jordi: Monetary Policy, Inflation and Businss Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framewoek, Princeton University Press, 2015, 2° ed. Chapter 4 (just for the first topic) and 5(main chapter).
  • Benhabib, J., Schmitt-Grohé, S and Uribe, M. (2001), The Perils of Taylor rules, Journal of Economic Theory 96, 40-69.
  • Benhabib, J., Schmitt-Grohé, S and Uribe, M. (2002), Avoiding Liquidity Traps, Journal of Political Economy 110, 535-563.
  • Canzoneri, M. B., Cumby, R. and Diba, B. (2011), The Interaction Between Monetary and Fiscal Policy, in Friedman, B. and Woodford, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, Amsterdam and Boston: North-Holland/Elsevier, 935-999.
  • Leeper, E. M., Leith, C. (2016), Understanding Inflation as a Joint Monetary-Fiscal Phenomenon, Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor and H. Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, 2305-2415.
  • Turnovsky (2000), Methods of Macroeconomic Dynamics, MIT Press, Cambridge (Ms), Chapter 8.
  • Woodford M. (2003), Interest and Prices, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, Chapter 2.
  • A detailed list of articles and chapters of textbooks will be provided during the course.

ꙩ Network Analysis

Dr. Raffaele Giammetti

Hours: 8

  • Overview of research on the analysis of complex network.
  • Random network models.
  • Strategic formation network models.
  • Hybrids models of networks.

Reading list:

Jackson M.O. (2008) Social and Economic Networks, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Easley D. and Kleinberg J. (2010) Networks, Crowds, and Markets, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

ꙩ Agent-Based Model

Prof. Eugenio Caverzasi

Dr. Samantha Coccia

Dr. Edoardo Luca Fierro

Dr. Raffaele Giammetti

Prof. Antonio Palestrini

Prof. Alberto Russo

Hours: 39

  • An introduction to Agent Based Modelling (ABM).
  • ABM in Economics: What, When, Why .
  • From mainstream macro to ABM: optimization vs. adaptation .
  • Computational laboratory: Implementing a “toy model” using R and Matlab.
  • ABM and network analysis.
  • The integration of the Agent Based (AB) approach and Stock Flow Consistent (SFC) modelling.
  • Inequality and financial securitization in a macro AB-SFC model.
  • Inequality, innovation and growth in a macro AB-SFC model.
  • Inequality, financialization and monetary policy: theory and lab (using Matlab).
  • Inflation, distribution and financial vulnerability in a macro AB-SFC model.

Reading list:

Exam
At the end of the first part of Macroeconomics course, doctoral students take an exam for each of the three courses taught i.e., Economic Growth Theory, Real Business Cycle, and New Keynesian Models. The same indications are adopted for the second part of Macroeconomics course, where the three courses taught are: Monetary Policy, Network Analysis, and Agent-based Model. Overall, there are 6 exams, consisting in an open question and an exercise for each course. The exam is passed if the PhD student scores 18 out of 30. The duration of the exam for each course is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

E-learning:

Additional material is included in the “MACROECONOMIA-MACROECONOMICS A.A. 2023-2024” folder available at https://learn.univpm.it/ . Doctoral students access the folder with Univpm personal credentials (username and password).