Economics 3311: Intermediate Macroeconomics (UTD)

Spring 2025

Instructor: Camilo Granados
Class Time and Location: Monday and Wednesday 2:30PM-3:45PM, FN 2.104
Course Office Hours: GR 2.820, Monday 4:00PM-6:00PM or by appointment (in person or MS Teams)
Email: Camilo.granados@utdallas.edu
Website: https://cagranados.github.io/intmacro.html

Course Description

This course offers an exploration of macroeconomic theory and practice, focusing on both long-run and short-run economic phenomena. We will begin by introducing the fundamental concepts of macroeconomics, including methods used to measure key economic indicators, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The course then delves into model representations of economic dynamics and fluctuations that are relevant for understanding how economies evolve over time.

Moving from the long-run to the short-run, we will explore the dynamics of inflation, output fluctuations, and business cycles, using general equilibrium frameworks and related concepts such as the Phillips curve. Using these tools we pay special attention to understanding the causes and consequences of economic crises, both in the US and around the world. Finally, we will introduce a benchmark framework resembling of the frontier of macroeconomic research based on microeconomic insights, namely the Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium models (DSGE) emphasizing on their usage for macroeconomic policy analysis.

Syllabus: [pdf]

Assignments, Exams and Deadlines

Problem set 1: due date 2/12 [Problem Set]
Problem set 2: due date 2/24 [Problem Set]
Problem set 3: due date 3/26 [Problem Set]
Problem set 4: due date 4/7 [Problem Set]
Problem set 5: due date 4/30 [Problem Set]

Midterm 1: 9/26
Midterm 2: 11/7
Final exam: 12/5

Lectures and detailed outline:

(this is updated on a regular basis — the slides are replaced with annotated versions after the lectures)

Now: Introduction
Next: Measuring the Macroeconomy

Outline and slides:

Lecture 1: Introduction to Macroeconomics [Slides]

Lecture 2: Measuring the Macroeconomy [Slides]

Lecture 3: An Overview of Long-Run Economic Growth [Slides]

Lecture 4: A Model of Production [Slides]

Lecture 5: The Solow Growth Model [Slides]

Lecture 8: Inflation [Slides]

Lecture 9: An Introduction to the Short Run [Slides]

Lecture 10: The Great Recession: A First Look [Slides]

Lecture 11: The IS Curve [Slides]

Lecture 12: Monetary Policy and the Phillips Curve [Slides]

Lecture 13: Stabilization Policy and the AS/AD Framework [Slides]

Lecture 14: The Great Recession and the Short-Run Model [Slides]

Lecture 15: DSGE Models: The Frontier of Business Cycle Research [Slides]

Lecture 16: Wrap up [Slides]

Other materials:

Practice problems 1: [Questions]

Review session: [Slides]

Optional final project (bonus due on 5/11/25):

Project: [pdf]

(for the other possible bonus project, the analysis of 3 pieces of economic News from the lenses of the economic models of the course see the syllabus. Valid sources for this option are: Financial Times, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg. If you find it easier, you can also consider as sources policy reports such as the IMF-WEO, or similar from the World Bank, BIS or OECD).

Note: The submission of either bonus assignments is done via e-learning. Also, check the due dates in e-learning (no submission is accepted after).