Economic Growth

The course will introduce students to economic growth theories. We will study the major theoretical growth models and take them to the data. We will also overview the mathematical tools for dynamic optimization in continuous time. Finally, we will cover some topics on development and political economy of growth, if time permits. (Syllabus). 

Here are some useful links with the data: Penn World Tables, World Development Indicators, Angus Maddison's webpage (GDP estimates since 1 A.D.), Gapminder (nice graphs). 

The slides on some facts about economic growth can be found here. I also highly recommend that you read Oleg Zamulin's excellent lecture on economic growth. 

Problem sets:
  1. Problem set 1 (due March 21st). Excel file with the data can be downloaded here. The graph with the different savings rates in Solow model from Barro and Sala-i-Martin is here. 
  2. Problem set 2 (due April 7th). 
  3. Problem set 3 (due April 14th at 9 a.m.)
  4. Problem set 4 (due April 21st at 9 a.m.)