PA 854: Macroeconomic Policy and International Financial Regulation
This site provides resources for students in PA 854
at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison for Spring 2021 Semester
Figure 1: Series highlighted by the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee.
Syllabus |
Important Dates |
Downloadable Course Materials and Information Sources |
Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs |
Department of
Economics
LECTURE: MW 11-12:15
Instructor
Professor Menzie Chinn
Office Hours: M 1-2, W 2-3
7418 Social Sciences
Tel: (608) 262-7397
email:
mchinn@lafollette.wisc.edu
Home Page
PA854 Syllabus in PDF file.
This course surveys international macroeconomics, with special reference to international monetary policy and international financial market architecture. Topics include the structure of international financial markets; the role of central banks; exchange-rate systems; the determination of balance of payments and exchange rates; macroeconomics of open economies; policy analysis for open economies; policy coordination; the International Monetary Fund; and financial crises.
The aim of this course is to provide an analytical background for those who plan to go into government service, international organizations and agencies, businesses involved in the global economy, nongovernmental organizations with international foci, and consulting firms analyzing international policy issues.
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 on the Canvas website for this course. Additional assigned readings will be available on the Web (via links on this website).
- Midterm 1: 3/8
- Midterm 2: 4/12
- Guest lecture: 4/21 (tentative) (Steve Kamin)
- Term paper due date:
4/28 (last day of classes) 5/1 5/2 11:59PM 
Downloadable Course Materials
Required Readings
- [WEO] IMF, World Economic Outlook update (January 2020).
- [BIS] Schrimpf, Sushko, "Sizing up global foreign exchange markets,"BIS Quarterly Report (Dec 2019): 21-38.
[Elast] Notes on Elasticities Approach.
- [Blanch] Blanchard, "The Covid crisis," Macroeconomics
- [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.
- [Fr] J. Frankel, 2003, "Experience of and lessons from exchange rate regimes in emerging economies," mimeo (Cambridge: Harvard University, September).
- [Shamb] J. Shambaugh, 2012, "The Euro's Three Crises," BPEA (Spring 2012).
- Chapter 19: The Global Financial Crisis
- Chapter 20: The Euro Area Crisis
Additional Optional Readings/Links
- Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States, US Treasury, April 2021
- What a hot american economy means for the rest of the world," Economist, 18 Feb 2021
- BIS Triennial Survey, 2019.
- IMF, Measuring Economic Welfare: What and How? (May 2020).
- US Treasury, "Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States," December 2020.
- IMF, External Sector Report, 2020
- 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.
Other Resources
News Sources
Weblogs
Economics and Economic Policy Links
International Organizations
U.S. Government Agencies
Current and Historical Data
- St. Louis Fed economic database Thousands of time series on economic activity, in an easily downloadable form.
- Economist Economic Indicators
- IMF, World Economic Outlook October 2020 database (annual); October 2020.
- IMF International Financial Statistics (monthly, quarterly, annual)
- Note: IMF, International Financial Statistics, and World Bank, World Development Indicators, available from DISC.
- 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 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.
PA854 Macro Policy & Int'l Financial Regulation / UW Madison / mchinn@lafollette.wisc.edu / 30 April 2021