Kenneth Kletzer

Professor of Economics

Department of Economics

University of California

Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Office: 461 Engineering 2

Phone: 831-459-3407 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Fax: 831-459-5077

E-mail: kkletzer@ucsc.edu


Economics 100N: Intermediate Macroeconomics (Math Intensive)

Spring 2013


ANNOUNCEMENTS


Lectures: Physical Sciences 136, TTh 4:00 - 5:45pm


 

Professor Kletzer’s Office Hours

When:  Tuesday and Wednesday 1:00-2:00, or by appointment

Where:  Engineering 2, Room 461. 

Other ways to contact me:

by phone, 459-3407, and by email, kkletzer@ucsc.edu


Important Dates

Midterm Exam: Thursday, May 9, 4:00pm in Physical Sciences 136

Final Exam: Tuesday, June 11at 4:00pm in Physical Sciences 136


Assignments for Economics 100N

          Problem Set 1

          Problem Set 2

          Problem Set 3

          Problem Set 4

          Assignment 5

Problem Set 6


Handouts


Midterm Study Guide

Sample midterm questions – posted May 6


Answer Key for Midterm


Sample final exam for Economics 100N

 


Print out copy of Course Syllabus (pdf)

Reading List

Thus far, this reading list covers weeks 1 through 4.

 

 

Part I: The Long Run

 

 

Week 1          Introduction to Macroeconomics and Economic Growth 

 

          Jones, Chapters 1-3

 

          Amartya Sen, “Quality of Life in India vs. China,” New York Review of Books, May 12, 2011.  http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/may/12/quality-life-india-vs-china/?pagination=false

 

Richard Easterlin, “When Growth Outpaces Happiness,” New York Times, September 27, 2012.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/opinion/in-china-growth-outpaces-happiness.html

 

 

Week 2       Production, Inputs and Growth

 

          Jones, Chapters 4-5

 

Paul Krugman, “The Myth of Asia’s Miracle,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 1994.  http://media.ft.com/cms/b8268ffe-7572-11db-aea1-0000779e2340.pdf

 

Paul Romer, “For Richer, For Poorer,” Prospect, January 27, 2010. http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/for-richer-for-poorer/

 

Margaret Jacobson and Filippo Occhino, “Behind the Decline in Labor’s Share of Income,” Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Economic Trends, February 3, 2012.

 

 

Week 3       Technology, Innovation and Growth

 

          Jones, Chapter 6

 

          “Has the Ideas Machine Broken Down,” The Economist, January 12, 2013. http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21569381-idea-innovation-and-new-technology-have-stopped-driving-growth-getting-increasing

 

                   Institutions, Geography and Growth:

 

Jeffrey Sachs, “Government, Geography and Growth,” Foreign Affairs, September/October, 2012. http://jeffsachs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Why-Nations-Fail_Sachs-Review.pdf

 

Leander Heldring and James Robinson, “Colonialism and Development in Africa,” VoxEU, January 10, 2013.  http://www.voxeu.org/article/colonialism-and-development-africa

 

 

Week 4       Labor Markets and Inflation

 

          Jones, Chapters 7-8

 

Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, “The Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective,” American Economic Review, 2006. http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/piketty-saezAEAPP06.pdf

 

Janet Yellen, “Economic Inequality in the United States,” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter, December 1, 2006.  http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2006/el2006-33-34.pdf

 

 

Part II: The Short Run

 

 

Week 5       Goods Markets in the Short Run

 

          Jones, Chapters 9-11

 

Week 6       Monetary Policy

 

          Jones, Chapter 12

 

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, “Dr. Econ, what is the relevance of the Phillips curve to modern economies?” March 2008. http://www.frbsf.org/education/activities/drecon/2008/0804.html

 

 

Week 7       Stabilization Policy and the Great Recession

 

          Jones, Chapters 13-14

 

Mary Daly and Bart Hobijn, “Okun’s Law and the Unemployment Surprise of 2009,” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter, March 8, 2010. http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2010/el2010-07.html

Ben S. Bernanke, “Monetary Policy since the Onset of the Crisis,” Speech at Jackson Hole Conference, August 31, 2012. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20120831a.htm

Robert Solow, “How to Save America from Itself: Has Financial Globalization Gone to Far?” New Republic, April 8, 2013. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112679/how-save-american-finance-itself#

 

Week 8       Consumption and Investment

 

          Jones, Chapters 15-16

 

 

Week 9       Fiscal Policy and International Trade

 

          Jones, Chapters 17-18

 

 

Week 10     Exchange Rates and International Finance

 

          Jones, Chapter 18-19


 

          Additional readings for the interested (these will tend to be references for topics raised by students in class) - now with newest on top:

 

Financial Crisis Past and Present

 

Christina Romer, “The Nation in Depression,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1993. http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.7.2.19

 

Frederic S. Mishkin, “Over the Cliff: From the Subprime to the Global Financial Crisis,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2011. http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.25.1.49

 

Vincent Reinhart, “A Year of Living Dangerously: The Management of the Financial Crisis in 2008,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2011. http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.25.1.71

 

Simon Johnson and James Kwan, Blog Guide to the Financial Crisis: http://baselinescenario.com/financial-crisis-for-beginners/

 

 

Monetary Policy

 

David Romer, “Keynesian Macroeconomics without the LM Curve,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2000. http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.14.2.149

 

Ben S. Bernanke, "What Have We Learned Since October 1979?” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis Review, March/April 2005. http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/05/03/part2/PanelDiscussion1.pdf

 

 

Income Inequality

 

Zanny Minton Beddoes, “For Richer, For Poorer,” The Economist, Oct 12, 2012. http://www.economist.com/node/21564414

 

Emmanuel Saez, “Striking It Richer: The Evolution of the Top Incomes in the United States,” Updated, January 23, 2013.

http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2011.pdf

 

Well-being

 

Carol Graham, “Happiness Economics: Can We Have an Economy of Well-being,” VoxEU, July 31, 2011. http://www.voxeu.org/article/happiness-economics-can-we-have-economy-wellbeing

         

Robert Frank, “Income and Happiness: An Imperfect Link,” New York Times, March 9, 2009.  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09view.html?ex=1362718800&en=e0525c458b2d83df&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

 


Interesting and useful links for macroeconomics

Websites with data and information on the U.S. Economy:

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Labor market and price level data

Bureau of Economic Analysis: GDP, production and income data

Bureau of the Census: Data on households and firms

U.S. Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve, monetary and financial data

The appendices to the Economic Report of the President provide comprehensive data on the U.S. economy:

Economic Report of the President

The U.S. budget is at

The Office of Management and Budget

It's analysis is at

Congressional Budget Office

These sites give leading indicators for the U.S. and foreign economies:

Conference Board

Economic Indicators

A great source of links to lots of websites with information on the economy and for economists:

Resources for Economists, American Economics Association


Links to newspapers

Links to world newspapers and online news

 

New York Times