LECTURES IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
Spring 2013  Tuesdays 12-14 in CSS 22.0.19
LECTURER: CHRISTIAN GROTH

Textbook:
Acemoglu: Introduction to Modern Economic Growth, Princeton University Press, 2009.

I very much welcome comments and suggestions of any kind relating to the course material, including the lecture notes and exercise problems. Complete list of the lecture notes 1-14 here. Some errata are here. The Class exercises are given by Niklas Brønager Thursdays 8-10 in CSS 25.01.53.

Date Topic Read                       Comments
        before        after
5/2 Introduction. Facts about growth and world income distribution. Terminology issues. Transition to continuous time.   Ch. 1-2, 5, and 24, but only these chapters, are available for download here. 5/2 14.30: Two pages in the previously available LN 1-2 were placed incorrectly. Now corrected. Slides from lecture  (not all in the textbook)
12/2 Solow model in continuous time.Types of neutral disembodied technological change. Comparative dynamics. Balanced growth theorems.   Small addition to LN 4 here. Afterthoughts
19/2 Balanced growth theorems continued. Growth accounting.      The last part of LN 4 (from §2.2 is left for self-tuition).

Afterthoughts
26/2 The dual approach to growth accounting. Speed of convergence (SOC) and Barro regressions. Technology differences across countries. Intro to "population breeds ideas".   The technical details about SOC and Barro regressions are not exam relevant. LN 5-6 in one file here. Afterthoughts
 
5/3 The end of the Malthusian regime. Proximate vs. fundamental determinants of differences in economic performance.     Slides from lecture Afterthoughts
12/3 Brush-up of the Ramsey model for a competitive economy.   Groth Ch. 9.4 (here without appendix) and Ch. 10 in separate files.
Errata		  
19/3   The social planner. Application to the climate change problem.     Correction concerning
g'-g. Follow-up on Arrow's argument.
26/3 No lecture.     See follow-ups to 19/3 and 26/2.
2/4 Brief brush-up of Diamond's OLG model. Human capital. Life-cycle approach. Human capital formation. Separation theorem.     Afterthoughts
9/4 Human wealth maximization vs. human capital formation. The Mincer equation vs. a production function for human capital. Human capital and catching-up. The simple AK model.      
16/4 The simple AK model (cont'd). Reduced-form AK model with human and physical capital. Learning by investing: Arrow vs. Romer.      
23/4 Learning by investing (cont'd).     Midterm papers were returned and the issues discussed. Inspired by one of the papers, I have corrected LN 5.
30/4 Empirics on learning. Weak and strong scale effects. Types of technological change. The lab-equipment model of horizontal innovations.   Remember external evaluation this week (Week 18). A new version of pp. 7-8 in LN 10 is here. 
A typo in LN 11, p. 19.
7/5 The lab-equipment model of horizontal innovations (cont'd). Social planner. The knowledge-spillover model: Romer's vs. Jones' version. Expanding consumer good varieties. Vertical innovations and creative destruction.   A Discussion Forum is available in Absalon.
Observe typo in LN 12, p. 4.
If you downloaded LN 13 before 7/5, p. 13 should be replaced by this new page 13. See also errata.		  
14/5 Last lecture: Natural resources and growth. General discussion of issues from the Discussion Forum in Absalon.     Typos in LN 14. Note that §3-4 in LN 14 deal with the question of technical feasibility of sustainable development, not how to implement it, if possible, by appropriate mechanisms.
      Answers to email questions of relevance for the exam.  
12/6 3-hours closed book exam.