Category Teaching
Negative interest rates, hot potatoes, and banks
Let's start out very simple. The central bank issues banknotes, and those banknotes are the only type of money that people use, to buy and sell everything else. It really doesn't matter if people keep those banknotes in their pockets or if they keep them in a shoebox at the central bank with their name […]
Temporary vs permanent fiscal policy in a small open inflation targeting economy
Just a short note as a backgrounder for the current Canadian debate about fiscal policy. This is totally unoriginal boring textbook stuff (at least I hope it is, anyway). Prerequisite: intermediate macro (or special permission to skip to the results if you promise not to ask me daft questions about where they came from). The […]
The simple macroeconomics of monopsony power
If you loosen monetary policy in a standard macro model, you get an increase in output and employment in the short run, and an increase in the price level in the long run. That is not what happens if you assume monopsony power. The same loosening of monetary policy will cause a decrease of output […]
Minimalism and recessions
There's a fine line between minimalism and unfurnished. I'm trying to find where that line is. [This is a heavily revised version of an old post.] Simplicity and minimalism tend to go together, but they are not the same thing. A simple model is one that is easy to understand. Which is a good enough […]
Upward-sloping IS curves: simple version
My last post was not a success, judging by the (lack of) reader response (brave and smart John Handley aside). Too complicated. Let me make it simpler, and shorter. 1. Suppose, by magic, the capital stock increases by 10%. New machines just fall from the sky, like manna from heaven. And suppose the central bank […]
PPFs and Supply curves (why PPFs are bowed out and supply curves slope up)
This is a simple "teaching" post. As a public service, and because I'm a teacher. I am just trying the get the presentation right. [The bit at the end is harder, and I'm not sure I'm happy with it.] What determines the curvature of the Production Possibilities Frontier, and how is it related to the […]
Just a little bit of Macro First
I don't have any easy answers to the "Micro first" vs "Macro first" debate when teaching Introduction to Economics. But this is what I do, and it seems to work a bit. And I have probably taught Intro about 30 times in my life. That experience should count for something. 1. We (Carleton University) are […]
Questions for Money/Macro Historians of Thought about “doing nothing”
First I need a long Preamble, to try to explain better what my questions are, and why they matter. I was reading Simon Wren-Lewis' good post on the centrality of monetary (and fiscal) policy (as opposed to price flexibility) on how long recessions last. (As I have said before, "Is the macroeconomy self-correcting?" is a […]
Is it time to kill the traditional student presentation?
The traditional student presentation format – ten minutes of powerpoint, two minutes of questions – rarely works well. After three or four presentations, a good chunk of the audience zones out. Getting a good discussion going is hard – and there isn't time for an extended conversation anyways. Then there are the logistical challenges – […]
Some very basic non-Walrasian economics
If we had one central market, with a Walrasian auctioneer, where all goods are traded simultaneously for each other, none of this would matter. But we don't; so it does. Partial equilibrium theorists don't need to know this stuff. People who believe prices are always at market-clearing levels don't need to know this stuff. Everyone […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments