Universität Wien

040216 KU Macroeconomics and Inequality (MA) (2026S)

8.00 ECTS (4.00 SWS), SPL 4 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 05.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 06.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Friday 13.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 19.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 20.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 26.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 27.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 16.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 17.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 23.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 24.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 30.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Thursday 07.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 08.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Friday 15.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 21.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 22.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 28.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 29.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Friday 05.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 11.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 12.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 18.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 19.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock
  • Thursday 25.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 12 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 2.Stock
  • Friday 26.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 8 Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1 1.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course provides students with a macroeconomic perspective on important topics such as wealth and income inequality, wealth taxation, (booms and busts) in the housing market. Differences between individuals (i.e. "heterogeneity") play a central role in all these topics.

This course relies on state-of-the-art heterogeneous agent models (à la Bewley-Huggett-Aiyagari) which are among the workhorse models in modern macroeconomics. Students will learn to analyze these models as well as to apply them to practical examples on the computer.

1.) Methods: Markov Chains, Dynamic Programming
2.) Data: Distributional National Accounts, Survey of Consumer Finances, Survey of Consumption Expenditures
3.) Models: Macroeconomic models with heterogeneous agents in various flavors (e.g. including housing markets)
4.) Treating the model output as a dataset, use it to analyze interesting phenomena (housing boom, demographic change, climate change, etc.)

The aim of this course is to develop a sound command of heterogeneous agent models that allows students to understand state-of-the-art research in the field. Students also start working on numerical applications in the Julia programming language.

Assessment and permitted materials

– active participation
– assignments
– midterm exam (in-class, closed-book)
– final exam (in-class, closed-book)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

In order to pass, students must achieve at least 50% in at least one of the exams. In that case the total grade is composed as follows.

– 30%: midterm exam
– 30%: final exam
– 30%: assignments
– 10%: active participation

– Grading scheme
– 1: [89, 100]
– 2: [76, 89)
– 3: [63, 76)
– 4: [50, 63)
– 5: [0, 50)

NOTE: If both exams are failed (<50%) the total grade will be 5.

Examination topics

The exams cover the material of all lectures, lecture notes and assignments prior to the exam. Representative exercises will be provided and practiced throughout the course.

Reading list

– lecture notes
– selected chapters of Jappelli, T. and L. Pistaferri (2017): The economics of consumption: Theory and evidence, Oxford University Press. (available as an online resource at the library)
– research articles
– https://julia.quantecon.org/intro.html

Tentative list of articles:
* Drechsel-Grau, M. and F. Greimel (2025): “Falling Behind: Has Rising Inequality Fueled the American Debt Boom?” The Review of Financial Studies.
* Guvenen, F., G. Kambourov, B. Kuruscu, S. Ocampo, and D. Chen (2023): “Use it or lose it: Efficiency and redistributional effects of wealth taxation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics.
* Huber, J., F. Kindermann, and S. Kohls (2025): “Rental Markets and Wealth Inequality in the Euro Area,” Working paper.
* Hubmer, J., P. Krusell, and A. Smith (2021): “Sources of US wealth inequality: Past, present, and future”, NBER Macroeconomics Annual.
* Kaplan, G. and G. L. Violante (2018): “Microeconomic heterogeneity and macroeconomic shocks,” Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Association in the course directory

E1.4.

Last modified: Mo 27.07.2026 09:26