Intermediate Macroeconomics
John Stiver
Room 3.61
Phone: (203) 251-8433
Fax: (203) 251-8592
Email: jstiver@stamford.stam.uconn.edu
Web: www.sp.uconn.edu/~jstiver
Office Hours: Tuesday, Thursday: 2:30 – 4:30, or by Appt.
Reading:
 Abel, Andrew and Ben Bernanke, Macroeconomics 4th Ed, Addison, Wesley, 2001
Other Sources:
 Blanchard, Olivier, Macroeconomics, Prentice Hall, 1997
 Hall, Robert and John Taylor, Macroeconomics 5th Ed., W.W Norton &Co.,1997
 Gordon, Robert, Macroeconomics 8th Ed., Addison-Wesley2000, 1997
 Landsburg, Steven and Lauren Feinstone, Macroeconomics, McGraw Hill, 1997
 Mankiw, N. Gregory, Macroeconomics 3rd Ed., Worth Publishers, 1997.
Grading: there will be three midterms given during the semester (approximately once a month), a cumulative final
given during finals week, and problem sets (approximately once a week). To determine your grade, you have two
options:
1. Drop your lowest midterm grade
Midterms = 40%
Final = 40%
Homework = 20%
2. Use all three midterm grades
Midterms = 60%
Final = 20%
Homework = 20%
Academic Misconduct: Academic misconduct in any form is in violation of the University Student Conduct Code
and will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, copying or sharing answers on tests or assignments,
plagiarism,, and having someone else do your academic work. Depending on the act, a student could receive an F
grade on the test/assignment, F grade for the course, or could be suspended or expelled.
I: Methodological Issues in Macroeconomics
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapter 1
 Lucas, Robert E. , "Methods and Problems in Business Cycle Theory", Journal of Money, Credit
and Banking, 12, November 1980, 696-715
 Lucas, Robert E., "Understanding Business Cycles", in Carnegie-Rochester Series on Public
Policy, 1977, 7-29.
 Lucas, Robert E., "Econometric Policy Evaluation: A critique", in Carnegie-Rochester Series on
Public Policy, 1:19-46.
II: Empirical Regularities of the Business Cycle
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapters 2, 8
 Kydland, Finn and Edward Prescott, "Business Cycles: Real Facts and a Monetary Myth",
Carnegie-Rochester Series on Public Policy
 King, Robert and Charles Plosser, "Real Business Cycles and the Test of The Adelmans", mimeo,
University of Rochester, 1989
 King, Robert, and Sergio Rebelo, "Low Frequency Filtering and Real Business Cycles", Journal
of Economic Dynamics and Control, 17, 207-231
III: Labor Markets
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapter 3
 Hansen, Gary (1985), Indivisible Labor and The Business Cycle, Journal of Monetary Economics,
16: 309-327.

Burnside, Craig , Martin Eichenbaum and Sergio Rebelo,(1992) "Labor Hoarding and the
Business Cycle", Journal of Political Economy
 Lilien, David (1982), "Sectoral Shifts and Cyclical Unemployment", Journal of Political
Economy, 777-792
 Lucas, Robert and Edward Prescott (1974), "Equilibrium search and Unemployment", Journal of
Economic Theory, 7: 188-209.
III: Capital Markets: Consumption, Savings and Investment
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapter 4
 Attanasio, O., and G. Weber, "Consumption Growth and Sensitivity to Income: Evidence from
U.S. Micro Data" mimeo, 1993.
 Campbell, John, and Angus Deaton, "Why is Consumption so Smooth?", Review of Economic
Studies, 56, 1989, 357-374
 Gali, Jordi, "Finite Horizons, Life Cycle Savings, and Time Series Evidence on Consumption",
Journal of Monetary Economics 26, 1990, 433-452.
 Hall, Robert, "Consumption" in Robert Barro (Ed), Modern Businesss Cycle Theory, Harvard
University Press, 1989.
 Abel, Andrew (1983), "Optimal Investment Under Uncertainty", American Economic Review, 73:
228-233.
 Modigliani, Franco and Merton Miller (1958), "The Cost of Capital, Corporate and the Theory of
Investment", American Economic Review, 48:261-97
IV: Money Markets and Nominal Prices
 Abel/Bernanke Chapter 7
 Baumol, William (1952), "The Transactions Demand For Cash", Quarterly Journal of Economics,
67: 545-556.
