Money, Banking and Payment Systems (28807-01, Bachelor, 6 KP)

News

  • For the written exam on Thursday, May 23rd you are allowed to bring a basic calculator (non-programmable). <link de erlaubte-hilfsmittel external-link-new-window internal link in current>Here you can find all allowed models.
  • Please send me all your questions regarding the lecture and the exercises until Wednesday, May 15th noon to romina.ruprecht@clutterunibas.ch. We will discuss them during the lecture on Thursday, May 16th.
  • Please note the small change in the syllabus. Instead of chapter 14, we will be discussing chapter 15 next Thursday (May 2nd) and chapter 18 on May 16th.
  • Thursday we will have our first Python programming tutorial. Please bring your laptops along with you and make sure that you have the Python Anaconda distribution installed by following the installation guide available on ADAM. If you encounter any difficulties installing Python please let me know by email before Thursday: m.aitlahcen@clutterunibas.ch

Information

Lecturers

Romina Ruprecht [contact]
Mohammed Ait Lahcen [contact]
Remo Nyffenegger [contact]

TimeThursday, 08:30-12:00
PlaceWWZ S15
BeginningFebruary, 21st 2019
GradingWritten Exam and Python Assignment

Topic

Economists have long been fascinated by the roles and interactions of money, banking and payment systems in market economies. In order to understand why money is essential for trading and why financial intermediation can be welfare improving, one needs to examine trade and money from first principles. If there is no clear idea of why money and banking are essential, then there is no real understanding of the consequences or welfare effects of monetary policy experiments, such as Quantitative Easing (QE) or negative interest rates (NIR), or the need for banking regulation.

The lecture is composed of a theoretical and an applied part. For the theoretical part, the lecture is based on the book by Champ B., Freeman S., and J. Haslag, 'Modeling Monetary Economies', Cambridge University Press. The book is composed of three parts. In Part I of the book, Champ et al. construct environments in which money serves as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Various issues such as inflation, barter, commodity money and price surprises are studied within this framework. In Part II, the authors extend the model of the first section to see how financial intermediation affects the trading environment and the role of money in the economy. In this part of the book, Champ et al. study the conflict between money and capital as stores of value, the liquidity structure of capital, clearing house functions of central banks and bank runs. Finally, in Part III, they introduce fiscal policy to study how deficits, the national debt, open market operations and seigniorage affect the functioning of the economy.

In the applied part of the lecture, we will teach students the basics of programming in Python. At the end of the lecture, students will be able to program the simple model economies from the textbook by Champ et al., solve these models, and perform comparative statics numerically.

Schedule

DateTime/TopicRoomLecturer
21.02.

08:30-10:00: Introduction / A Simple Model of Money

10:00-11:45: Python Tutorial 1

S15

Romina

Mohammed

28.02.

08:30-10:00: A Simple Model of Money

10:00-11:45: Python Tutorial 2

S15

Romina

Mohammed

07.03.

08:30-10:00: Inflation

10:00-11:45: Python Tutorial 3

S15

Romina

Mohammed

14.03.Basler Fasnacht - No Lecture
21.03.

08:30-10:00: International Monetary Systems

10:15-11:45: Python Tutorial 4

S15

Romina

Mohammed

28.03.

08:30-10:00: Price Surprises

10:15-11:45: Exercises 1

S15Remo
04.04.

08:30-10:00: Capital

10:15-11:45: Exercises 2

S15Remo
11.04.

08:30-10:00: Liquidity and Intermediation

10:15-11:45: Exercises 3

S15Remo
18.04Easter - No Lecture
25.04.

08:30-10:00: Central Bank and Money Supply

10:15-11:45: Bank Risk

S15

Romina

02.05.

08:30-10:00: Deficits and National Debt

10:15-11:45: Exercises 4

S15Romina
09.05.Assignment - No Lecture
16.05.

08:30-10:00: Temptation of Inflation

10:15-11:45: Exercises 5 and Q&A

S15Romina
23.05.Written Examtbd
30.05.Ascension - No Lecture

Programming Assignment

The assignment takes the form of a Python-programming homework which needs to be completed in groups of three students within 48 hours.

  • Format: Python-programming homework
  • Date: May 9th - May 10th (midnight to midnight)
  • Group size: up to 3 students per group
  • The assignment will count 1/3 towards the grade

The assignment should take around 3-6 hours to complete. Students are expected to form groups on their own. The assignment will be sent via e-mail to all students on May 9th, 00:01 AM.

Literature

The lecture will be based on the following textbook:

  • Champ, Bruce, Freeman, Scott, and Joseph Haslag (2016). Modeling Monetary Economies. 4th ed. New York: Cambridge University Press.

The following website provides useful resources for programming in Python: