Macroeconomics 2 (5 cr)

Code:
ECOM-G313
Field:
Macroeconomics
Target:
Master’s students
Organiser:
University of Helsinki - Economics
Instructor:
Timm Prein
Period:
Period 2
Format:
Lecture
Method:
Contact teaching
Venue:
Economicum
Enrollment:

In case of conflicting information consider the Sisu/Course/Moodle pages the primary source of information.

Aalto and Hanken economics students can enroll in their home university’s SISU! Further instructions can be found on the How to enroll page, also for other students.

Before taking and completing the course make sure that the credits can be counted towards your degree at your home university by checking which courses are included in your curriculum or by contacting your home university’s student/learning services.

The course extends the analysis of Macroeconomics 1 to an infinite horizon setting. It provides an introduction to the real business cycle theory. The course first focuses on households’ consumption behavior and dynamic optimization in firms’ investment and labor demand. The above modelling ingredients are put together to make a complete general equilibrium macroeconomic model, the real business cycle (RBC) model. The model will be used to study the propagation of technology shocks. The course further covers extensions of the Solow growth model and an introduction to labor search and matching theory.

After the course, the student should

  • Understand the life-cycle motives of consumption and labor supply decisions
  • Understand how uncertainty affects households’ decision.
  • Be familiar with the q-theory of investments
  • Be able to set up a real business cycle model and understand the role of technology in business cycles
  • Be able to extend the basic Solow model, for example, to education and natural resources
  • To understand how human capital and innovation affects economic growth.
  • To understand frictions in the labor market and the sources of unemployment