Topic 0:
Getting in the Mood for Macro!
Pre-Course Readings (These are the readings you should do prior to week 1.) Goal: To frame the issues
of the course via a few short articles from the popular press. We will explore many of the details of these
articles throughout the course.
Note:
(*) indicates that a link to the reading can be found on my web page.
I.
Overview of Macroeconomics
1. Size Does Matter: In Defense of Macroeconomics* (Paul Krugman: 7/9/1998)
2. Baby Sitting the Economy*
(Paul Krugman: 8/13/1998)
3. Big Questions and Big Numbers
(Economist: 7/15/2006)
II.
2008 Financial Crisis: The Beginning
4. Wall Street’s Bad Dream
5. Diamond and Kashyap Primer*
III.
Sluggish Labor Market
6. U.S. Economy Weakened Years Before Crash*
7. Why Fed Has Failed to Lower Unemployment*
IV.
(Economist 8/10/2013)
(Economist 10/10/2013)
The State of Modern Macroeconomics: A Critical Overview
10. What Good Are Economists Anyway?
11. Yes, Economics Is a Science*
12. The Keynesian Revolution*
VI.
(Erik’s web page)
(Erik’s web page)
New Era at The Fed
8. Summers v Yellen
9. Dove Ascendant
V.
(Economist: 9/20/2008)
(Erik’s web page)
(BusinessWeek: 4/16/2009)
(Erik’ Web Page)
(Erik’s Web Page)
The State of Modern Macroeconomics: A Civil Debate
13. Stagnant Thinking
14. In Defense of the Dismal Science (by R. Lucas)
15. Why We Need a New Macroeconomics*
(Economist 12/5/2013)
(Economist: 8/8/2009)
(Erik’s web page)
Topic 1:
Introduction to Macro Data
Chapters 1, 2, and 3.5 from Text.
I.
The Difficulty in Measuring Economic Variables
A.
Difficulty in Measuring Prices
16. Counting the Cost of Living
B.
Difficulty in Measuring Output/Output Growth
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Botox and Beancounting
Diagnosing Depression
One Reason the Economy Looks So Weak*
The Dragon Takes Wing
Getting Creative with G.D.P.
Sex, Drugs, and GDP: The Challenge of Measuring
the Shadow Economy
(Economist: 5/11/2013)
(Economist 4/30/2011)
(Economist: 1/3/2009)
(Erik’s Web Page)
(Economist: 2/14/2014)
(NYTimes: 7/27/2013)
(WSJ: 6/8/2014)
C. Difficulty in Measuring Unemployment
23. Where Are the Workers?
24. Wanted: More Unemployment*
(Economist 2/12/2011)
(Erik’s Webpage)
D. Difficulty Measuring Well Being
25. Measuring What Matters
26. Like a Piece of String
(Economist: 9/19/2009)
(Economist: 10/13/2012)
E. Measurement Debate in the Political Arena
27. Damn Lies and Statistics*
28. Inflation in Argentina: New Data, Old Qualms
29. Right on Target
Topic 2:
(Erik's Webpage)
(Economist: 2/14/2014)
(Economist: 7/18/2015)
Production, the Labor Market and Economic Growth
Chapters 3, 6.1 and 6.3 (skim 6.2 - do not worry about the math) from Text
I.
Production and Labor Markets
30.
31.
32.
33.
The Land of Leisure
Labour Pains
Age Invaders
This American Life Episode # 490 (Act One)
(Economist: 2/4/2006)
(Economist: 11/2/2013)
(Economist: 4/26/2014)
(www.thisamericanlife.org)
II.
Growth in the “New” Economy
34. Productivity on Stilts
35. The workforce in the cloud
III.
Productivity and Regulation
36. Let 50 Flowers Bloom
37. Will Obamacare Destroy Jobs?
IV.
(Economist: 6/10/2000)
(Economist 5/30/2013)
(Economist: 3/16/2013)
(Economist: 8/24/2013)
Policies to Boost Wages
38. A Reckless Wage
39. Ways of Seeing
Topic 3:
(Economist: 7/25/2015)
(Economist: 7/25/2015)
Consumption, Saving, and Investment
Chapters 4.1, 4.2 and Appendix 4.A from Text
I.
Consumption/Savings
40. Dropping the Shopping
41. Time as Money
42. The Opposite of Insurance
II.
(Economist: 7/25/2009)
(Economist (Free Exchange): 8/8/2013)
(Economist: 5/17/2014)
Investment
43. Desperately Seeking a Cash Cure
44. Trying to Calculate the Cost of Uncertainty*
Topic 4:
(Economist: 10/22/2008)
(WSJ - Wessel, 12/5/2012)
Fiscal Policy
Chapter 15 from Text
I.
Government Deficits
45. Less of a Drag
46. Fiscal Cliffs, Multipliers, and the Myth of
Central Bank Independence
II.
