40680 UK Introduction to
Macroeconomics
UK, 4 hours per week
Time and location:
March 5: Thursday 13:00-14:00
Hörsaal 4 BWZ 2.OG, 14:00-16:00 Hörsaal 3 BWZ 2.OG
from March 19: Thursday
12:30–14:00 Hörsaal 9 BWZ
3.OG
March 19 and
April 2 – April 23:
Th
14:00-16:00 Hörsaal 7 BWZ 3.OG
April 30, and May 14
– June 25: Th
14:00-16:00 Hörsaal 8 BWZ 3.OG
Start:
Thursday, 5/3/2009
Course description: The course offers an
introduction to modern
macroeconomics. Most of it is
based on the textbook by Olivier Blanchard: Macroeconomics
(Prentice-Hall) in its fourth edition (older editions can be used, but
note
that there are some changes in some formulas and in notation between
editions).
For an introduction to national accounting, see Dudley
Jackson: The
New
National Accounts (Edward Elgar). In this field, the relevant
material for
all tests is a lecture note by Ana Ania-Martinez, which will be made
available
to participants. No special preliminary knowledge is required, but some
competence in mathematical methods is certainly useful.
In line with
the current study plan does this course contain an inseparable mix of
elements
of ‘lectures’ and of
‘exercises’. Approximately one fourth of the time
should
be devoted to repetition and to exercises. It is essential that
students
participate actively. The final grade is determined from a weighted
average of
exercises (15%), a written midterm test (35%), and a written final test
(50%). Overall,
you need 50% to pass the course. In the component
‘exercises’, points
are
allotted to regular attendance and to occasional written homework, the
main
emphasis is however on the presentation of exercises during the course.
Midterm
and final test will be organized jointly with the parallel groups.
Course contents:
1. National accounts
2. The goods market
3. The financial
market
4. The IS-LM model
(short-run
equilibrium on goods and
financial markets)
5. The labor market
6. The AS-AD model
(medium-run
equilibrium on three markets)
7. Phillips curve,
Okun's law,
medium-run dynamic model
8. The open economy
(exchange
rates, J-curve)
The course contents
correspond
roughly to chapters 1-9 and 18-19 of Blanchard’s
book. All economic theories and models are illustrated using Austrian
and international
data.
40871
UK Econometric
Methods for Panel Data
UK,
2 hours per week
Time
and location: Wednesday,
13.00 - 14.30 Uhr, Seminarraum 2,
Hohenstaufengasse
Course description: The lecture course
surveys
econometric techniques that are used on
two-dimensional data sets, one dimension of which is time. Such data
sets,
generally named panels or sometimes longitudinal data, occur in
macroeconomics,
for example in inter-country comparisons, where the time dimension
dominates, as
well as in labor economics, where a short time dimension and a large
cross-section dimension is the rule.
The following topics
could be
covered:
1.
Models for panel
data (fixed
and
random effects, one-way and two-way)
2.
Estimation
procedures for
panels
(LSDV or within-groups estimator, GLS)
3.
Tests (poolability,
Hausman test)
4.
Heteroskedasticity
and
autocorrelation
5.
Dynamic panels
(Nickell bias,
instrumental
variable estimation)
6.
Panel tests for unit
roots
The methods are
explained
using empirical examples that are handled by
computer software. As important literature related to this course, I
would
recommend the textbooks by Hsiao: Analysis of Panel Data
(Cambridge
University Press, 2003) and by Baltagi: Econometric Analysis
of
Panel Data
(Wiley, 2005).
In line with the
course form
UK, the evaluation of
students is to be composed of several parts. The definitive form will
be
convened at the first meeting on March 6. It may also depend in the
number of
participants. In the most recent course, it was convened that the final
course
grade was a weighted average of a written test (50%) in early May, and
of a
presentation of an advanced topic from the above list or of an
independent
empirical project on panel data (50%).
40229
UK
Econometric Forecasting
UK,
2 hours per week
Course description: The course aims at an
understanding of
currently
used techniques for prediction in empirical economics. We focus on the
following
topics:
(1)
General
introduction (Aims of
forecasting, types of forecasts: technical extrapolation, time-series
forecasts, theory- and model-based forecasts)
(2)
Technical
model-free
extrapolation (exponential smoothing, ad-hoc
prediction etc.)
(3)
Univariate
time-series
techniques (one variable on its own)
(4)
Multivariate
time-series
techniques (several variables together: vector autoregressions,
cointegration)
(5)
Forecasting
using econometric
models
(6)
Criteria
for assessing
forecasting accuracy
In line
with the course form UK, the evaluation should be based on
several parts. One suggestion would be to determine the course grade
from a
weighted average of a written midterm test (50%) and a lesser empirical
forecasting
project or a short presentation of some advanced piece of literature
that is
related to econometric forecasting. The presentations should take place
in the
time after the midterm test. Details will be convened in the first unit.
Recommended
literature for this course: