File 019396
Economics 1545 Course Syllabus - International Financial and Macroeconomic Policy (File 019396)
Harvard University course syllabus for Economics 1545, taught by Professor Kenneth Rogoff in Fall 2009, covering international finance and macroeconomic policy with focus on exchange rates, financial crises, and current account imbalances.
Summary
This is the course syllabus for Harvard Economics 1545, an advanced international finance and macroeconomics course taught by Kenneth Rogoff in Fall 2009. The course uses theoretical, empirical, and policy frameworks to analyze international finance topics including exchange rate models, purchasing power parity, currency crises, the Great Depression, exchange rate regimes, and global current account imbalances. Assessment includes problem sets (10%), midterm exam (20%), final exam (35%), and a policy paper on international monetary system reform (35%). Readings draw heavily from Rogoff's own published works and textbook co-authored with Maurice Obstfeld.
Department of Economics, Harvard University, v. November 9,2009Economics 1545: International Financial and Macroeconomic PolicyProfessor Kenneth RogoffTime and Place: Fall 2009; M, W, 1-2:30 pm., Sever Hall 203Office Hours: Littauer Center 216. Mondays 3-4 PM, or by appointmentEmail: (NB. When sending an email pertaining to this course, please put"1545" in the subject header.)Teaching Assistant: Thomas Sampson____________________________Staff Assistant: Jane Trahan,__________________________________Overview:This is an advanced international finance and macroeconomics course that uses a mix oftheoretical, empirical and policy frameworks to analyze topical problems in international finance.Prerequisites:Economics 1011b (preferably) or 1010b (Knowledge of basic calculus will be assumed.)Background Texts: (On reserve at Lamont Library, and available for purchase at the COOP)• Foundations of International Macroeconomics, by Maurice Obstfeld and Kenneth Rogoff, MITPress, 1996.• This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, by Carmen Reinhart and KennethRogoff, Princeton University Press, 2009, (selected chapters).Readings:Readings can be accessed online or are available on Reserve at Lamont Library.Primary readings are denoted by an * symbol. Supplementary readings will be summarized inclass but are not required.Problem Sets:Students are encouraged to work with others on the problem sets, and it is permissible to hand in asingle answer sheet for up to three students, with all three receiving the same group grade.HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019396Course Requirements:• Midterm: Wednesday October 14 (in-class, closed book; but exam will provide most of thebasic formulas you might require, to lessen need for memorization). Analytical problemson the exam will closely parallel material covered in problem sets (but will generallyrequire much less algebra), and the essay problem will relate to a central topic coveredextensively in class.• Final: The final will have a larger essay component than the mid-term. The final will drawon the entire course, though any technical material on the final will be closely related tomaterial covered in Problem Set III.• Short policy paper: You will be asked to write a short policy paper on a topic drawn froma list of questions relating to reform of the international monetary system. A one-pageoutline of your paper is due on Wednesday, October 28 or before my first meeting withyour group, whichever is earlier, and the complete paper is due on Monday November 16.These papers will form the basis for class discussions and (depending on class size) in-class presentations during the final four meetings of the class. The papers are intended tobe short and succinct—there is an absolute total page limit of 10 double-spaced (12 pt.)pages (roughly 2500 words): Only figures and references are excluded in this limit. Thepapers do not need to include any formal analytical or econometric analysis; you maywrite them in a style you find suitable to the question you are addressing. The final examwill include (a choice of) essay questions relating to the paper topics that you and yourclassmates have chosen.• Problems: There will be 3 problem sets, due Sept 14, Oct. 5 and Nov 16.Grades:Problems: 10%, Mid-term: 20%, Final: 35%, Paper: 35%HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019397TopicsI. MODELS OF EXCHANGE RATES*Rogoff, Kenneth, "Dornbusch's Overshooting Model After Twenty-Five Years," IMFStaff Papers 49, Special Issue, 2002 (35 pages). (This link is to a slightly earlier versionthat will give you a higher quality printout.)