Macroeconomics II – Summer Term 2021

Lecture 5th/ 6th semester

Bachelor

Lecturer: Klaus Wälde

Tutorial: Hoang Van Khieu

Exam: E-exam with open questions to be answered by (i) typing and by (ii) writing (for derivations and figures) on a piece of paper

Lecture

The lecture Macroeconomics II covers topics from behavioural macroeconomics. As this is not yet a fully elaborated field, we will cover topics from behavioural economic theory and discuss the links or the potential links to macroeconomics. The material in this course and the link between psychology, behavioural economics and macroeconomics is therefore subject of ongoing research.

In this sense this lecture is a perfect example of research-oriented teaching -- one of the building blocks of JGU Mainz. Students will get a unique insight into state-of-the art research and thinking.

The lecture and the tutorial are held in English.

The lecture consists of the following four parts

1) Introduction and emotional economics

2) Behavioural economics

3) How behavioural macro could look like

4) Summary

The slides for the lecture are already available.

Tutorial

The tutorial also offers various innovations. Three tutorials will be held in the standard classroom style. The other three will take place in the computer pool. Students will get to know matlab, a widely used software that allows to compute numerical solutions. The importance of matlab of course goes much beyond behavioural macroeconomics, economics or business administration. It is used in finance, in mathematics and in many other fields. Large banks and insurance companies also use matlab (or closely related other numerical software). Students will learn matlab from scratch (no previous programming experience is required) and learn how to plot figures, run loops, use if-conditions and solve differential equations. All of this will be taught using the questions on the problem sets of this course. A close link between economic intuition and numerical solutions will always be present.

The course is assessed via a written closed-book exam lasting one hour.

Organisation 

Lectures and tutorials will be held via MS Teams (or in person, if possible). You will find the link to the MS Teams meetings in Moodle (JGU-LMS).

References

  • Brandstätter, Güth and Kliemt (2010): Psychology and Economics rather than Psychology vesus Economics: Cultural differences but no barriers!
  • Easterlin (1974): Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence
  • Kops and Wälde (2011): “Why do some decisions take so long?
  • Loewenstein and Lerner (2003): The Role of Affect in Decision Making
  • Rick and Loewenstein (2008): The Role of Emotion in Economic Behavior
  • Lewis, Haviland-Jones and Feldman Barrett (2008): Handbook of Emotions
  • Sargent (2008): Rational Expectations
  • Shaver, p., J. Schwartz, D. Kirson, and C. O‘Connor (1987): “Emotion Knowledge: FurtherExploration of a Prototype Approach