Macroeconomics for Public Policy

Instructors

Satoshi KOIBUCHI / Kiyotaka SATO / Etsuro SHIOJI

Credits / Language / Semester

4Credits / English / Summer

Objectives/Overview

Main purpose of this course is to provide the fundamental macroeconomic theories to the graduate students who study the public policy. We also apply these theories to examine the contemporary macroeconomic issues of the global economy. This course is composed of the following three parts:

[1] Macroeconomic Data & Economic Growth (By Prof. Esturo Shioji)
Regarding Macroeconomic Data, we will learn the following basic concepts: What is GDP? What are its components? How do we measure inflation?
We hear so much about the unemployment rate, but what really is it?
Regarding Economic Growth, we will pose the following questions: Why are there rich and poor countries in the world? Why are some countries growing faster than some others? Are poor countries catching up with richer ones?

[2] Basic concepts & tools for Macroeconomics (By Prof. Satoshi Koibuchi)
We will learn fundamental concepts and tools for macroeconomics. This lecture covers Consumption and Investment, Monetary System, Determination of National Income, Effects of Macroeconomic Policies, Inflation and Deflation, Unemployment and Interest Rates, Fiscal Deficit and Government Debts, and Central Bank and Monetary Policy as well as supplementary lectures on mathematics and microeconomics used in the study of macroeconomics. For the students who study the public policy, I will apply these theoretical concepts to analyze ongoing problems of the global economy including unconventional monetary policy, fiscal consolidation, and labor market reform.

[3] Open Macroeconomics (By Prof. Kiyotaka Sato)
This is an introductory graduate level lecture on exchange rates and open economy macroeconomics. It covers standard topics of the theoretical models and empirical application on the exchange rate determination. Empirical validity of interest parity conditions and the purchasing power parity (PPP) theory will be discussed in detail. Standard Mundell-Fleming model will be studied to understand the impact of macroeconomic policies under floating and fixed exchange rate systems. We will also learn various exchange rate policies and their mechanism. Recent debate on the pros and cons of establishing a monetary union will be reviewed, by considering the experience of European Monetary Union (EMU).

Keywords

Fundamental Macroeconomics, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Global Economy: Open Macroeconomics, Economic Growth, Public Policy

Fundamental Macroeconomics, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Global Economy, Open Macroeconomics, Economic Growth, Public Policy

Schedule

[1] Introduction
[2] Macroeconomic Data
[3] Economic Growth
[4] Math & Micro for Macro
[5] Consumption & Investment
[6] Monetary System
[7] Determination of National Income
[8] Fiscal Policy & Monetary Policy
[9] Aggregate Supply & Price Change
[10] Inflation, Unemployment & Interest Rates
[11] Central Bank & Monetary Policy
[12] Fiscal Deficit & Sovereign Risk
[13] Financial System
[14] Open Macroeconomics

Teaching Methods

[1] Lecures will be taught in English.
[2] Students can download lecture notes from the following website:
http://graspp.seesaa.net/
(ID & PW will be announced in the class.)

Grading

Take-home Exams (Problem sets) (20%)
Mid-term Exam (40%)
Final Exam (40%)

Required Textbooks

Main Textbook
N. Gregory Mankiw, Macroeconomics: International Edition, Worth Publishers Inc.,U.S.; 8th Revised edition, 2012. (paper back)

Reference Books

References
David Weil, Economic Growth, Pearson Education (US); 2nd International edition, 2008.
N. Gregory Mankiw, and Laurence M. Ball, Macroeconomics and the Financial System: International Edition, Worth Publishers, 2011.

Notes on Taking the Course

We strongly recommend to take the Practice Session for Macroeconomics for Public Policy at the same time.

Related Resources

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