Welcome to the website of the Econ 4741H course! Here you'll find class materials and handouts, as
well as news and other relevant information. This page will be updated frequently, so make sure you
check it from time to time! Feel free to contact me if there's something here which does not
work.
Class information
Lecture: T,Th, 2:30 - 3:45 P.M., BlegH 215 Office: Heller Hall 1175 Office phone: (612) 624 6084 Office hours: W 10:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M., or by appointment E-mail: msolis@umn.edu
News
NEWS, May 19. Just for completeness, here are both the Final exam
and its Answer key. Grades should be sent to the Department later today.
I've really enjoyed this class. Thanks!
NEWS, May 12. It's 2:30 P.M., and here's the Answer key
for Problem set 5. Assignments received after this time will not receive credit.
NEWS, May 6. A lot of (last-minute) things:
Here's Handout 3 on using the Hodrick-Prescott code in
Problem set 5. Also, the data files which I use are here. Don't forget
to fix my graphs!
Speaking of Problem set 5, the first draft had a small (but obvious) typo in equations
(1) and (3) in Problem 2: A beta that should have been there was not. Thanks to Anna for
pointing this out.
Reading report 5 is due Thursday's class. Problem set 5 can be turned in Thursday (graded
over 120 points) or Monday morning (graded over 100 points).
Thursday we'll take the last minutes of the lecture for the end-of-semester evaluations.
Don't miss them!
Tuesday, May 6: Anthony, Jedeon, and Jordan will present Bergoeing, Kehoe, Kehoe, and
Soto's (2002), "A decade lost and found: Mexico and Chile in the 1980s," Review of Economic
Dynamics 5(1).
Thursday, May 8: Ben, Evan, Robert, and Sam will present Chari, Kehoe, and McGrattan's (2007),
"Business cycle accounting," Econometrica 75(3).
NEWS, Apr 22. By some bizarre time paradox, I've managed to finish the notes for Lecture 15 before completing the notes for Lecture 14. I want to shoot the
shooting algorithm. As soon as I fix them I'll post them here.
NEWS, Apr 18. This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but it wasn't. Here are the notes
from Lecture 13.
NEWS, Apr 15. Some more new content! First, here's Reading report
4, with due date Tuesday, April 22. Also, here's the Excel file
I'll be using today to explain the shooting algorithm. Most likely it won't make sense until
after class. (Yes, I know I'm lagging behind in typing up the lecture notes. They will
be there. I promise.)
NEWS, Apr 10. Finally, original content!
Here's Reading report 3 for your enjoyment. The due date is
Tuesday, April 15.
Here's Problem set 4. The due date is Thursday, April 17.
Here are the guidelines for the group presentation.
NEWS, Apr 7. Better late than never: Here are the notes from
Lecture 12.
NEWS, Mar 27. Here are the notes from Lecture 11. Remember that
the midterm is now oficially set for Thursday, April 3. It will cover material up to Lecture 10.
NEWS, Mar 26. Here's the Answer key for Problem set 3.
NEWS, Mar 16. Fixed a typo in Example 4.2 in Lecture 7. Be
sure to update your printouts!
NEWS, Mar 11. Getting ready for Spring break? Here are the notes from
Lecture 10 so you can pass the time until Friday comes.
NEWS, Mar 6. Late, but here are the notes from Lecture 9.
As a way to compensate for my late delivery, I'm attaching Problem set 3,
which I hope you'll find particularly entertaining. The due date is Thursday, March 13.
NEWS, Mar 3. Here's the Answer key for Problem set 2.
NEWS, Feb 28. At last, I found the mistake in the Hessian program. The good news: My code
worked. The bad news: I was using the wrong formula. This means two things: First, that
the notes for Lecture 8 are ready to go. Second, that you may need
to print page 6 in Lecture 7. Also, the Matlab codes can be found here.
NEWS, Feb 26. As promised, here's Handout 2, which we will be
using in class today. If I'm lucky, I'll post Lecture 8 before 2:30 P.M. Stay tuned!
NEWS, Feb 19. I've prepared Handout 1, which provides a (very)
fundamental outline of linear algebra. This could be helpful when tackling some parts of
Lecture 7, which deals with numerical methods.
NEWS, Feb 14. Happy Valentine's day! While this may not be the present you're expecting,
it'll have to do for now. Here's Problem set 2, due Tuesday, February
26.
NEWS, Feb 13. Here's the Answer key for Problem set 1.
NEWS, Feb 12. I'm posting two things: The notes from Lecture 6,
and Reading report 2. The due date for Reading report 2 is Tuesday,
February 19.
NEWS, Feb 11. I've discovered an ugly typo in Lecture 5:
It is located in page 3, right in the equation following (2.5). My apologies for this!
NEWS, Feb 7. UPDATE to the UPDATE: I've added some new material to the notes in Lecture 5. You need only print pages 3 and 4. I'm still cleaning up the notes
from Lecture 6; I will post them as soon as they've passed quality check. Finally, I've decided
not to post either Reading report 2 or Problem set 2 until next Tuesday. Enjoy the weekend!
NEWS, Feb 5. Almost on time, here are the notes from
Lecture 4. UPDATE: I've also thrown in the notes from Lecture 5.
NEWS, Jan 29. I'm posting the notes from Lecture 2, and also,
here's Problem set 1 so you can start working on it. The due date for
Problem set 1 is Thursday, February 7, at the beginning of class.
NEWS, Jan 25. As promised, here's Reading report 1. The due
date is Thursday, January 31, at the beginning of class.
NEWS, Jan 23. One day late, but the class webpage is up and running! I've posted both
the Class syllabus and the first set of notes from Lecture 1.
Matlab codes
Yes, all the Matlab codes you need (and even some which we won't ever use) are
here.