*Obstfeld and Rogoff: pp. 513-530.Frankel, Jeffrey, and Andrew Rose, 1995, "Empirical Research on Nominal ExchangeRates," in G Grossman and K Rogoff (eds), Handbook of International Economics, vol. 3(Elsevier).Rogoff, Kenneth and Vania Stavrakeva, "The Continuing Puzzle of Short-HorizonExchange Rate Forecasting," manuscript, Harvard University, July 30,2008.II. THE PURCHASING POWER PARITY PUZZLE AND RELATED PUZZLES*Kenneth Rogoff, "The Purchasing Power Parity Puzzle," Journal of Economic Literature34, June 1996,647-68.*Obstfeld and Rogoff: pp. 199-225.Imbs, Jean, Haroon Mumtaz, Morton 0. Ravn, and Helene Rey, "PPP Strikes Back:Aggregation and the Real Exchange Rate," Quarterly Journal of Economics 120(1): 1-43.Goldberg, Penny K. and Michael Knetter, "Goods Prices and Exchange Rates: What HaveWe Learned?" Journal of Economic Literature 35 (September 1997): 1243-72.Taylor, Alan, M., "Potential Pitfalls for the Purchasing-Power Parity Puzzle? Samplingand Specification Biases in Mean-Reversion Tests of the Law of One Price,"Econometrica 69(2) (March 2001): 473-98.Reidel, Demian and Jan Szilagyi, "A Biased View of PPP," manuscript, HarvardUniversity, February 2005.*Gopinath, Gita and Ricardo Rigobon, "Sticky Borders," Quarterly Journal of Economics123(2): 531-575.HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019398III. SPECULATIVE EXCHANGE RATE ATTACKSBasic models and empirical issues: Salant—Henderson—Krugman model, multiple equilibria("generation 2").*Obstfeld and Rogoff: pp. 558-567, 635-638, 648-653.IV. BANK RUNS AND THE PERSISTENCE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION*Diamond, Douglas and Philip H. Dybvig, "Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, andLiquidity," Journal of Political Economy 91(3): 401-19, June 1983.*Bernanke, Ben, "Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of theGreat Depression," American Economic Review 73 (June 1983): 257-76.Cole, Harold and Lee Ohanian, "New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the GreatDepression," Journal of Political Economy, 112(4) August, 2004, 779-816.Eggertsson, Gauti, "Great Expectations and the End of the Great Depression," AmericanEconomic Review 98, September 2008, 1476-1516.Bernanke, Ben S. Essays on the Great Depression. Princeton University Press, 2000.Gorton, Gary and Andrew Metrick, "Securitized Banking and the Run on Repo," YaleICF Working Paper No. 09-14.Gorton, Gary and Andrew Metrick, "Haircuts," Yale ICF Working Paper No. 09-15.Also: International transmission of the Great Depression via faults in the inter-war goldstandard.*Obstfeld and Rogoff: pp. 626-630.*Eichengreen, Barry and Jeffrey Sachs, "Exchange Rates and Economic Recovery in the1930s," Journal of Economic History, vol. XLV, no. 4, December 1985, also NBERworking paper 1498, May 1986.V. PERFORMANCE OF EXCHANGE RATE REGIMES*Rose, Andrew, "One Money, One Market: Estimating the Effects of a Common Currencyon Trade," Economic Policy 15(30), April 2000, 7-45.Klein, Michael W. and Jay C. Shambaugh, "Fixed Exchange Rates and Trade," NBERWorking Paper 10696, August 2004.HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019399*Husain, Aasim, Ashoka Mody, and Kenneth Rogoff, "Exchange Rate Durability andPerformance in Developing versus Advanced Economies," Journal of MonetaryEconomics 52 (January 2005), 35-64. (Click on Digital Object Identifier (DOI).)Baldwin, Richard, Di Nino, Virginia, Fontagne, Lionel, De Santis, Roberto, and Taglioni,Daira, "Study on the Impact of the Euro on Trade and Foreign Direct Investment,"European Economic and Monetary Union Working Paper No. 321, May 2008.http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract id= 1163774Frankel, Jeffrey, "The Estimated Effects of the Euro on Trade: Why Are They BelowHistorical Effects of Monetary Unions Among Smaller Countries?" NBER working paper14542 (December 2008).Tenreyro, Silvana, "Currency Unions in Prospect and Retrospect," manuscript, LondonSchool of Economics and Political Science, October 2009VI. GLOBAL CURRENT ACCOUNT IMBALANCES*Obstfeld and Rogoff: pp. 1-84.*Obstfeld, Maurice and Kenneth Rogoff, "The Unsustainable US Current AccountPosition Revisited," in Richard Clarida (ed.), G7 Current Account Imbalances:Sustainability and Adjustment, University of Chicago Press, 2007 (with revisions).Gourinchas, Pierre-Olivier and Helene Rey, 2007, "International Financial Adjustment,"Journal of Political Economy 115(4), 665-703.*Cooper, Richard, "Global Imbalances: Globalization, Demography, and Sustainability,"Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2008, Issue 3, 93-112.Dooley, Michael P., Peter Garber and David Folkerts Landau, "The Revived BrettonWoods System: The Effects of Periphery Intervention and Reserve Management onInterest Rates & Exchange Rates in Center Countries," NBER Working Paper 10332,March 2004.VII. GLOBAL CAPITAL MARKET INTEGRATION: ADVANCED COUNTRIES*Obstfeld, Maurice and Kenneth Rogoff, "The Six Major Puzzles in InternationalMacroeconomics: Is There a Common Cause?" in Ben Bernanke and Kenneth Rogoff(eds.), NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000 (Cambridge: MIT Press), pp. 339-390(Comments 390-412). Lecture notes.