Macroeconomics II: Behavioural Macroeconomics

The lecture Macroeconomics II and the tutorial are held in English. The outline of the course and the literature is presented in detail in the syllabus . The course is based on articles from the literature which students read to prepare for the lecture and the tutorials. The syllabus presents an overview of the relevant literature and a selection of those papers will be central for the course. These core papers will be announced in the lecture.

The material in this course and the link between psychology, behavioural economics and macroeconomics is subject of ongoing research. Unfortunately, this implies that there is no textbook that covers all the material which is taught in the course. Students will be rewarded for this lack by an insight into state-of-the art research and thinking. The summary of this lecture is available, however.

The literature for this course is provided in the syllabus. Links for easy access (from within the campus net or from other nets having the appropriate licences) are provided behind the titles as follows.

1 Introduction: Issues in Behavioural Macroeconomics

1.1 Macroeconomics

  • Economic growth
  • Business cycles
  • Nominal rigidities
  • Unemployment
  • Saving and investment
  • Infl‡ation and monetary policy
  • Fiscal policy and budget de cits

1.2 Behaviour

2 Economic growth

2.1 Convergence debate

2.2 Theory

2.3 Towards behavioural growth

3 Business cycles

3.1 Some numbers on Business cycles

3.2 The real Business cycle approach

  • Kydland and Prescott (1980) “A Competitive Theory of Fluctuations and the Feasibility and Desirability of Stabilization Policy“

3.3 Natural volatility

3.4 Sunspot cycles

3.5 Towards behavioural business cycles?

3.6 Banks and business cycles

t.b.d.

4 Unemployment

4.1 Facts about unemployment

  • Strasser and Wälde "Unemployment stocks and flows for Germany"(see web site)

4.2 Traditional theories of unemployment

  • Cahuc and Zylberberg (2004) Labor Economics

4.3 The search and matching approach

4.4 Behavioural views on unemployment

  • The discouragement effect for unemployed workers

5 Saving and Investment

5.1 Saving and retirement

5.2 Asset Prices