Registration will open on February 16, 2026

Tools for Macroeconomists

2026

Background

"Tools for Macroeconomists" was started in 2010 by Wouter J. den Haan. Initially, Wouter ran the course on his own, but in 2014 he brought us (Pontus Rendahl and Petr Sedlacek) into the mix. Over the next ten years, the three of us taught more than 900 students who rated the course with an average evaluation of 4.9 out 5.

After 13 years of hard work, Wouter decided to retire from the summer school in 2023. This was a big loss. Wouter is a phenomenal teacher, highly appreciated by students a colleagues alike. However, Wouter gave us the blessing to continue with the summer school if we chose to do so. We both felt that the courses fill an important gap in some PhD programs and we, therefore, ran the summer school again in 2024.

We made a number of changes -- both to the setup and to the content -- and the course was incredibly successful with about 100 participants, spread over two weeks. In 2025, the course ran again with higher student demand than ever. Thus, without further ado, we are happy to announce that

Tools for Macroeconomists will run again in 2026

*** Note: This is a fully online course ***

Course Description

The Essentials: This graduate-level course teaches the key building blocks of solving, analyzing and estimating structural macroeconomic models. Students obtain detailed theoretical and practical knowledge of linearization techniques, the Kalman filter, the basics of (Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian) estimation as well as an introduction into non-linear solution of macroeconomic models. Throughout the course, students will be taught how to use Dynare and also how to write their own Matlab programs to solve and analyze models. Importantly, the course also focuses on practical problems that researchers run into when using these techniques.

Advanced Tools: The second graduate-level course focusses on three main topics: 1, Nonlinear solution methods, making use of nonlinear equation solvers (such as Newton's method) and functional approximation, with an emphasis on occassionally binding constraints (eg. borrowing constraints); 2, Heterogenous agents models (the Bewley-Hugget-Aiyagari framework, and its descendants); 3, methods in continuous time. This courses uses Matlab throughout, and is intended for students that have either taken "The Essentials", or students with sufficiently sophisticated background in economics AND numerical methods (ie effectively knowing the material in Essentials).

Course Structure

As in previous years, our courses provide a combination of lectures (~2h/day) and hands-on computer sessions (3h/day). Therefore, each course offers at least 25 contact hours. Read more about the course structure here.

New since 2024:

In 2024 we added several new elements. First, we have rearranged the topics to follow a more unified, streamlined, format. We believe this will enhance the stringency of the course, and provide a more natural transition across topics. Second, lectures will be supplemented with pre-recorded video tutorials. Third, students will also be able to interact with lecturers and each other during dedicated office hours, social events and a research workshop: read about these brand new features here. All elements will be online. View the time table here.

Key Dates

As in previous years, Tools for Macroeconomists will run in the “summer” break:

The Essentials: August 3-7, 2026

Advanced Tools: August 10-14, 2026

Research workshop: August 15, 2026

Price

One of the main distinguishing features of Tools for Macroeconomists was Wouter’s desire to provide affordable courses. In the past, this had led to several changes in institutional umbrellas. Eventually, the only way to keep fees unchanged for over a decade was for the three of us to take on the administrative burden and entrepreneurial risk and run the summer school completely on our own.

This year will be no different and we are committed to providing highly competitive fees:

- Students: € 575/course

- Academic staff: € 750/course

- Professionals: € 1,200/course

Registration

To register, following the instructions here (opening on February 16).

Email toolsformacro@gmail.com for questions

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