ECON BC3045 Business Cycles

Instructor: Sharon Harrison, Fall 2004

You will finish this course with a thorough working knowledge of both theories and policy implications of business cycles. Keynes provides the foundation for the static IS/LM model, which you learned in intermediate macroeconomics, along with the Phillips Curve. However, more recent models, described as neoclassical, are dynamic in nature and based on microfoundations. Still other, New Keynesian, models include features of both. In the context of these and other models, we will study the design of fiscal and monetary policies that are intended to prevent or shorten recessions. Topics will include the plausibility of various models, both in theory and in practice; the absolute and relative effectiveness of various policies; and political considerations. Particular episodes in the macroeconomic history of the US will provide us with case studies in which to study these topics.

Course prerequisite: ECON BC3033, Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory, or the equivalent.

Course requirements: Bi-weekly problem sets, 2 in-class exams, a project with both written and oral components.