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content/b1.md

@@ -18,14 +18,13 @@ disableAnchoredHeadings: false
 
 ---
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 I'm currently working on a book about slackish business cycles: economic fluctuations seen through the prism of economic slack. I'll post new chapters of the book here as they are written. This is preliminary material, but I opted to share it nevertheless to elicit comments and start a conversation with interested readers. The material might also be helpful to students and researchers who are interested in similar topics.
 
-If you have comments or suggestions about the material, would like to discuss parts of the book, or simply discover typos, please [email me](mailto:pascal.michaillat@gmail.com). If you are a publisher and might be interested in publishing the book, please 
-[do email as well](mailto:pascal.michaillat@gmail.com).
+If you have comments or suggestions about the material, would like to discuss parts of the book, or simply discover typos, please [do email me](mailto:pascal.michaillat@gmail.com).
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Part A. Introduction
 
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ The main take-away from the course is that business cycles are essentially fluct
 
 <!-- + Chapter 1. Overview -->
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Part B. Data on slack
 
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@ The main take-away from the course is that business cycles are essentially fluct
 <!-- + Chapter 2. Existence of slack
 + Chapter 3. Fluctuations in slack -->
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Part C. Slackish markets
 
@@ -65,7 +64,7 @@ The matching model requires to specify price norms. Theoretically, there are man
 + Chapter 12.
 + Chapter 13. --> 
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Part D. Slackish economy
 
@@ -83,7 +82,7 @@ An advantage of moving to a dynamic environment is that interest rates appear in
 + Chapter 21.
 + Chapter 22. -->
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Part E. Stabilizing slackish cycles
 
@@ -103,6 +102,6 @@ Once monetary policy reaches the zero lower bound, however, it becomes impotent,
 + Chapter 28.
 + Chapter 29. -->
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Part F. Conclusion

content/courses/c1.md

@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ These models are extremely helpful to design effective policies to tackle unempl
 + [Winkelmann, Winkelmann (1998)](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2555127) – This paper uses panel data to show that unemployment causes unhappiness (and not the other way around).  It finds that unemployment significantly reduces life satisfaction, and that the non-pecuniary cost of unemployment is much larger than the pecuniary cost.
 + [Borgschulte, Martorell (2018)](https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20160257) – This paper provides revealed-preference estimates of the cost of unemployment. It finds that unemployment is indeed very costly.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Labor market facts and matching function
 
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ This section reviews basic facts about the labor market and unemployment in the
 + [Quiz on matching function](/v6.pdf)
 + [Problem set on matching function](/v1.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Matching model of the labor market
 
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ This section introduces the matching model of the labor market. This is the mode
 
 + [Quiz on matching model of the labor market](/v7.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Wage functions
 
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ This section discuss the labor market institutions that determine wages—such a
 
 + [Quiz on wage functions](/v8.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Unemployment fluctuations
 
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ This section discusses unemployment fluctuations in the matching model. We first
 + [Quiz on unemployment fluctuations](/v9.pdf)
 + [Problem set on matching model of the labor market, wage functions, and unemployment fluctuations](/v2.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Frictional and rationing unemployment
 
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ Technically, typical matching models do not feature job rationing because their
 
 + [Quiz on frictional and rationing unemployment](/v10.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Efficient unemployment and unemployment gap
 
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ The section finally shows that in the United States, the unemployment gap is gen
 + [Quiz on efficient unemployment and unemployment gap](/v11.pdf)
 + [Problem set on frictional, rationing, and efficient unemployment](/v3.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Labor-demand policies
 
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ Over the business cycle, fluctuations in labor demand generate fluctuations in u
 
 + [Quiz on labor-demand policies](/v12.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Unemployment insurance
 

content/courses/c2.md

@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ The course is centered around formal modeling, but it also presents evidence sup
 + [Winkelmann, Winkelmann (1998)](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2555127) – This paper uses panel data to show that unemployment causes unhappiness (and not the other way around).  It finds that unemployment significantly reduces life satisfaction, and that the non-pecuniary cost of unemployment is much larger than the pecuniary cost.
 + [Borgschulte, Martorell (2018)](https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20160257) – This paper provides revealed-preference estimates of the cost of unemployment. It finds that unemployment is indeed very costly.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Overview of business-cycle models
 
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ Modern business-cycle models—both Real Business-Cycle model New Keynesian mode
 + [Cooley, Prescott (1995)](https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv14163jx.7) – This paper reviews facts about business cycles and explains how Real Business-Cycle models were developed from the neoclassical growth model.
 + [Gali (2018)](https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.32.3.87) – This survey reviews the New Keynesian literature.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Prevalence of slack and matching function
 
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ The business-cycle model developed in this course differs from canonical busines
 + [Stevens (2007)](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4541993) – This paper generates a Cobb-Douglas matching function from a Poisson queuing process.
 + [Montgomery (1991)](https://doi.org/10.2307/2937911) – This paper generates an aggregate matching function from wage competition between firms. 
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Basic model of slack
 
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ This section develops a basic macroeconomic model of slack. The model is static.
 + [Huo, Rios-Rull (2020)](https://doi.org/10.1257/mac.20180290) – This paper shows that in New Keynesian models with sticky wages, workers are required to work against their will 15–30 percent of the time. 
 + [Gourio, Rudanko (2014)](https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdu007) – This paper develops a dynamic matching model of the product market. Prices are set through competitive search.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Model of slack with income and wealth inequality
 
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ This section introduces income and wealth inequality in the basic model of slack
 
 + [Jones (2015)](https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.29.1.29) – This paper reviews key facts about income and wealth inequality. It then relates the facts to macroeconomics theory via the Pareto distribution.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Discussion of the solution concept
 
