Teaching
I teach three courses regularly at the University of Edinburgh:
Programming and Numerical Methods for Economics (Spring)
This is an upper level elective, focused on teaching undergraduates the basics of programming, and the numerical methods needed to solve structural models in economics. Over the course of a 10-week term, we cover the essentials of programming, working with data, discretizing and simulating income processes, root finding, optimization, function approximation, value function iteration, and heterogenous agent models. We provide students with the skills they require to work on a computational dissertation (senior thesis) and to continue with further graduate work. I designed the course, and lecture in the second half. In the first year it was offered, it was the single most popular elective course offered in the School of Economics, and in every subsequent year we have had to cap the course to manage demand.
- Lecture 6: Optimization
- Lecture 7: Function Approximation
- Lecture 8: Value Function Iteration
- Lecture 9: Simulation and Inference
- Lecture 10: Heterogenous Agents
Taught Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Intermediate Macro (Fall)
This is an intermediate macro course, designed for undergraduate students in their second year. Our textbook is Macroeconomics by Nils Gottfries. In the first block (5 weeks), we cover the basics of consumer and producer theory, from a macroeconomic perspective, and begin to introduce the models that we will use throughout the remainder of the year.
- Lecture 1: The Basics of Macroeconomics
- Lecture 2: Production, Prices, and the Distribution of Income
- Lecture 3: Interest Rates and Investment
- Lecture 4: Consumption
- Lecture 5: The Natural Rate of Interest
Taught: Fall 2023, Fall 2024
Intermediate Macro (Spring)
This is a continuation of the same intermediate macro course, designed for undergraduate students in their second year. Our textbook is Macroeconomics by Nils Gottfries. In the fourth and final block (5 weeks), we cover international macro, with a focus on the Mundell–Fleming model.
- Lecture 6: Exports, Imports, and Financial Markets
- Lecture 7: The Open Economy in the Long Run
- Lecture 8: The Open Economy in the Short Run
- Lecture 9: Exchange Rate Speculation and Monetary Unions
- Lecture 10: Sovereign Default
Taught: Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025