Master Seminar International Economics – Business Cycles, Fiscal Policy and Household Heterogeneity

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: In summer 2019, Prof. Jüßen is on sabbatical. This seminar (offered by research and teaching assistants) is only open to students who have already attended and succsesfully passed the module MWiWi 2.8 International Economics. When you attend MWiWi 2.8 International Economics in Summer 2019, you are not eligible for this seminar (a seminar will be offered in Winter 2019/20).

The successful completion of the complementary lecture and tutorial MWiWi 2.8 "International Economics" prior to this seminar is mandatory.

Course Information

The seminar builds upon the module ”International Economics” (MWiWi 2.8) which has to be completed prior to attending this seminar. The goal of this seminar is to get in touch with original scientific literature, i.e. publications in peer-reviewed journals. For this, a variety of topics is possible, related to the material of the ”International Economics” module (MWiWi 2.8). Both theoretical as well as empirical topics are welcome. Own data work or programming is possible but not required. Further details on the topics will be provided in the first seminar meeting (see below for a list of potential topics).

At the beginning of the lecture time, the seminar features an introduction to scientific writing where we will also clarify important rules and guidelines. Moreover, we offer an introduction to LaTeX which is a free-of-charge software that you can use to typeset your thesis and to create presentation slides. Building on the introductory meetings, students choose a topic, write a seminar thesis and present their results.

This seminar is not open to Ph.D. students.

Contents

Mini Lectures on scientific writing:

• Formal aspects of the Thesis
• How do I find a topic?
• Writing style and Do's and Don'ts
• How do I find literature and cite?
• Introduction to LaTeX

There will be further Mini Lectures (depending on the selection of topics) to help students to better understand the literature. In these Mini Lectures, we will build the bridge between lecture material (slides and textbooks) and original scientific literature (journal articles).

Examples for possible topics:

• Intertemporal Trade: Applications and Extensions
• Intertemporal Solvency and Creditworthiness
• Exchange Rate Regimes, Crises, and the International Financial Architecture
• Breaking Free of the Triple Coincidence in International Finance
• Global Liquidity and Cross-Border Bank Flows
• The Global Financial Cycle
• Quantitative Analysis of Sovereign Default
• Geographic Cross-Sectional Fiscal Spending Multipliers
• Are Government Spending Multipliers Greater During Periods of Slack?
• Macroeconomic Shocks and Their Propagation
• Fiscal Stimulus in a Monetary Union
• Industry Evidence on the Effects of Government Spending

Learning Outcomes

Students have learned to understand and cope with state-of-the-art original scientific literature (journal articles). Students have applied major theoretical and empirical concepts in modern quantitative economics. Students have learned to write scientific documents that follow the style and outline of modern academic journal articles. Depending on the topic, students have replicated key results of the literature using numerical or statistical software packages, such as Stata or Matlab. Depending on the topic, students have performed own empirical analyses.

Course Prerequisites

MWiWi 2.8: International Economics prior to attending this seminar.

Time and Venue

Tuesday, 2-6 p.m., M.14.25

Date of first meeting

tba

Enrollment

To participate in this seminar, write an email to gravert@wiwi.uni-wuppertal.de and indicate whether (and when) you have attended the module "International Economics" (MWiWi 2.8).

The deadline for applying to this seminar is March 11, 2019.