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ This section provides additional discussions of the solution concept used in the
 
 + [Kreps (1990, chapters 2–3)](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/game-theory-and-economic-modelling-9780198283812) – This book reviews basic concepts of game theory and describe how to they can be applied to economic modelling. It includes a wonderful discussion of the concept of equilibrium.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Price and wage rigidities
 
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ This section reviews evidence from microdata and ethnographic surveys. The evide
 + [Fabiani, Druant, Hernando, Kwapil, Landau, Loupias, Martins, Matha, Sabbatini, Stahl, Stokman (2006)](https://www.ijcb.org/journal/ijcb06q3a1.htm) – This paper provides survey evidence of price rigidity. It also documents that firms do not change prices more often by fear of antagonizing customers.
 + [Eyster, Madarasz, Michaillat (2021)](/8/) – Empirically, it seems that pricing norms are shaped by fairness considerations. This paper examines the possible origins of such norms. It develops a model of pricing in which buyers care about the fairness of markups, and firms take these concerns into account when setting prices. The model yields price rigidity and realistic Phillips curves.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Model of slack with labor and product markets
 
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ Moreover, the comovements between output, employment, product-market tightness,
 + [Diamond (2011)](https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.101.4.1045) – In this Nobel lecture, Peter Diamond discusses the applications of the matching framework to the product market and other markets.
 + [Wasmer, Weil (2004)](https://doi.org/10.1257/0002828042002525) – This paper develops a model of slack with labor and financial markets—each organized around a matching function. 
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Dynamic model of slack
 
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ An advantage of moving to a dynamic environment is that interest rates appear in
 + [Basu, Fernald, Kimball (2006)](https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.96.5.1418) – This paper shows that in the United States, employment falls when technology improves. The same occurs in the dynamic model of slack.
 + [Blanchard, Gali (2007)](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4616.2007.00015.x) – This paper introduces the concept of divine coincidence and examines when it might and might not hold.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Social welfare, efficiency, and inefficiency
 
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ Finally, the section applies the formula to the US economy. In general the US ec
 + [Hosios (1990)](https://doi.org/10.2307/2297382) – This paper shows that in a matching model, unemployment is efficient when workers' bargaining power equals the elasticity of the matching function with respect to unemployment.
 + [Moen (1997)](https://doi.org/10.1086/262077) – This paper shows that in a matching model, unemployment is efficient when search is directed instead of random. With directed search, firms post wages and workers decide where to apply based on the wage and probability to get the job at each firm. 
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Optimal monetary policy over the business cycle
 
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ In fact, given such optimality criterion, we can develop a simple formula for op
 + [Stock, Watson (2001)](https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.15.4.101) – This paper assesses the effect of monetary policy on unemployment using VARs.
 + [Ramey (2016)](https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.hesmac.2016.03.003) – This paper summarizes the effects of macroeconomic shocks (including monetary-policy and fiscal-policy shocks) on key macroeconomic variables (including unemployment).
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Optimal government spending over the business cycle
 

content/courses/c3.md

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ disableAnchoredHeadings: false
 
 This course covers basic mathematical methods to study dynamical systems, in discrete time and in continuous time. Dynamical systems are systems that involve more than one time-period; they are prevalent in macroeconomics. We first discuss dynamic programming, which is a method to solve dynamic optimization problems in discrete time. We then turn to optimal control, which is a method to solve dynamic optimization problems in continuous time. Finally, we show how to solve differential equations, which are used to describe continuous-time dynamical systems.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Dynamic programming
 
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ This section also shows that optimizing via dynamic programming yields the same
 + [Problem set](/x4.pdf)
 + Reference: [Acemoglu (2008, chapter 6)](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691132921/introduction-to-modern-economic-growth)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Optimal control
 
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ This section studies optimal control, which is a method to solve dynamic optimiz
 + [Problem set](/x5.pdf)
 + Reference: [Acemoglu (2008, chapter 7)](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691132921/introduction-to-modern-economic-growth)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Differential equations
 
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ This third section introduces differential equations, which are used to describe
 + [Problem set](/x6.pdf)
 + Reference: [Hirsch, Smale, Devaney (2013, chapters 1–6)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123820105/differential-equations-dynamical-systems-and-an-introduction-to-chaos)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Conclusion
 

content/courses/c4.md

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ This course explores core topics in macroeconomics, including national statistic
 
 + [Akerlof (2002)](https://doi.org/10.1257/00028280260136192) – This essay discusses macroeconomic models and their assumptions, and it isolates six macroeconomic phenomena that macroeconomic models should be able to explain.
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Macroeconomic concepts
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ This section introduces key macroeconomic concepts: gross domestic product (GDP)
 + [Quiz on macroeconomic concepts](/y35.pdf)
 + [Problem set on macroeconomic concepts](/y30.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## IS-LM model of business cycles
 
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ This section presents the IS-LM model. Its goal is to explain the fluctuations o
 + [Quiz on IS-LM model of business cycles](/y36.pdf)
 + [Problem set on IS-LM model of business cycles](/y31.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Matching model of unemployment
 
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ The IS-LM model does not feature unemployment, which is problematic because high
 + [Quiz on matching model of unemployment](/y37.pdf)
 + [Problem set on matching model of unemployment](/y32.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Models of inflation
 
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ This section introduces the Phillips curve and discusses fluctuations in inflati
 
 + [Quiz on models of inflation](/y38.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Malthusian model of growth
 
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ Moving away from short-run, business-cycle fluctuations, this section turns to l
 + [Quiz on Malthusian model of growth](/y39.pdf)
 + [Problem set on Malthusian model of growth](/y33.pdf)
 
----
+<div class="thinline"></div>
 
 ## Solowian model of growth