PAUL JOHNSON

VeconLab Macro page

3/23/2019

Here.

I just like to keep advertising this one.

Behavioural economics is also useful in macroeconomics

3/21/2019

Here.

Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models are still dominant in mainstream macroeconomics, but they are only able to explain business cycle fluctuations as the result of exogenous shocks. This column uses concepts from behavioural economics to develop macroeconomic models with endogenous business cycle fluctuations. Application of the models highlights how the trade-off between output and inflation is moderated by the flexibility of the economy. The models further help to explain the international transmission of business cycle fluctuations

Paul De Grauwe,
Yuemei Ji

LSE

Quick start guide Moblab

3/18/2019

Macroeconomics Podcasts

3/18/2019

Here.

Best Macroeconomics podcasts we could find (Updated March 2019)

Reflections of a Textbook Author

3/16/2019

Here.

March 2019

In this essay I reflect on textbook writing after three decades participating in the activity. I address the following questions: What perspective should textbooks take? What is the best approach to teaching microeconomics? What is the best approach to teaching macroeconomics? How does the content of the introductory course evolve? How much material should textbooks include? Are textbooks too expensive? How is digital technology changing the market for textbooks? Who should become a textbook author?

From:

N. Gregory Mankiw
Harvard University

2018 Second Annual NABE Tech Economists Conference

3/15/2019

Here.

Amazon gets an edge with its secret squad of PhD economists

3/15/2019

Here.
A CNN Business story.

Research in Experimental Economics at ESSEC Business School

3/14/2019

Here.

Youtube video.

Professor of Economics Radu Vranceanu talks about the difference between economics and experimental economics.

Dan Ariely on Motivation

3/14/2019

Here.

A set of mini videos.

The History and Economics of Safe Assets

3/14/2019

Here.

Safe assets play a critical role in an(y) economy. A “safe asset” is an asset that is (almost always) valued at face value without expensive and prolonged analysis. That is, by design there is no benefit to producing (private) information about its value. And this is common knowledge. Consequently, agents need not fear adverse selection when buying or selling safe assets. Safe assets can easily be used to exchange for goods or services or to exchange for another asset. These short-term safe assets are money or money-like. A long-term safe asset can store value over time or be used as collateral. Much of human history can be written in terms of the search for and production of safe assets. But, the most prevalent, privatelyproduced short-term safe assets—bank debt, are subject to runs and this has important implications for macroeconomics and for monetary policy.

From:

Gary Gorton
Yale University

Ginny Choi and Diego Aycinena on Experimental Economics

3/14/2019

Here.

On this episode of the Hayek Program podcast, Hayek Program Senior Fellow Ginny Choi interviews Diego Aycinena on the use of experimental economics in research. Diego Aycinena discusses his work in the field, elaborates on how he uses social norms to inform his research project, and shows some intriguing results from that project. Later in the conversation, the pair converse about the lessons they learned in graduate school, and Diego Aycinena shares his experience in working with Vernon Smith.

Paul Romer: Ideas, Nonrivalry, and Endogenous Growth

3/2/2019

Here.

In 2018, Paul Romer and William Nordhaus shared the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Romer was recognized “for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis.” This essay reviews his prize-winning contributions. Romer, together with others, rejuvenated the field of economic growth. He developed the theory of endogenous technological change, in which the search for new ideas by profit-maximizing entrepreneurs and researchers is at the heart of economic growth. And, underlying this theory, he pinpointed that the nonrivalry of ideas is ultimately responsible for the rise in living standards over time.

From:

Charles I. Jones
Stanford GSB and NBER

How do bonus structures affect risk and effort choices? Insight from a lab experiment

3/2/2019

Here.

The bonus regulations were introduced based on the consensus amongst financial regulators that compensation practices were a contributing factor to the 2008-9 financial crisis. But little is known about how they affect behaviour in practice. So we conducted a lab experiment to examine how different bonus structures affect individuals’ risk and effort choices. We find that restrictions on bonuses, such as a bonus cap, can incentivise people to take less risk. But their risk-mitigating effects weaken or disappear once bonus payment is made conditional on hitting a high performance target. We also find some evidence that bonus cap discourages effort to search for better projects.

From:
Qun Harris, Analise Mercieca, Emma Soane and Misa Tanaka
Bank Underground is a blog for Bank of England staff to share views that challenge – or support – prevailing policy orthodoxies. The views expressed here are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the Bank of England or its policy committees.

On the external validity of experimental inflation forecasts: A comparison with five categories of field expectations

2/25/2019

Here.

Establishing the external validity of laboratory experiments in terms of inflation forecasts is crucial for policy initiatives to be valid outside the laboratory. Our contribution is to document whether different measures of inflation expectations based on various categories of agents (participants to experiments, households, industry forecasters, professional forecasters, financial market participants and central bankers) share common patterns by analyzing: the forecasting performances of these different categories of data; the information rigidities to which they are subject; the determination of expectations. Overall, the different categories of forecasts exhibit common features: forecast errors are comparably large and autocorrelated, forecast errors and forecast revisions are predictable from past information, which suggests the presence of information frictions. Finally, the standard lagged inflation determinant of inflation expectations is robust to the data sets. There is nevertheless some heterogeneity among the six different sets. If experimental forecasts are relatively comparable to survey and financial market data, central bank forecasts seem to be superior.

From:

Camille Cornand Univ Lyon, CNRS, GATE Email Address: cornand@gate.cnrs.fr Paul Hubert OFCE, Sciences Po, Paris* Email Address: paul.hubert@sciencespo.fr

Centrality and Cooperation in Networks

2/16/2019

Here.

We investigate the effects of centrality on cooperation in groups. Players with centrality keep a group together by having a pivotal position in a network. In some of our experimental treatments, players can vote to exclude others and prevent them from further participation in the group. We find that, in the presence of exclusion, central players contribute significantly less than others, and that this is tolerated by those others. Because of this tolerance, teams with centrality manage to maintain high levels of cooperation.

From:

Boris van Leeuwen
Abhijit Ramalingam
David Rojo Arjona
Arthur Schram

Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg University
Department of Economics, Walker College of Business, Appalachian State University,
Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University
Department of Economics, EUI (Florence) and CREED, University of Amsterdam

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Only Paul Could Go To Changchun

Here.A CNN Business story.

Here.Youtube video.Professor of Economics Radu Vranceanu talks about the difference between economics and experimental economics.

Here.A set of mini videos.

Here.
A CNN Business story.

Here.

Youtube video.

Professor of Economics Radu Vranceanu talks about the difference between economics and experimental economics.

Here.

A set of mini videos.