Seminar in „International Economics“ (MWiWi 6)

Course Information

The topic of this seminar is “Quantitative Economics”. The seminar bridges the gap between theoretical and empirical research and offers an integrated framework for studying applied problems in macroeconomics and microeconomics. Students learn to combine the tools of dynamic programming with numerical techniques and simulation-based econometric methods.

We first provide background on the theory of dynamic optimization and present the numerical tools necessary to evaluate structural theoretical models. We then consider applications of dynamic programming to specific areas of applied economics, including

· the study of business cycles

· consumption and investment behavior

· heterogeneous-agent economies

· incomplete markets

· sovereign default

· economics of the family.

All computations will be performed using the software MATLAB which is available to students at no charge from ZIM. No prior experience with this software is required. It is required that students have attended MWiMi 2.8: International Economics prior to attending this seminar.

Students choose a topic from the areas mentioned above, write a seminar thesis and present their results at the end of the semester. Each topic is based on an article published in an economics journal or based on a textbook treatment. The seminar will also feature an introduction to LaTeX, which is a free-of-charge software for typesetting your seminar thesis.

Course Prerequisites

MWiMi 2.8: International Economics

Registration

If you are interested in this seminar, you have to sign in by writing an email to juessen[at]wiwi.uni-wuppertal.de. The deadline is October 17, 2016. Note that your email is not a compulsory registration for the seminar. You can withdraw from the seminar until a specific topic has been handed over to you, presumably after the first two or three meetings. Signing in with an email is required for assessing the maximum number of participants.

Time and Venue

Thursday, 2-6 p.m., Room: tba (you should plan with a weekly meeting although there will be weeks without a classroom meeting, e.g., when we have individual supervision or consulting hours)

Date of first meeting: October 27, 2016. Note: the first meeting (kick-off only) is from 4-6 p.m.! (two instead of four hours), M.15.09