Description:
Lectures by A. Kriwoluzky (part I):
The economy spend most of the last decade at the zero lower bound of nominal interest rates. Fears of a deflationary spiral were looming and monetary policy started to purchase assets in order to influence the economy. These days are over. Inflation is back! Monetary policy is now faced with a task to bring inflation down again.
In this class, we will study how to analyze the effects of monetary policy on the economy. First, we look at it from an empirical point of view. Questions include: How can one measure monetary policy surprises? Can monetary policy fight inflation given that it is driven by energy supply shocks? Second, we will look at the distributional effects of inflation and monetary policy. To this end, we will study heterogeneous-agent New Keynesian (”HANK”) models.
This course aims at enabling students to analyze the effects of monetary policy using empirical models (SVAR models and LP models) as well as theoretical models (RANK and HANK models). Therefore, a focus of the class will be the hands-on part. In these parts, students will implement the tools themselves in Matlab.
See syllabus for further information
Lectures by L. Zessner-Spitzenberg (part II):
This part of the course focuses on state-of-the-art macroeconomic modeling techniques and numerical solution methods applied to international macroeconomics. The goal of the course is to provide students with the tools to read and replicate papers from the current literature and start their own research projects in the eld. The rst part of the course uses the book by Uribe and Schmitt-Grohe as the main source. Towards the end of the course we will discuss some topics based on current research papers. The course will cover the following topics, concepts and numerical methods.
See syllabus for further information
Literature:
Lectures by A. Kriwoluzky (part I):
see syllabus
Lectures by L. Zessner-Spitzenberg (part II):
see syllabus
Time & venue:
Lectures/ tutorials: Wednesdays, 8:30-12:00; DIW Berlin, Mohrenstr. 58, Karl-Popper room
Grading:
Grades are based on problem sets (30%), class participation (20%) and a term paper (50%).
Further information can be found in the syllabi for part I and part II.
