MA course at the University of Bern.

Time: Monday, 12.15 – 14.00. Location: UniS, A027. Uni Bern’s official course page. TA: Remo Taudien.

This course covers macroeconomic theories of fiscal policy (including tax and debt policy) and the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy. Participants should be familiar with the material covered in the course Macroeconomics II. The course grade reflects the final exam grade. The classes follow selected chapters in the textbook Macroeconomic Analysis (MIT Press, 2019) and build on the material covered in the macro II course which follows the same text.

Main contents:

1. Concepts.
2. RA model with government spending and taxes.
3. Government debt in RA model.
4. Government debt and social security in OLG model.
5. Neutrality results.
6. Consolidated government budget constraint.
7. Fiscal effects on inflation. Game of chicken.
8. FTPL. Active and passive policies.
9. Tax smoothing.
10. Time consistent policy.
11. Sovereign debt.