 Cooley, Thomas and Gary Hansen, "Money and The Business Cycle", in Thomas Cooley (ed.),
Frontiers of Business Cycle Research, Princeton University Press
 King, Robert and Charles Plosser, "Money and Credit in a Real Business Cycle Model", American
Economic Review, 74: 363-380, 1984
 Stockman, Alan, "Anticipated Inflation and the Capital Stock in a Cash in Advance Economy",
Journal of Monetary Economics, 8: 387-393, 1981.
 Grossman, Sanford and Laurence Weiss (1983), "A Transactions Based Model of the Monetary
Transmission Mechanism", American Economic Review, 73: 8710880.
V: Putting it All Together: The Basic Real Business Cycle Model
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapters 9,10
 Cooley, Thomas and Edward Prescott, "Economic Growth and Business Cycles", in Thomas
Cooley (ed.), Frontiers of Business Cycle Research
 Long, John and Charles Plosser, "Real Business Cycles", Journal of Political Economy, 91, 13451370.
 King, Robert, Charles Plosser and Sergio Rebelo, "Production, growth, and Business Cycles",
Journal of Monetary Economics, 21-195-231.
 Plosser, Charles, "Understanding Real Business Cycles", Journal of Economic Perspectives, 3:5178.
VI: Variations on the Theme: Neokeynsian Economics
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapter 11, 12
 Mankiw, Gregory, "Real Business Cycles: A New Keynsian Perspective", Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 3: 79-90, 1989.
VII: Fiscal Policy: Government Spending, Taxation and Deficit Finance
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapter 15
 Barro, Robert, :"The Neoclassical Approach to Fiscal Policy", in Robert Barro (ed.), Modern
Business Cycle Theory, Harvard University Press, 1989.
 Barro, Robert, "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?", Journal of Political Economy, 82, 10951117.
 Baxter, Marianne and Robert King, "Fiscal Policy in General Equilibrium", American Economic
Review, 83, 315-334, 1993
 Blanchard, Olivier, "Debt, Deficits, and Finite Horizons", Journal of Political Economy, 93, 223247.
 Braun, Anton and Ellen McGratten, "The Macroeconomics of War and Peace", NBER
Macroeconomics Annual, 1993.
VIII: The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapters 14



Friedman, Milton (1969), The Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays, Chicago: Aldine
Friedman, Milton (1968), "The Role of Monetary Policy", American Economic Review, 58: 1-17.
Kydland, Finn and Edward Prescott (1977), "Rules Rather than Discretion: The Inconsistency of
Optimal Plans", Journal of Political Economy
 Fischer, Stanley (1986), "Monetary Rules and Commodity Schemes Under Uncertainty", Journal
of Monetary Economics, 17: 21-35.
IX: Economic Growth
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapter 6
 Barro, Robert, "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries", Quarterly Journal of
Economics, 106, 407-444
 Barro, Robert, "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Economic Growth", Journal of
Political Economy, 98, S103-125, 1990
 Barro, Robert and Sala-I-Martin, "Convergence", Journal of Political Economy, 100, 223-51.
 Rebelo, Sergio, "Long Run Policy Analysis and Long Run Growth", Journal of Political
Economy, 99, 500-521.
 Solow, Robert, "Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function", Review of Economic
Studies, 39, 312-320.
 Becker, Gary, Kevin Murphy and Robert Tamura, "Human Capital, Fertility, and Economic
Growth", Journal of Political Economy, 98, 12-37, 1990.
X: International Macroeconomics (Time Permitting)
 Abel/Bernanke, Chapter 5, 13
 Backus, David, Patrick Kehoe and Finn Kydland, "International Real Business Cycles", Journal of
Political Economy, 100, 745-75, 1992.
 Baxter, Marianne, "International Trade and Business Cycles", in Gene Grossman and Kenneth
Rogoff eds., Handbook of International Economics vol. III, Elsevier Science, 1995.
 Mendoza, Enrique, "Business Cycles in a Small Open Economy", American Economic Review,
81:4, 1991.
 Stockman, Alan and Linda Tesar, "Tastes and Technology in a Two Country Model of The
Business Cycle: Explaining International Co-movements", American Economic Review, 85:1,
1995.