This course considers the use of data on households, workers and producers in research on consumption behavior, labor market fluctuations, business dynamics and other areas of macroeconomics. A key goal is to help students develop the ability to identify interesting research questions and devise promising research strategies. Topics include life cycle consumption behavior, home production and time use, housing market dynamics, wage rigidities and their consequences, unemployment fluctuations, employer behavior on the hiring margin, entrepreneurship, and business productivity dynamics. Lectures treat a mix of important, well-established research contributions and new, often rough, papers that seek to advance the frontier. Homework assignments aim to build proficiency in the use of micro data to address macroeconomic issues, expose students to a variety of useful data sources, and give them first-hand experience in identifying and evaluating research questions and strategies.