*Obstfeld and Rogoff: pp. 161-164.Guo, Kai, "Exchange Rates and Asset Prices in An Open Economy with Rare Disasters,"mimeo, Harvard University, October 2007.HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019400VIII. GLOBAL CAPITAL MARKET INTEGRATION: DEVELOPING COUNTRIES*Kose, M. Ayhan, Eswar Prasad, Kenneth Rogoff and Shang-Jin Wei, "FinancialGlobalization, A Reappraisal," December 2006 (revised version of International MonetaryFund, Working Paper WP/06/189, August 2006).IX. WHY MONEY FLOWS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH*Moral Hazard: Obstfeld and Rogoff: pp. 407- 419.Externalities to Human Capital: Robert E. Lucas, 1988, "Why Doesn't Capital Flow fromRich to Poor Countries," American Economic Review, May 1990, pp. 92-96.Alfaro, Laura, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, Vadym Volosovych, "Why Doesn't Capital Flowfrom Rich to Poor Countries? An Empirical Investigation," NBER working paper 11901,December 2005.X. JAPAN'S DEFLATION TRAP*Krugman, Paul, "It's Baaack: Japan's Slump and the Return of the Liquidity Trap,"Brookings Papers on Macroeconomic Activity, 1998, v2, 137-205. (including comment byDominguez and Rogoff) (N.B.: Our focus will be on the analytics as covered in theHANDOUT).Eggertsson, Gauti B. and Michael Woodford, "The Zero Bound on Interest Rates andOptimal Monetary Policy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 34 (2003), volume 1,139-235XI. INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CRISES*Reinhart, Carmen and Kenneth Rogoff, "Is the 2007 US Sub-Prime Financial Crisis SoDifferent? An International Historical Comparison," American Economic Review 98 (May2008): 339-344.*Reinhart, Carmen and Kenneth Rogoff, "The Aftermath of Financial Crises," AmericanEconomic Review 99 (May 2009): 466-472.*Reinhart, Carmen and Kenneth Rogoff, This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries ofFinancial Folly, Princeton University Press, 2009, (selected chapters).Reinhart, Carmen and Kenneth Rogoff, "Banking Crises: An Equal Opportunity Menace,manuscript, Harvard University, December 2008.*Allen, Franldin, and Douglas Gale, Understanding Financial Crises, Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 2007, ch 3.HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019401Geanakoplos, John, "The Leverage Cycle," forthcoming in NBER MacroeconomicsAnnual 2009, Daron Acemoglu, Kenneth Rogoff, and Michael Woodford (eds), April 10,2009.Bolton, Patrick, Tony Santos and Jose Scheinkman, "Inside and Outside Liquidity,"mimeo, Princeton University, March 30, 2009,Diamond, Douglas and Raghuram Rajan, "Liquidity Shortages and Banking Crises,"NBER working paper 10071, October 2003.Bolton, Patrick, and Mathias Dewatripont, Contract Theory, Cambridge: MIT Press.2005, pp. 397-418.Gorton, Gary, "Slapped in the Face by the Invisible Hand: Banking and the Panic of2007," mimeo, Yale University, April 3, 2007.http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per id=17513XII. OIL AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY*Dvir, Eyal and Kenneth Rogoff, "The Three Epochs of Oil," mimeo, Harvard University,March 2009.XIII. MONEY, EXCHANGE RATES AND PRICES: SELECTED TOPICS,SEIGNIORAGE AND COMMODITY CURRENCIESLecture notes on "Money, Inflation, and Exchange Rates."SECTION II: Paper TopicsBACKGROUND READINGS1. Should Sweden enter the euro system with four years?Reade, J.J. and U. Volz (2009a), Too Much to Lose, or More to Gain? Should SwedenJoin the Euro?, Economics Series Working Papers 442, Department of Economics,University of Oxford, Oxford.Also see shorter Voxeu essay, Reade, J. James and Ulrich Volze, "Should Swedenjoin the eurozone?" http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3955Grahn, Ralf (2009): 'Swedish opinion on euro turns', Grahnlaw Blogspot, 19 AprilHOUSE OVERSIGHT 019402Calmfors, L., H. Flam, N. Gottfries, M. Jerneck, R. Lindahl, J. Haaland Matlary, C. NordhBerntsson, E. Rabinowicz and A. Vredin (1997), EMU: A Swedish Perspective, KluwerAcademic Publishers, Boston, Dordrecht and London.Baldwin, R, (2006), "In or Out? Does it Matter? An Evidence Based Analysis of theEuro's Trade Effects," Center for Economic Policy Research, London.Ferreira-Lopes, A, (2008), "In or Out?" The Welfare Costs of EMU membership,"Economic Research Center Working paper 14/08, ISCTE, Lisbon University InstituteSoderstrum, U (2008), "Re-evaluating