Jfq/07/09/01/outline

Outline of the course

GRA 1330/GRA 6604

Applied macroeconomics – monetary policy

Autumn 2001

Thursday 1300-1545

BI Sandvika

Auditorium 2

Practical information

Jan F. Qvigstad will normally be at Handelshøyskolen BI on Thursdays. The rest of the week he will be in Norges Bank and can be contacted at mailto:. Jan F. Qvigstad’s home page is http://finance.bi.no/~qvigstad/.

Jan F. Qvigstad is responsible for the course. Guest lecturers are invited. Jan F. Qvigstad will be present at all lectures except 4 October and 15 November.

In order to register as a course participant and to receive course material, the students should e-mail mailto:. After each lecture I shall e-mail you the course material.

Each lecture consists of three parts:

§  Lecture based on the compulsory syllabus and on the advised reading.

§  Case studies (see hand out)

§  Market analysis. (see hand out)

Active participation in the course is a prerequisite. It is compulsory to take part in the group presentations of

§  the case studies

§  or the market analysis.

Syllabus

Compulsory:

·  Burda & Wyplosz. Macroeconomics. Second Edition. Oxford University Press. 1997. [B&W]. Part of this book (chapters 1-13, except 5 and 7) has already been the syllabus for SIV 3201. It is advised to reread these chapters. For this course in Applied Macroeconomics chapters 18-19 are added.

·  The lectures.

Advised reading:

·  Papers on Applied Macroeconomics. Jan Fredrik Qvigstad. September 2001. [PAM]

Lecture 1. Introduction.

20 September

Jan Fredrik Qvigstad

§  Practical information

§  Motivation for the course

§  Example of a case study: What will happen if we increase the spending of the oil money

§  Example of market analysis (what happened last week; what is like to happen next week; examples from First, DnB, Gjensidig Nor etc.)

Lecture 2. Inflation targeting. Theory

27 September

Guest lecturer Øistein Røisland

§  Lecture on Inflation targeting.

Advised reading:

1.  Apel, M., M. Nessén, U. Söderström and A. Vredin, ”Different ways of conducting inflation targeting - theory and practice”, Quarterly Review 1999:4, Riksbanken (PAM)

2.  Mishkin, F. “International Experiences with Different Monetary Policy Regimes”. WP 6965, NBER Working Paper Series (PAM)

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

Lecture 3. Inflation targeting in Norway

4 October

Guest lecturer Jon Nicolaisen

§  Lecture on inflation targeting in Norway

Advised reading:

1.  Gjedrem, S. “Inflation target - how interest rates are set”, Aftenposten, 29 May 2001. (PAM)

2.  Gjedrem, S. ”The krone and the interest rate”, Dagens Næringsliv, 6 July 2001. (PAM)

3.  Gjedrem, S. ”Monetary policy, forecasts and market communication”, 07 June 2001, The Norwegian School of Management’s Centre for Monetary Economics (PAM)

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

Lecture 4. Monetary Policy in Euroland

11 October

Guest lecturer Anne Berit Christiansen

§  Lecture on monetary policy in Euroland

Advised reading:

1.  “The stability-oriented monetary policy strategy of the Eurosystem”. ECB Monthly Bulletin. January 1999. Pp39-50. (PAM)

2.  Alesina, Blanchard, Gali, Giavazzi and Uhlig: “Defining a macroeconomic framework for the Euro area”, monitoring the European Central Bank, CEPR , executive summary, chapter 3, 4 and 5. (PAM)

3.  Duisenberg: “What exactly is the responsibility of central banks of large economic areas in the current slowdown of the world economy?”, http://www.ecb.int (PAM)

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

Lecture 5. Monetary policy in USA

18 October

Guest lecturer Kåre Haglund

§  Lecture on monetary policy in USA

Advised reading:

1.  The Federal Reserve System – Purposes and Functions.

Chapter 1: Overview of the Federal Reserve System, page 1-3 (to Structure of the System), chapter 2: Monetary Policy and the Economy. See: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pf/pdf/frspurp.pdf (PAM)

2.  Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan. Federal Reserve Board’s semiannual monetary policy report to the Congress. July 18, 2000. See: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2001/july/testimony.htm (PAM)

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

Lecture 6. Macroeconomics

25 October

Jan Fredrik Qvigstad

§  Lecture on the IS-LM model and uncovered and covered interest parity

Compulsory syllabus:

1.  B&W Chapters 10 and 11

2.  B&W Chapter 19.2

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

Lecture 7. The Data

1 November

Guest lecturer Kjetil Olsen

§  Lecture on National Accounts, short term indicators, core inflation

Compulsory syllabus:

1.  B&W: Chapters 1 and 2

Advised reading:

2.  Familiarise yourself with the following homepages: www.finans.dep.no, www.norges-bank.no, www.ssb.no

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

Lecture 8. Inflation forecasts

8 November

Guest lecturer Amund Holmsen

§  Lecture on inflation forecasting in Norway

Advised reading:

1.  Norges Bank Inflation report, see www.norges-bank.no

2.  Qvigstad, J. “Monetary Policy in Real Time”, Working paper ANO 2001/1, Norges Bank (PAM)

3.  Olsen, K. and F. Wulfsberg, “The role of assessments and judgement in the macroeconomic model RIMINI", Economic Bulletin 2/2001, Norges Bank (PAM)

4.  Jore, A. S., “Evaluation of Norges Bank’s projections for 1999”, Economic Bulletin 1/2001, Norges Bank (PAM)

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

Lecture 9. Price stability and financial stability

15 November. The lecture will be given in Norges Bank (The Press Centre) and not in auditorium 2 at BI/Sandvika[1]

Guest lecturer Arild Lund

§  Lecture on the interaction between price stability and financial stability

Advised reading:

1.  Schwartz, A. J. “Why financial stability depends on price stability” (PAM)

2.  Crockett, A. “Why is financial stability a goal of public policy”, Federal reserve Bank of Kansas City (PAM)

3.  Norges Bank Report on Financial Stability, see www.norges-bank.no

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

§  1415-1445 hrs. Director Knut Kjær: Presentation of the investment strategy of the Government’s Petroleum Fund

Lecture 10 Preparation for exam

22 November

Jan Fredrik Qvigstad

§  Lecture on

§  Highlights of the previous lectures

§  Exam 1999 and exam 2000 (See PAM)

§  Some good advice

§  Group presentation: Market analysis

§  Group presentation: Case study

2

[1] Students should enter Norges Bank via the main entrance from Bankplassen (see map at the end of this note). Meet in the main reception hall at 1245 hrs. Security requires a name list. I shall use the list of registered students for the course (the ”e-mail list”). The students that cannot meet should e-mail me a note two days in advance (Tuesday 13 November).