York University
Economics Department
AP/ECON-4020: ADVANCED MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS
SUMMER – 2012 (S1)
COURSE OUTLINE
Instructor: Zafar Kayani
Office Hours: TR 4:45-5:45PM
Office: ATKINSON-736
Lecture: TR 6:00 – 9:00pm. Lecture Hall: FC 104
Email: zkayani@yorku.ca but all correspondence through webct email tool.
NOTE: Course is run on the webct, address: webct.yorku.ca
2011-2012 Undergraduate Calendar | Important Dates | WebCT
Course Description: A study of selected topics and issues including: growth theory,
output and inflation models, business cycles and fluctuations, and alternative approaches
to monetary and fiscal policy design and implementation.
Required Text Book:
HP: Sorensen, P. and Whitta-Jacobsen, H. (2010). Introducing Advanced
Macroeconomics: Growth and Business Cycles. Second Edition, McGraw-Hill.
ECON 4020 Advanced Macroeconomics Primis eBook ISBN 0390722952($34.08US).
Please see the attached directions to assist you in purchasing this eBook online. This text
book may be listed under York University course Econ-4020. Go to the following link:
https://create.mcgraw-hill.com/shop/#/catalog/details/?isbn=9780390722959
Recommended Reading Material:
DR: David Romer (2005). Advanced Macroeconomics. 3rd edition. McGraw-Hill
CJ: Charles I. Jones (2002). Introduction to Economics Growth. Norton
Course Evaluation:
MIDTERM EXAM (May 31, 2011, Chapters HP: 2, 3, 5 and 6)
FINAL EXAM: (comprehensive: 30% midterm and 70% post midterm material)
50%
50%
WebCT: WebCT is learning tool that is used for this course. The class material: lecture
notes, assignments, grades and course related announcements will be posted on the
webct. It is recommended that you frequently log on to the Webct to view the updated
posts.
ACADEMIC HONESTY: Atkinson as a Faculty considers breaches of the Senate
Policy on Academic Honesty to be serious matters. To quote the Senate Policy on
Academic Honesty: The Policy on Academic Honesty is an affirmation and clarification
for members of the University of the general obligation to maintain the highest standards
of academic honesty. As a clear sense of academic honesty and responsibility is
fundamental to good scholarship, the policy recognizes the general responsibility of all
faculty members to foster acceptable standards of academic conduct and of the student to
be mindful of and abide by such standards.
Suspected breaches of academic honesty will be investigated and charges shall be laid if
reasonable and probable grounds exist.
Grading Scheme and Feedback (Senate)Policy:
http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/policies/document.php?document=86
IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION
The Senate Committee on Curriculum & Academic Standards (CCAS) provides a Student
Information Sheet that includes:
Students should review the York Academic Honesty policy for themselves at:
York's Academic Honesty Policy & Procedures/Academic Integrity Web site
Access/Disability
Religious Observance Accommodation
Student Code of Conduct
Additional information:
Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
Alternate Exam and Test Scheduling
Grading Scheme and Feedback Policy
The Senate Grading Scheme and Feedback Policy stipulates that (a) the grading scheme (i.e.
kinds and weights of assignments, essays, exams, etc.) be announced, and be available in writing,
within the first two weeks of class, and that, (b) under normal circumstances, graded feedback
worth at least 15% of the final grade for Fall, Winter or Summer Term, and 30% for ‘full year’
courses offered in the
Fall/Winter Term be received by students in all courses prior to the final withdrawal date from a
course without receiving a grade. "20% Rule"
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be
given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes
which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses
offered in the compressed summer terms. Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to
Program or Faculty grades distribution profiles.
WEEK 1:
Topics: Introducing and Overview of the Key Stylized Macroeconomics Facts.
Reading:
Erica L. Groshen and Simon Potter “Has Structural Change Contributed to a Jobless
Recovery?” Current Issues in Economics and Finance FRB-NY August 2003
Volume 9: 8
*G. Mankiw “A Quick Refresher Course in Macroeconomics” JEL 28 (1990): 1645-60
M. Woodford “Revolution and Evolution in Twentieth-Century Macroeconomics”
Princeton University June 1999. [Presented at a conference, Frontiers of the Mind in
the Twenty-First Century, U.S. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., June 1999.]
*O. Blanchard “What do we know about macroeconomics that Fisher and Wicksell did
not? QJE November 2000 1375-1409
V.V. Chari “Robert Lucas: Architect of Modern Macro” JEP 12:1 (1998): 171-86
*Basu, S. & Taylor, A. (1999) “Business cycles in international perspective” JEP 13(2),
45-68.
Long-run Economic Growth:
Introducing the Stylized Facts of Economic Growth:
CJ: Ch.1. PH: Ch. 2
Pritchett, L. ``Divergence, Big Time'', Journal of Economic Perspectives 1997.
Economist Mar. 11, 2004 ``More or less equal?''
Capital Accumulation and Growth: The Basic Solow Model
PH: Ch. 3, CJ: Ch. 2,
WEEK 2:
Technological Progress and Growth: The General Solow Model
PH: Ch. 5, CJ: Ch. 2
Education and Growth: The Solow Model with Human Capital
PH: Ch.6, CJ: Ch. 3 and 9
Sachs and Warner “The Curse of Natural Resources” European Economic Review 2001
Thorvaldor Gylfason “Natural Resources and Economic Growth: What is the
connection?”
http://www.reason.com/0603/fe.th.why.shtml
Olsen, M. ``Big Bills on the Side-Walk: Why Some Nations are Rich, and Some are So
Poor'', Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1996.
WEEK 3:
Productive Externalities and Endogenous Growth
HP: Ch. 8, CJ: Ch. 8
Paul M. Romer The Origins of Endogenous Growth JEP, Vol. 8, No. 1. (Winter, 1994),
pp. 3-22.
WEEK 4:
R&D-Based Endogenous Growth
HP: Ch. 8, CJ: Ch. 8
The Short-run Economic Fluctuations;
HP: Ch. 14
Lawrence J. Christiano and Terry J. Fitzgerald “The business cycle: It’s still a puzzle”
WEEK 5:
Real Business Cycle Theory
HP: Ch. 19, DR: Ch. 4
C.I. Plosser “Understanding Real Business Cycles” JEP v3 (1989): 51-77
Edward Prescott and F. Kydland, "Business Cycles: Real Facts and a Monetary Myth"
1990, FRB Minneapolis Quarterly Review
N.G. Mankiw “ Real Business Cycles: A new Keynesian Perspective” JEP 3:3 (1989) 7990.
S. Basu and A.M. Taylor “Business Cycles in International Historical Perspective” JEP
13:2 (1999) 45-68.
D. Romer “Keynesian Macroeconomics without the LM curve” JEP 14:2 (2000). 149169.
D. Romer “Short-run Fluctuations” working paper 1999 (revised 2005).
WEEK 6:
Out-put and inflation trade-off and expectations.
HP: Ch.18, 21
*Rodney Maddock; Michael Carter “A Child's Guide to Rational Expectations” JEL, Vol.
20, No.1. (Mar., 1982), pp. 39-51
*R.E. Lucas, “Some International Evidence on Output-Inflation Tradeoffs” AER V.63
(1993): 326-334 reprinted in R.E. Lucas Studies in Business-cycle Theory Cambridge
MA: MIT Press, 1981.
Monetary and Fiscal Policy
HP: Ch. 20, DR Ch. 10