Swedish Membership in EMU: Evidence from anEstimated Model," NBER Working Paper 14519.Vaubel, R, (2004), "A Critical Analysis of EMU and of Sweden Joining It," in J.Ljungberg (ed), The Price of the Euro, Palgrave Macmillan, NY, 87-95European Commission on Economic and Financial Affairs, "Sweden and the Euro: AFactsheet,"http://ec.europa.eu/economy fmance/the euro/your country euro9164 en.htmHM Treasury, UK Membership in the Single Currency: An assessment of the fiveeconomic tests, June 2003 (246 pages).Lucrezia Reichlin and Giancarlo Corsetti, "Should the UK join the euro?" The Edge 11(November 2002): 22-25. A PDF file of the magazine is available at http://www.sais-jhu.edu/faculty/sandleris/IMT/Readings/R Reichlin ShouldUKjointheEuro.pdfButi, Marco and Vitor Gaspar, The First Ten Years of the Euro, VOX, December 2008.Frankel, Jeffrey, The Euro at ten: Why do effects on trade between members appearsmaller than historical estimates among smaller countries? Dec 2008The Single Market and the EuroPhilip Lane, "The Real Effects of Monetary Union," (2006) Journal of EconomicPerspectives 20(4): 47-66.Frankel, Jeffrey, "The Estimated Effects of the Euro on Trade: Why Are They BelowHistorical Effects of Monetary Unions Among Smaller Countries?" NBER working paper14542, December 2008Buiter, Willem, "Why the United Kingdom Should Join the Eurozone," forthcomingInternational Finance 2008 (Also at NBER.)Tenreyro, Silvana, "Currency Unions in Prospect and Retrospect," manuscript, London School ofEconomics and Political Science, October 2009HOUSE OVERSIGHT 0194032. The US has significant risk (30% or greater) of experiencing pronounced Japan-like symptoms over the next 5-10 years: especially much lower medium term growththan before the crisis, soaring budget deficits, more frequent than usual recessions.Giannetti, Mariassunta and Andrei Simonov (2009). "On the real effects of bank bailouts:Micro-Evidence from Japan," EFA 2009 Bergen Meetings, June.Mariassunta Giannetti Andrei Simonov, The real effects of bank bailouts: Evidence fromJapan, Voxeu http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/4011Keiichiro Kobayashi, The G20's Blind Spot: President Obama must squarely face the badasset problem, March 26, 2009Hoshi, Takeo and Anil K. Kashyap, 2008, "Will the U.S. Bank Recapitalization Succeed?Lessons from Japan", NBER Working Paper 14401.Adam Posen, "Seven Reasons the US Today is Not Like Japan 15 Years Ago," Institutefor International Economics, September, 2008 http://www.iie.com/realtime/?p=20Maurice Obstfeld, "Time of Troubles: The Yen and Japan's Economy, 1985-2008"NBER Working paper 14816, March 20093. The G-20 is right to focus on containing global (current account) imbalances towell below their pre-crisis levels (say to roughly half or less within four years). USmust achieve higher national savings rate, if necessary substantially strengtheningfinancial regulation and oversight. China must allow its exchange rate tosignificantly appreciate over time, and redirect production towards domesticdemand instead of exports.Obsteld, Maurice and Kenneth Rogoff, "Global Imbalances and the Financial Crisis:Products of Common Causes," Harvard University, October 13, 2009.Cooper, Richard, "Global Imbalances: Globalization, Demography, and Sustainability,"Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2008, Issue 3, 93-112.Michael P. Dooley, David Folkerts-Landau, Peter Garber, "The Revived Bretton WoodsSystem: The Effects of Periphery Intervention and Reserve Management on Interest Rates& Exchange Rates in Center Countries," NBER Working Paper 10332, March 2004.Michael P. Dooley, David Folkerts-Landau, Peter Garber, "An Essay on the RevivedBretton Woods System," NBER Working Paper 9971, September 2003.HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019404Prasad, Eswar and Raghu Rajan, "A Pragmatic Approach to Capital AccountLiberalization," working paper, Cornell University, 2008Goldstein, Morris, "A (Lack of) Progress Report on China's Exchange Rate Policies,"Working Paper 07-5, Peterson Institute, June 2007.Policy Brief 07-4: Global Imbalances: Time for Action, Peterson Institute for InternationalEconomics.Lardy, Nicholas R., China: Toward a Consumption-Driven Growth Path, Policy Brief 06-6, Peterson Institute, October 2006.Goldstein, Morris, and Nicholas Lardy, Debating China's Exchange Rate Policy,Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2008 (This book has an excellentcollection of topical articles) (Also available in hard copy at Harvard libraries.)Cline, William, and John Williamson, "Equilibrium exchange rates," Voxeu, April 2009.http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3666HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019405