Title:                    Advanced Topics in Macroeconomics 

Instructors:        Marco Guerrazzi; Marco Mazzoli; Gabriele Cardullo

Credit (CFU):     3 CFU

Lectures: 30 hours (First module: 8 hours; Second Module: 14 hours: Third Module: 8 hours)

Reading and Essay Writing:  45 hours

Period Taught:  November 2024 – February 2025

Course Description and objectives 

This course is divided in three modules. 

The first  module ( taught by Marco Guerrazzi) will deal with the essential models in macroeconomic theory, namely the growth models. 

The second module by Marco Mazzoli, will provide students with the analytical knowledge of some relevant topics in macroeconomics (Consumption Theory, Investments Theory, an introduction to DSGE - Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium models, and some models of unemployment).

Finally, the third module, taught by Gabriele Cardullo, will cover macroeconomic models of the labour market, namely the search and matching framework.

On the methodological side, this course aims to offer insights on how general theoretical concepts are useful to interpret data collected in various countries and to build theoretical macroeconomic models. 

Prerequisites

It is expected that students have prior knowledge of intermediate macro and microeconomics methods and concepts. They also must have attended the PhD course “Microeconomics”

Course Materials 

Lecture slides will generally contain all the material students are expected to learn. 

As concerns the first and the third modules, the lectures will often refer to and closely follow the relevant chapters in: 

Romer, D. (2019), Advanced Macroeconomics, Chapters 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 11.   5th edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin. 

For the second module, Marco Mazzoli will clarify which readings from the following textbook are compulsory and which are optional:

Bagliano, F., C., Bertola, G. (2004), “Models for Dynamic Macroeconomics”, Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press, Ch. 2. 

Beavis, B., Dobbs, I., (1990), “Optimization and Stability Theory for Economic Analysis”, Cambridge, UK, New York, NY, USA, Cambridge University Press. 

Lambert, P., J., (1985), “Advanced Mathematics for Economists”, Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press.

Walsh, Carl, E., “Monetary Theory and Policy”, MIT Press, 2020, ch. 8, or further editions.

Assessment

First and Third Modules: there will be a final assessment grounded on a take-home exam.

Third  Module: the exam will consist in a written report. 

Lecture Schedule  

The first module will be taught in November- December 2024. The second and the third modules will be taught between December and February 2025.