Our intensive graduate-level course provides a combination of lectures and hands-on computer sessions. In total, the course offers at least 22 contact hours.
*** All elements will be online ***
View the timetable here.
Each (~2h) lecture introduces participants to the topic of the day. The focus is on practical knowledge equipping students with tools necessary to develop and solve their own macroeconomic models with heterogeneous firms. Crucially, the aim is to understand the main facts and model building blocks, not just be able to run programs and generate output.
Each (3h) computer session allows participants to implement the techniques discussed in lectures. Carefully designed assignments are solved in small groups with the help of the lecturer and teaching assistants. This is a crucial part of the course as it forces participants to truly understand the inner workings of the models.
The assignments are based on pre-prepared Matlab code which includes the structure necessary for solving the assignment. However, the code leaves out the key computing steps. This way students do not waste effort on setting up the computer code, while at the same time being forced to put together the key elements necessary for implementing the given model.
At the end of the course, answers to all assignments are made available. Therefore, participants walk away with a portfolio of Matlab codes implementing all the discussed techniques and models.
A detailed course description can be found here.
The course is not for everyone. To get the most out of it, a certain level of knowledge is required. In particular, to be admitted to these courses, you must have taken graduate-level university courses in macroeconomics covering dynamic programming. In addition, you should have some coding experience, ideally with MATLAB. If you cannot document that you have the necessary background knowledge, your application will be rejected.
Our courses run online. Therefore, if you are accepted and enroll into a course, you will need:
access to Zoom to participate in lectures and computer sessions.
access to Matlab for computer sessions (some exercises require the optimization toolbox).
some elements will require Dynare. If you're new to Dynare, make sure to go through the tutorial and example code here (please make sure you are able to run Dynare code before the course starts).