Chad Jones
Stanford University
Graduate School of Business
Winter Quarter, 2010
MgtEcon 610. Topics in Macroeconomics -- Economic Growth (Ph.D. Macro Field Course)
Meeting: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:15 - 3:00pm in Littlefield 103.
Office Hours:
Chad -- Mondays, 1:30-3:30pm, Littlefield 235
Pete -- Wednesdays, 1:30-3:30 pm, Econ 364
Contact info: chad.jones@stanford.edu, klenow@stanford.edu
Overview
This course studies frontier research on economic growth. In an experiment, it will meet jointly with Economics 234, taught by Professor Pete Klenow, so you should only sign up for one of these classes. The purpose of the course is to introduce you to some of the latest research in macroeconomics and to prepare you to undertake research on your own.
Requirements
(1) You should read the papers in advance of each class meeting, and come to class prepared to discuss them. To be sure this is the case, at the beginning of each class you will be required to hand in three typewritten questions related to the papers being discussed (be sure to keep a copy for yourself). Also, at the start of each class we will call on one student randomly and ask them to summarize one reading for the day.
(2) Lead part of a class. Each student will take responsibility for preparing slides and leading the discussion for 50 minutes on one paper during the course; suggested papers are indicated by an asterisk (*) below. During class on January 12, we will make signup sheets available so you can pick your session.
(3) A five page discussion of a research idea that is motivated by this class. Throughout the class (and for the rest of your life!), you should be keep a list of possible research topics. On the last day of class, March 11, you will be expected to hand in your five page discussion of one of these topics and give a 10 minute overview of your idea: What is the key question you hope to answer, and how will you go about answering the question?
Background References
The following readings and references may prove useful at some point. The new Acemoglu book is a great resource.
Acemoglu, Daron. 2009. Introduction to Modern Economic Growth (Princeton University Press).
Jones, Charles I. 2002. Introduction to Economic Growth. Advanced undergraduate-level treatment.
Barro, Robert and Xavier Sala-i-Martin 2003. Economic Growth.
Course Schedule and Syllabus
Readings are available on the web for you to download.
January 5 (PK)
Overview of Growth Research in the past two decades: key papers and facts.
See Chapter 1 of Acemoglu, Daron. 2009. Introduction to Modern Economic Growth (Princeton University Press).
Examples of articles to be touched on:
Lucas, Robert E. 1988. "On the Mechanics of Economic Development" Journal of Monetary Economics 22:3-42.
Caselli, Francesco and James Feyrer (2007), "The Marginal Product of Capital," Quarterly Journal of Economics 122 (May): 535-568.
January 7 (CJ)
Romer, Paul M. 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change" Journal of Political Economy 98:S71-S102.
Jones, Charles I. 2005. "Growth and Ideas" in P. Aghion and S. Durlauf (eds.) Handbook of Economic Growth (Elsevier) Volume 1B, pp. 1063-1111.
January 12 (CJ, continued from previous class)
Jones, Charles I., "Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas," American Economic Review, March 2002, Vol. 92 (1), pp. 220-239.
January 14 (PK)
Young, Alwyn (2005), "The Gift of the Dying: The Tragedy of AIDS and the Welfare of Future African Generations," Quarterly Journal of Economics 120 (May): 243-266.
Young, Alwyn (2009), "The African Growth Miracle," unpublished paper, London School of Economics (September).
January 19 (CJ)
Kortum, Samuel S., "Research, Patenting, and Technological Change," Econometrica, 1997, 65 (6), 1389-1419.
January 21 (PK)
Klette, Tor Jakob and Samuel S. Kortum (2004), "Innovating Firms and Aggregate Innovation," Journal of Political Economy 112 (October), 986-1018.
Broda, Christian and David Weinstein (2006), "Globalization and the Gains from Variety," Quarterly Journal of Economics 121 (May): 541-585.
January 26 (CJ)
[Alejandro] Acemoglu, Daron, "Labor- and Capital-Augmenting Technical Change," Journal of the European Economic Association, March 2003, Vol. 1(1):1-37.
Jones, Charles I. "The Shape of Production Functions and the Direction of Technical Change" Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2005.
January 28 (PK)
Melitz, Marc (2003), “The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity”, Econometrica 71 (November): 1695-1725
[Juliana S.] Bernard, Andrew B., Jonathan Eaton, J. Bradford Jensen, and Samuel Kortum (2003), "Plants and Productivity in International Trade," American Economic Review 93 (September): 1268-1290.
February 2 (CJ)
[Krishna] Greenwood, Jeremy, Zvi Hercowitz, and Per Krusell, "Long-Run Implications of Investment-Specific Technological Change," American Economic Review, June 1997, 87 (3), 342-362.
Whelan, Karl, "A Two-Sector Approach to Modeling U.S. NIPA Data," Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, August 2003, Vol. 35(4):627-656.
February 4
NBER Growth Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. You will be invited and are encouraged to attend.
February 9 (PK)
Clark, Gregory (1987), "Why Isn't the Whole World Developed? Lessons from the Cotton Mills," Journal of Economic History 47 (March): 141-173.
[Juliane B.] Schmitz, James A. Jr. (2005), "What Determines Labor Productivity? Lessons From the Dramatic Recovery of the U.S. and Canadian Iron-Ore Industries Since Their Early 1980s Crisis," Journal of Political Economy 113 (June): 582-625.
February 11 (CJ)
Jones, Charles I. "Intermediate Goods and Weak Links: A Theory of Economic Development" unpublished paper, September 2009.
February 16 (PK)
Hsieh, Chang-Tai and Peter J. Klenow, "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India", Quarterly Journal of Economics 124, November 2009, 1403-1448.
February 18 (PK)
[Siddharth] Manuelli, Rodolfo and Ananth Seshadri (2007), "Human Capital and the Wealth of Nations," under revision for the American Economic Review?
[Fred] Erosa, Andres, Tatyana Koreshkova, and Diego Restuccia (2009), "How Important is Human Capital? A Quantitative Theory Assessment of World Income Inequality," forthcoming in the Review of Economic Studies.
February 23 (CJ)
Hall, Robert E. and Jones, Charles I. "The Value of Life and the Rise in Health Spending" Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007.
Jones, Charles I. "The Costs of Economic Growth" September 2009.
February 25 (PK)
* Atkeson, Andrew G. and Patrick J. Kehoe (2005), "Modeling and Measuring Organizational Capital," Journal of Political Economy 113 (October): 1026-1053.
* Foster, Lucia, John Haltiwanger, and Chad Syverson (2008), "Reallocation, Firm Turnover, and Efficiency: Selection on Productivity or Profitability?" American Economic Review 98 (March): 394-425.
March 2 (CJ)
[Jihee] Acemoglu, Aghion, Bursztyn, and Hemous, "The Environment and Directed Technical Change" MIT unpublished paper, November 2009.
[Josh] Dell, Melissa, Benjamin F. Jones, and Benjamin Olken, "Climate Shocks and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century" April 2009. NBER Working Paper #14132.
March 4 (PK)[Ben] Parente, Stephen L. and Edward C. Prescott (1999), "Monopoly Rights: A Barrier to Riches," American Economic Review 89 (December): 1216-1233.
Buera, Francisco J., Alexander Monge-Naranjo, and Giorgio E. Primiceri (2008), "Learning the Wealth of Nations," unpublished paper (May).
March 9 (CJ)
Jones, Charles I. and Peter J. Klenow (2010) "Where Would You Rather Live? Welfare Across Countries and Time" unpublished paper.
March 11
Last class: Discuss research proposals