Macroeconomics I - JEB114

• Title: Macroeconomics I
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Economic Studies (23-IES)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2015 to 2015
• Semester: winter
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/2, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 97 / 111 (110)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: prof. Roman Horváth, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): prof. Roman Horváth, Ph.D.; Mgr. Nikoloz Kudashvili, Ph.D.; Mgr. Jan Mareš, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students
• Incompatibility : JEB009
• Pre-requisite : JEB102
• Interchangeability : JEB009
• Is incompatible with: JEB009
• Is pre-requisite for: JEB115
• Is interchangeable with: JEB009

Annotation

IMPORTANT:

MACRO I SEMINARS START IN THE SECOND WEEK OF THE SEMESTER => NO SEMINARS THIS MONDAY AND THURSDAY.

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Feel free to contact Martin Janíčko at [e-mail] or Kamil Kovář at [e-mail] if you have any questions.

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MIDTERM: The midterm exam will most likely be held on Monday, November 10, at 6:30 pm in room O109 (the same room in which the lectures are held). No need to register but please bring your ID card with you.

The content of the exam will include the first six lectures and five seminars and the exam itself should last approximately 60 minutes. There will be only one term.

For those who are unable to attend for medical reasons and who provide a doctor's note to prove it, the weight of the Final Exam will be adjusted accordingly (to 80 per cent of the total).

Do let us know in case you have any questions.

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This course offers an in-depth exploration of macroeconomic theory and its application to contemporary macroeconomic issues. Structured around key macroeconomic questions, the course seeks to provide students with a robust understanding of the forces shaping national and global economies. Key topics include:

• What is the system of national accounts about? Why measurements matter? Which national accounts indicators and aggregates are used for which purposes?
• Economic Divergence: Why do significant disparities in wealth persist across countries? What drives economic growth in some nations while others remain trapped in poverty?
• Labor Market Dynamics: Why is unemployment persistent in certain economies, and what factors prevent full employment? How do wages and labor market policies affect employment levels?
• Inflation: What are the root causes of inflation? How should inflation be managed, and what are the trade-offs between inflation control and other macroeconomic objectives?
• What is the theory behind the aggregate supply? Why is the AS curve generally upward sloping? What is the difference between short term and long term?
• What are the main drivers behind household consumption? How stable consumption can be? How do we expect exogenous shocks to change it?
• What are the main drivers of fixed investment? What are the main balancing mechanisms of it? How volatile can investment be and why?

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Use of Generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude AI, and similar)

Allowed: Knowledge sourcing (finding refs, clarifying concepts, outlining ideas, etc.).

Not allowed: AI-generated final text, figures, code, or clear solutions. Close paraphrasing AI output still counts as AI-written.

Exams: No AI or internet use on any exams.

Disclosure: Students will add an “AI Use Note” listing tools + purpose (e.g., “found datasets; clarified flow basics, discussion”).

Ownership: Students must be able to explain and reproduce all work without AI.

Integrity: Violations follow university policy (can lead to grade penalties up to failure).

Last update: Janíčko Martin, PhDr. Ing., Ph.D. (28.09.2025)

Aim of the course

Students will master the core ideas of macroeconomics and the tools to debate the forces that shape economies. From the drivers of inflation and the sources of economic growth to price stickiness and patterns in consumption and investment, the course equips students to analyse, and engage with, many challenges of today’s economy.

Last update: Janíčko Martin, PhDr. Ing., Ph.D. (21.09.2025)

Literature

Primary:

• Mankiw, N.G. (2016). Macroeconomics (9th Edition). Worth Publishers.
• Jones, C. I. (2020). Macroeconomics (5th Edition). W. W. Norton & Co.
• Dornbusch, R., Fischer, S., & Startz, R. (2011). Macroeconomics (11th Edition). The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Supplementary:

• Blanchard, O. (2021). Macroeconomics (8th Edition). Global Edition.

Papers (optional):

