PA 854: Macroeconomic Policy and International Financial Regulation

This site provides resources for students in PA 854 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison for Fall 2018 Semester

Source: BEA 2018Q2 2nd release, policyuncertainty.com, author's calculations.2018Q3 EPU index for July-August.

Instructor
Professor Menzie Chinn
Office Hours: M 12-1:30 M 12:15-1:45, W 11:45-12:15 7418 Social Sciences
Tel: (608) 262-7397
email: mchinn@lafollette.wisc.edu
Home Page

Course Syllabus

The recommended textbook is Caves, Frankel and Jones, World Trade and Payments 10th Edition. The recommended text is not available at UW Bookstore; Amazon currently has copies available. The required textbook is available in draft form (online at Canvas or some other location to be determined). Additional assigned readings will be available on the Web (via links on this website).

Important Dates

• No class 9/10-12
• Midterm 1: 10/22
• Midterm 2: 11/14
• No class 11/21
• Term paper due: 12/12

Course Materials and Sources of Economic Information

Downloadable Course Materials

• Lecture 1 (9/5)
• [11] (hard copy listed as Chapter 9)
• [12]
• [13]
• Problem Set 1 due 10/3
• [14]
• Problem Set 1 Answers due 10/3
• Problem Set 2 due 10/15
• [15]

Required Readings

• [WEO] IMF, World Economic Outlook update (July 2018).
• [BIS] Triennial Central Bank Survey - Foreign exchange turnover in April 2016: preliminary global results (Basel: BIS, December).
• [OECD] K. Herve, 2010, “The OECD's New Global Model,” Economics Department Working Paper No. 368 (Paris: OECD, December).
• [PP] M. Pakko and P. Pollard, 2003, “Burgernomics: a big Mac guide to purchasing power parity,” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review 85(6): 9-28.
• [Br] M. Brunnermeier, “Deciphering the Liquicity and Credit Crunch of 2007-08,” Journal of Economic Perspectives (2009).
• [Fr] J. Frankel, 2003, “Experience of and lessons from exchange rate regimes in emerging economies,” mimeo (Cambridge: Harvard University, September).

Additional Optional Readings/Links

• Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Jackson Hole Symposium "Fostering a Dynamic Global Economy," August 24-26, 2017.
• Furman, "Extracting the Signal from the Noise: 7 Tips for Interpreting Macroeconomic Data," Milken Institute Review (2016).
• Borio et al., "Covered interest parity lost: understanding the cross-currency basis," BIS Quarterly Review, September 2016.

News Sources

• Financial Times online
• New York Times online
• Washington Post online
• Wall Street Journal online
• BBC news online
• Reuters online
• Bloomberg online
• The Economist

Other

• Resources on the RMB
• PA974-001 (Fall 2012): Monetary Policy and Financial Policy in the Wake of the Great Crisis
• Menzie Chinn and Jeffry Frieden, The Lost Decades: The Making of America’s Debt Crisis and the Long Recovery (W.W. Norton)

Weblogs

• Econbrowser (UCSD and UW-Madison) blog
• Real Time Economic Issues Watch from Peterson Institute for International Economics.
• IMF Direct blog
• WSJ RealTime Economics
• SF Fed "FedViews"
• RGE Monitor
• Global Economy Matters blog
• Greg Mankiw's blog (Harvard)
• Brad DeLong (UC Berkeley) blog
• Morgan Stanley Global Economic Forum Commentary on international macro issues.
• Baseline Scenario Blog
• Council of Economic Advisers Blog [US Government].

Economics and Economic Policy Links

• Resources for Economists Extensive links to data sources, working papers and organizations.
• American Enterprise Institute Right of center think tank.
• Brookings Institution Moderate/left of center think tank.
• Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Institute for International Finance Think tank associated with international banks.
• Economic Policy Institute Left of center labor-oriented think tank.

International Organizations

• International Monetary Fund
• World Bank
• Bank for International Settlements The central banks' central bank.
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Developed country research organization.

U.S. Government Agencies

• White House Council of Economic Advisers
• U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Congressional Budget Office Nonpartisan analytical agency of the Congress.
• Federal Reserve Board

Current and Historical Data

• Economist Economic Indicators
• Note: IMF, International Financial Statistics, and World Bank, World Development Indicators, available from DISC.
• St. Louis Fed economic database Thousands of time series on economic activity, in an easily downloadable form.
• Economic Indicators Publication of CEA and Congressional Joint Economic Committee contains recent economic data.
• Bureau of Economic Analysis, Dept. of Commerce Data on GDP and components (the national income and product accounts) as well as other macroeconomic data.
• Bureau of the Census, Dept. of Commerce Data on the characteristics of the US population as well as of US firms.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dept. of Labor Data on wages, prices, productivity, and employment and unemployment rates.
• Energy Information Agency, Dept. of Energy Data on on energy (electricity, gas, petroleum) production, consumption and prices.
• Bank for International settlements Effective Exchange Rate Indices.
• Economic Report of the President, various years. The back portion of this annual publication contains about 70 tables of government economic data.
• NBER Data Specialized economic databases created by economists associated with the National Bureau of Economic Research.
• NBER listing of economic releases Compendium of links to economic releases, and archived releases.
• Pacific Exchange Rate Service.
• Federal Reserve Board data Monetary, financial and output data collected by the Nation's central bank.
• Penn World Tables Annual GDP and other data for over a hundred countries, expressed in dollars, after adjusting for differing price levels.