Teaching

(Paul) Samuelson was the Julia Child of economics, somehow teaching you the basics and giving you the feeling of becoming an insider in a complex culture all at the same time.

—Robert Lucas

The following are the classes I have taught at Boston University. Feel free to contact me about syllabus and teaching evaluations.

CAS EC 542 - Money, Banking, and Financial Markets

This is a graduate level research course designed for those who want to work in applied areas in central banks, private financial institutions or international organizations in the area of money and banking. In their jobs, these individuals must work to understand applied problems of importance to central banks, read and apply current research in the areas related to analysis of money and banking problems (macroeconomics, monetary economics, financial markets and applied econometrics), and produce papers which are both technically correct and understandable by a policymaker who is not necessarily trained in economics. The topics covered in this course vary year to year. During last term, the course has covered basic important questions regarding the financial system, monetary policy, corporate finance, asset prices, and how their interplay affects firms and households; some aspects of the recent financial crisis, the reaction of central banks to the crisis, and how things look today. Main study resources were Tirole's The Theory Corporate Finance and lecture notes.

CAS EC 502 - Macroeconomics

This course explores theoretical and empirical issues in macroeconomics. The major topics covered are economic growth, consumption and savings, investment and asset prices, business cycle fluctuations, inflation, unemployment, and monetary and fiscal policy. We also discuss the recent financial crisis. The class emphasizes the relation between theory and data. During the lectures, we spend some time presenting theories, and then discussing how they relate to empirical observations. Moreover, some homework assignments consist of empirical problem sets where you have to analyze data in light of the theories.