(Economist: 1/7/2012)
(Economist (Free Exchange):5/23/2012)
Taxes
47. The New Voodoo*
(Paul Krugman: 12/30/2010)
48. Accidental Tax Breaks Saves Wealthiest $100 Billion*
(Erik’s Web Page)
III.
Fiscal Policy in Action
49. The Lessons of 1937
50. Building Works
51. What is Austerity
IV.
(Economist: 6/20/2009)
(Economist: 8/29/2015)
(Economist (Blog): 5/20/2015)
Can Government Create Jobs?
52. This American Life Episode #435 (How to Create Jobs) (www.thisamericanlife.org)
(Only Listen to Acts 1 and 3)
V.
ObamaCare
53. New Yorkers to See 50% Drop in Health Insurance Costs*
54. New Health Law Frustrates Many in Middle Class*
VI.
(Erik’s Web Page)
(Erik’s Web Page)
The Rise in Inequality
55.
56.
57.
58.
Topic 5:
Measuring Inequality: A Three-Headed Hydra
All Men Are Created Unequal
Inequality and the Ills Behind It*
The Inequality Puzzle*
(Economist Blog: 7/16/2014)
(Economist Blog: 1/4/2014)
(NYTimes: 7/31/2014)
(Larry Summers: Summer 2014)
Introduction into Money/Federal Reserve Policy
Chapters 7, 14.1 and 14.2 from Text
I.
Monetary Basics
59.
60.
61.
62.
II.
Who Needs Money
Macro control, micro problems
Bitcoin Under Pressure
The Birth of the Dollar Bill*
(Economist: 1/22/2000)
(Economist 5/30/2013)
(Economist 11/30/2013)
(Planet Money)
Monetary Policy In Action
63. A Blunt Tool
64. More Red Lights than Green
(Economist: 6/30/2001)
(Economist: 9/12/2015)
III.
Monetary Policy in Recent Years
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
Topic 6:
The Zero Lower Bound in Our Minds*
Easing Means Squeezing
A Leap in the Dark
Fixing Forward Guidance
The Hutchins Center Explains Quantitative
Easing*
(Erik's Web Page)
(Economist: 9/12/2015)
(Economist: 3/15/2015)
(Economist: 2/15/2014)
(Erik’s Web Page)
Inflation and Unemployment in the Short Run (Putting it All Together)
Chapters 8-11 from Text
I.
Should We Care About Deflation?
70. Hear that Hissing Sound?
71. The Curse of Defeatism
II.
Shifts in Aggregate Supply: Technology Shocks
72. A Thinkers' Guide
IV.
(Economist: 4/1/2000)
Shifts in Aggregate Supply: Oil Shocks
73. Counting the Cost
74. A Rhetorical Blowout
V.
(Economist: 5/17/2003)
(Economist: 11/28/2009)
(Economist: 8/27/2005)
(Economist 5/14/2011)
Wage and Price Stickiness
75. Sticky Situations
76. Sticky, Sticky Wages
Topic 7:
(Economist: 11/9/2006)
(Economist: 1/11/2011)
Policy Rules
Chapter 12 and 14.3 from Text
I.
The Inflation/Unemployment Tradeoff
77. What Happened to the Phillips Curve*
78. Curve Ball
(Brad Delong)
(Economist: 9/30/2006)
II.
Monetary Rules (see web page for online locations)
79.
80.
81.
82.
Money Rules
(Economist: 10/24/1998)
Bitcoin Under Pressure
(Economist: 11/30/2013)
This American Life #423 (Invention of Money)
(www.thisamericanlife.org)
Federal Reserve Board: Remarks By Governor Edward Gramlich – 9/27/98 *
(Discussion of How the Fed Makes its Monetary Policy Decisions)
83. Federal Reserve Board: Remarks By Chairman Ben Bernanke - 5/25/10 * (Central Bank
Independence, Transparency, and Accountability)
84. What Goes Around
(Economist: 6/9/2007)
85. What Are Central Banks Actually for?*
(Bloomberg: 9/3/2012)
(A solution to central bankers’ divided loyalties)
Topic 8:
I.
Special Topics
Inflation or Deflation?
86. The Price is a Blight
II.
Praise for Bernanke
87. The Very Model of a Modern Central Banker
III.
(Economist 11/7/2013)
(Economist: 8/29/2009)
Monetary Policy in India
88. Rajan in Chains
Topic 9:
(Economist: 8/1/2015)
The International Economy
Chapter 5 and 13 from Text
89.
90.
91.
92.
The Causes: A Very Short History of the Crisis
Here, There, and Everywhere
Kashyap’s A Primer on the Greek Crisis
The Great Fall of China
(Economist: 11/12/2011)
(Economist: 1/17/2013)
(Erik’s Web Page)
(Economist: 8/29/2015)