• Solow, Robert M. (1956). A contribution to the theory of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 70(1), 65–94. doi.org/10.2307/1884513.
• Cobb, Charles W., & Douglas, Paul H. (1928). A theory of production. American Economic Review, 18(1), 139–165.
• Mankiw, N. Gregory, Romer, David, & Weil, David N. (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 407–437. doi.org/10.2307/2118477.
• Romer, Paul M. (1990). Endogenous technological change. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5), S71–S102. doi.org/10.1086/261720.
• Aghion, Philippe, & Howitt, Peter. (1992). A model of growth through creative destruction. Econometrica, 60(2), 323–351. doi.org/10.2307/2950754.
• Jones, Charles I. (1995). R&D-based models of economic growth. Journal of Political Economy, 103(4), 759–784. doi.org/10.1086/262002.
• Hall, Robert E. (1978). Stochastic implications of the life cycle–permanent income hypothesis: Theory and evidence. Journal of Political Economy, 86(6), 971–987. doi.org/10.1086/260724.
• Friedman, Milton. (1957). A Theory of the Consumption Function. Princeton University Press.
• Campbell, John Y., & Mankiw, N. Gregory. (1989). Consumption, income, and interest rates: Reinterpreting the time series evidence. NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 4, 185–216.
• Jorgenson, Dale W. (1963). Capital theory and investment behavior. American Economic Review, 53(2), 247–259. doi.org/10.1257/aer.53.2.247.
• Tobin, James. (1969). A general equilibrium approach to monetary theory. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 1(1), 15–29.
• Hayashi, Fumio. (1982). Tobin’s marginal q and average q: A neoclassical interpretation. Econometrica, 50(1), 213–224.
• Phillips, A. W. (1958). The relation between unemployment and the rate of change of money wage rates in the United Kingdom, 1861–1957. Economica, 25(100), 283–299. doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.1958.tb00003.x.
• Friedman, Milton. (1968). The role of monetary policy. American Economic Review, 58(1), 1–17.
• Phelps, Edmund S. (1967). Phillips curves, expectations of inflation and optimal unemployment over time. Economica, 34(135), 254–281.
• Calvo, Guillermo A. (1983). Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework. Journal of Monetary Economics, 12(3), 383–398. doi.org/10.1016/0304-3932(83)90060-0.
• Mankiw, N. Gregory. (1985). Small menu costs and large business cycles: A macroeconomic model. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 100(2), 529–538.
• Mankiw, N. Gregory, & Reis, Ricardo. (2002). Sticky information versus sticky prices: A proposal to replace the New Keynesian Phillips curve. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4), 1295–1328.
• Diamond, Peter A., & Mirrlees, James A. (1971). Optimal taxation and public production I & II. American Economic Review, 61(1 & 3), 8–27 & 261–278.
• Mortensen, Dale T., & Pissarides, Christopher A. (1994). Job creation and job destruction in the theory of unemployment. Review of Economic Studies, 61(3), 397–415.

Last update: Janíčko Martin, PhDr. Ing., Ph.D. (21.09.2025)

Teaching methods

The lecture is accompanied by the seminars.

Lecture - Occurs every Thursday, 17:00 -18:20 (Room O109; Martin Janíčko and Kamil Kovář)

Seminar 1 - Monday, 8:00-9:20 (Room O314) (Tomáš Pokorný/Kumar Chandrakamal)
Seminar 2 - Thursday, 8:00-9:20  (Room O206) (Tomáš Pokorný/Kumar Chandrakamal)

Last update: Janíčko Martin, PhDr. Ing., Ph.D. (21.09.2025)

Syllabus

Academic year 2025-2026:

The first lecture of the first week takes place on October 2 (Thursday) at 5 pm (17:00).

 

1. The Science of Macroeconomics; Macro Data — Mankiw (9e), Chs. 1-2

2. Macroeconomic Aggregates in Detail — Mankiw (9e), Chs. 1-2

3. Production function and sources of income — Jones (5e), Ch. 4

4. Economic Growth I: Solow model: capital accumulation and steady state — Mankiw Ch.8 or Jones (5e), Ch. 5

5. Economic Growth II : Analyzing Solow growth model — Mankiw (9e), Ch. 8 or Jones (5e), Ch. 5

6. Economic Growth III: Technological progress, growth accounting — Mankiw (9e), Ch. 9

7. Growth extensions — Endogenous technological progress, institutions — Mankiw (9e), Ch. 9

8. Labour market (long run): job finding, natural rate, types of unemployment — Jones (5e), Ch. 7

9. Money and Inflation — Mankiw (9e), Ch. 4 and Jones (5e), Ch. 8

10. Aggregate Supply I: sticky prices/wages — Mankiw (9e), Ch. 13

11. Aggregate Supply II: Phillips curve — Jones (5e), Ch. 12

12. Consumption — Dornbusch–Fischer–Startz (11e), Ch. 13

13. Investment — Dornbusch–Fischer–Startz (11e), Ch. 14

Last update: Kovář Kamil, M.A., Ph.D. (15.10.2025)

Registration requirements

The students can choose from two courses:

1) This course, which is offered in English

2) Makroekonomie I, which is taught by Dr. Hlaváček in Czech.

 

Obviously, students who do not speak Czech should enrol in our course and students who speak Czech are free to choose which course they want to take. Please note, however, that students must decide within the first two weeks of the semester and enroll in SIS. Once they have chosen either the English or the Czech version of the course, they are advised to stick to their choice in the following semester.

 

Last update: Janíčko Martin, PhDr. Ing., Ph.D. (21.09.2025)