Monetary Theory - Seminar

The seminar will introduce participants to a wide range of important and topical issues in monetary economics. . Students are expected to deliver a seminar paper (in English) and participate in the general discussion (in English or, if helpful, in German).

 

Schedule:

• Preliminary meeting at 22nd of October 2008 (16h-18h): General introduction; discussion of proceedings; introduction to topics.  Students have to make a  decision about mandatory registration (verbindliche Anmeldung). When registered students will be informed of their topic for the seminar paper as soon as possible.

• 1. Block at 27th of October 2008 (14h-18h) :The block provides (1) a short introduction to scientific writing and (2) a short introduction to monetary theory.

• Deadline at 5th of December 2008: Students hand in their final seminar papers (this deadline is mandatory, i.e. please make sure you meet this deadline!).

• 2. Block at 12th and 13th  of December  2008 (9h-18h): Seminar presentations and discussion.

Room: Kaminzimmer, Boltzmannstr. 20, except at 12th December: HS 107a Garystr.

 

Selection of Students:

Skills in monetary economics (for instance, classes visited) will be taken into account. A maximum of 20 students will participate.

Allocation of topics:

 As a rule, more than one student will work on a topic. The allocation of topics will be based on students’ preferences. Students will be informed about their topic by email as soon as possible.

Language:

Seminar papers are to be submitted in English. Presentations and discussions should also be in English. Of course, students may switch to German during discussions whenever helpful.

Requirements:

• Each participant will write a seminar paper (click here to view the specific requirements for seminar papers [text in German]) which (s)he will also present to the group. The  length of the presentation should not exceed 25 minutes.

• Each student should be ready to discuss any other seminar paper. A discussion of a seminar paper is supposed to initiate a general discussion among all participants. Prepare two or three slides on which you review the respective paper very briefly (one or two sentences). Then, highlight important aspects of the paper (this may be crucial assumptions, interesting results, strange results, issues not addressed in the paper but relevant to the topic, questions that came to your mind when reading the paper, etc.) We randomly select a discussant after each presentation. All papers will be available online after 5th of December 2008 for preparation of the discussions.

• Students are expected to participate actively in the general discussion.

Modes of submission:

Submit either two hard copies (stapled) of your paper or a PDF file (preferably, Word otherwise) by email to till.mueller@fu-berlin.de

Grades:

Final grades will reflect the quality of the seminar paper and the participant’s presentation, the discussion of other papers, and their contribution to the general discussion.