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HON 200C Macroeconomics Instructor : Bernard Malamud Office: BEH 502 Phone (702) 895 –3294 Fax: 895 – 1354 Email: bernard.malamud@unlv.edu Website: www.unlv.edu/faculty/bmalamud Office hours: MW 11:30 - 12:30 pm ; 2:30 – 3:30 pm a nd by appointment.
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HON 200C Macroeconomics • Instructor: Bernard Malamud • Office: BEH 502 • Phone (702) 895 –3294 • Fax: 895 – 1354 • Email: bernard.malamud@unlv.edu • Website: www.unlv.edu/faculty/bmalamud • Office hours: MW 11:30 -12:30 pm ; 2:30 – 3:30 pm and by appointment
the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back…the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil. John Maynard Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936) • In the short-run, it is true, ideas are unimportant and ineffective, but in the long-run they can rule the world. Lionell Robbins, The Great Depression (1934).
Course Objectives Introduce • Macroeconomic terminology eco-talk • Macro Facts • Schools of thought • The economic way of thinking
Course Objectives • Master MODELS • Demand Side Models AD • IS – MP • Multiplier • Supply Side Models AS • Phillips Curve • Role of Expectations … in theory and in practice • Stabilizing an Unstable Economy • Understanding the current crisis • Solow Growth Model
Macro - variables • Output … Real GDP … Growth Rate • Unemployment • Inflation … CPI, GDP Deflator Macro Time Frames • Short-run … sticky price • Long-run … flex price/markets clear … economic growth … ideas growth ideas
The State of Macro…a la Krugman Keynes (1936): Y = C + I + G • Economics of effective demand/Role of uncertainty The “Golden Age” (1946 ~ 1973): Fiscal dominance Monetarist challenge: G crowded out/M-matters-most • Friedman: Avoid monetary mischief “Freshwater” dominance: Rat-X/Efficient Markets • Lucas: confusion recession • Prescott: supply shocks intertemporal substitution recession “Saltwater” acquiescence: Rat-X with frictions • New Keynesian models/Monetarist policies Housing bubble: end of Great Moderation • Behavioral finance/return of Keynes?!?
The Current Debate Stimulus? Fiscal restraint? Lessons from the Great Depression • FDR’s Policies: New Deal or Raw Deal?
Where to Find the Numbers • http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/ • www.bls.gov/data/ • www.economist.com • www.bea.doc.gov • http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/ • www.oecd.org