Topics change from year to year. Most recent topics include: optimal fiscal and monetary policy; optimal capital taxation; time inconsistency and incentive incompatibility of optimal policies; redistribution and political economics; heterogeneous agents and incomplete markets; Real Business Cycle models and new-keynesian models; endogenous growth; aggregate fluctuations and propagation mechanisms; recursive methods and robust control in macro.

15.014 focuses on using case studies to investigate the macroenvironment in which firms operate. The course is divided in five parts: Basic tools of macroeconomic management Evaluation of different economic development strategies Crises in emerging markets: causes, solutions, and prevention Problems faced by transition economies Challenges of developed countries This course is a full-term version of Applied Macro- and International Economics (15.012), with additional topics.

In this paper we present findings of an experimental study of Craigslist.org involving nearly 4 million raw online classified advertisements to infer key economic indicators. First, we investigate the potential of using Craigslist information to predict the state of the national and local economy by analyzing user behavior and posting trends in some key categories. We show that the number of posts for jobs available/wanted reflects the actual trends reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We examine the potential of predicting unemployment and home foreclosure rates from online classified advertisements in geographically localized peer production communities. We show that there is a strong correlation between the number of houses posted for sale, the number of jobs available/wanted and the actual state of the local and national economy. Finally, we analyze job posts in 32 categories and day to day changes and conclude the “recession proof jobs” and jobs highly affected by the recent economic meltdown.

Analyzes unemployment data to show that real unemployment is worse than the headline numbers show. [Economics playlist: Lesson 7 of 20]

This activity is designed to provide students with real-world application of classroom curriculum. Students will be required to make budgeting decisions in the light of inflation, unemployment, and other unforeseen additions or strains to the family budget.

The US stock market crash of 1929 set off the most severe economic depression in the Western world. The so-called Great Depression lasted more than a decade, until approximately 1941. In the United States, the general atmosphere was one of desolation, as expressed in the Dorothea Lange photograph "Thirteen Million Unemployed Fill the City in the Early Thirties," which shows men leaning against a wall in San Francisco. Many photographs in this topic were taken by Lange, one of the primary chroniclers of the Great Depression. Lange had been taking portraits of wealthy individuals in her studio, but she felt compelled to go out on the streets and take photographs of everyday people. In 1933, she marked the start of her documentary career what she called her "first street image": "White Angel Bread Line," a photograph of a man waiting for food at a soup kitchen run by a San Francisco widow. The images in this group reflect the lives of average citizens struggling to get by. Photographs show unemployed men waiting in long lines. One Lange photo shows a man sleeping in a parking lot. Rural areas were also hard hit. As several of these images show, some people lived in "Hoovervilles" ? temporary towns of makeshift housing that got their name from President Herbert Hoover, who was blamed for the problems that led to the Depression. The image captions written at the time (such as "Not much room in this one room shack, but it?s shelter from a trying winter" and "These Hooverville children are ashamed of their home ? can you blame them?") express the conditions that people endured and reveal the way people felt.

Survey of modern macroeconomics at a fairly advanced level. Topics include neoclassical and new growth theory, consumption and saving behavior, investment, and unemployment. Use of the dynamic programming techniques. Assignments include problem sets and written discussions of macroeconomic events. Recommended for students planning to apply to graduate school in economics. Credit not given for both 14.05 and 14.06.

Survey of modern macroeconomics at a fairly advanced level. Topics include neoclassical and new growth theory, consumption and saving behavior, investment, and unemployment. Use of the dynamic programming techniques. Assignments include problem sets and written discussions of macroeconomic events. Recommended for students planning to apply to graduate school in economics. Credit not given for both 14.05 and 14.06.

In this course, the student will build on and apply what you learned in the introductory macroeconomics course. The student will use the concepts of output, unemployment, inflation, consumption, and investment to study the dynamics of an economy at a more advanced level. As the course progresses, the student will gain a better appreciation for how policy shifts and changes in one sector impact the rest of the macroeconomy (whether the impacts are intended or unintended). The student will also examine the causes of inflation and depression, and discuss various approaches to responding to them. By the end of this course, the student should be able to think critically about the economy and develop your own unique perspective on various issues. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Explain the standard theory in macroeconomics at an intermediate level; Explain and use the basic tools of macroeconomic theory, and apply them to help address problems in public policy; Analyze the role of government in allocating scarce resources; Explain how inflation affects entire economic systems; Synthesize the impact of employment and unemployment in a free market economy; Build macroeconomic models to describe changes over time in monetary and fiscal policy; Compare and contrast arguments concerning business, consumers and government, and make good conjectures regarding the possible solutions; Analyze the methods of computing and explaining how much is produced in an economy; Apply basic tools that are used in many fields of economics, including uncertainty, capital and investment, and economic growth. (Economics 202)

My goal is to provide an accessible book that reflects this theme of choice and conveys a sense of the breadth and power of basic economic analysis. It assumes no prior knowledge of economics and can be read and appreciated by anyone. While some parts of the book cover conventional material, others do not. I've ignored many traditional topics and substituted ones that apply economics in unusual and often provocative ways. The chapters are not meant to be definitive, they are meant to raise questions. If they do not make you think or ruffle an occasional feather, I have failed.
Most chapters use a story-telling approach that has served me well in the classroom. I am accustomed to a tough audience. Every semester I stare into the fresh faces of college students who would rather be at the beach, students who challenge me to make them care. I use stories to grab their attention, to show how economics affects their everyday life, and to give them a new and deeper appreciation of what drives their behavior.

In economics, the term 'labor' refers to workers. As a factor of production, labor earns wages for the services that it renders. As such, students of labor economics have traditionally set out to understand wage formation, the level of employment, and all elements that go into the making of a wage relationship. Over the years, the social and economic contexts in which labor markets operate have become increasingly complex; nowadays, labor economics is no longer limited to the study of wages. Modern labor economics instead seeks to understand the complex workings of the labor market by studying the dynamics between employers, employees, and their wage-, price-, and profit-making incentives. In other words, modern labor economics explores the outcomes of the labor market under the assumption that workers strive to maximize their wellbeing and firms strive to maximize profits. It also analyzes the behavior of employers and employees and studies their responses to changes in government policies and/or in the demographic composition of the labor force. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of basic labor economics theory, including labor market structures and wage determination; Apply their understanding of theoretical models to analyze trends in data pertaining to topics in labor economics; Apply their understanding of theoretical models to case studies presented in the course; Construct, defend, and analyze important labor policy issues; Comprehend, assess, and criticize existing empirical work in labor economics. (Economics 303)

Neoclassical analysis of the labor market and its institutions. A systematic development of the theory of labor supply, labor demand, and human capital theory. Topics discussed also include theories of wage and employment determination, turnover, search, unemployment, equalizing differences, and union behavior. Particular emphasis on the interaction of theoretical and empirical modeling. The aim of this course is to acquaint students with traditional topics in labor economics and to encourage the development of independent research interests. This course is taught in two parts: Fall term and then in the subsequent Fall term.

The aim of this course is to acquaint students with traditional topics in labor economics and to encourage the development of independent research interests. We will cover a systematic development of the theory of labor supply, labor demand, and human capital. Topics include wage and employment determination, turnover, search, immigration, unemployment, equalizing differences, and institutions in the labor market. There will be particular emphasis on the interaction between theoretical and empirical modeling.

The purpose of this course is to provide the student with a fundamental understanding of the principles of macroeconomics. Macroeconomists study how a country's economy works and try to determine the best choices to improve the overall wellbeing of a nation. Typical topics include inflation (the overall level of prices), employment, fiscal policy (government taxing and spending), and money and banking (interest rates and lending policies). By studying macroeconomics and understanding the critical ideas and tools used to measure economic data, the student will have a better perspective on the issues and problems discussed in contemporary economics. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Discuss key macroeconomic concerns, including national income accounting, saving and investment, and market forces; Describe the determinants of total output and the ways to measure nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as real GDP; Compare and contrast definitions of total employment and unemployment, the three forms of unemployment, and inflation; Explain different ways of computing the general movement in prices, and define the relationship between inflation and unemployment; Explain the model of aggregate demand and aggregate supply; Analyze the government's role in the economy and examine how it uses its fiscal policy and monetary policy to influence macroeconomic variables in order to enable macro and micro economic stability; Describe the mechanics of money supply in detail. They will specifically be able to identify different types of money; explain the money creation process, the money multiplier, and the process of interest rate determination; and discuss the role of the Federal Reserve System and its tools of monetary policy; Identify and analyze major theories of economic growth; Analyze various strategies for developing of less-developed nations; Present the concepts behind international trade. (Economics 102; See also: Business Administration 201)