Graduate Student Workshop on Heterogeneous-Agent Macroeconomics
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), with the generous support of the National Science Foundation, will host a Workshop on Heterogeneous-Agent Macroeconomics on June 4-6, 2025, in Cambridge, MA. This intensive workshop is designed for economics PhD students who are beginning or conducting research in heterogeneous-agent macroeconomics, monetary and fiscal policy, or related fields.
The workshop has two objectives: providing participants with a solid understanding of the past literature and current research on heterogeneous-agent macroeconomic models, and introducing participants to state-of-the-art solution methods for general equilibrium heterogeneous-agent models. The lectures will cover the standard incomplete markets model and then turn to the canonical “HANK” model. Building on this model, the lectures will explore a variety of topics, including the analysis of monetary and fiscal policy, estimation, open economy issues, portfolio choice, behavioral frictions, inflation and the foundations of the Phillips Curve, and the design of optimal policy. The goal is to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and tools to conduct their own research in this area. The workshop will be co-organized by NBER researchers Adrien Auclert (Stanford University), Adrien Bilal (Stanford University), Matthew Rognlie (Northwestern University and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis), and Ludwig Straub (Harvard University).
The workshop will emphasize practicality. The class material will come with Python notebooks that contain the source code for all models and results covered in class. There will be a computational methods tutorial every day, during which the instructors will share practical tips on how to set up models, solve them, and write code that is fast and efficient. Material from a similar workshop that was hosted by the NBER in 2023 may be found here:
https://www.nber.org/conferences/heterogeneous-agent-macro-workshop-spring-2023
Applicants should have finished the 2nd year of their PhD by June 2025. They should have a solid grasp of macroeconomics at the level of a first-year PhD course, in particular dynamic programming and the standard 3-equation New Keynesian model. Basic familiarity with Python is also required.
The course will include about 5 hours of lectures and 2 hours of computer tutorials each day. Participants are expected to arrive by Tuesday night (June 3) and to stay until the conclusion of the workshop on Friday evening (June 6). About thirty students will be included in the workshop; their travel and lodging expenses will be reimbursed subject to NBER reimbursement guidelines.
To apply to attend the workshop, please assemble the following materials in a single PDF file:
• A cover letter that includes the applicant’s contact information and the name and email address of a faculty member who can provide a recommendation if the applicant is shortlisted for participation.
• A recent CV listing completed Ph.D. courses in macro.
• A statement of no more than one page explaining the applicant’s current research interests and motivation for attending the workshop.
These materials should be uploaded no later than 11:59pm ET on Thursday, February 27, 2025 at:
https://forms.gle/QKdwi8Uqx3xfwRfv7
Applications that are not submitted by the deadline will not be considered. Applicants from all PhD granting-institutions, and from students who are members of groups that have historically been under-represented in the economics profession, are welcome. Please share this call for applications with others who may be interested in this program.
Applications will be evaluated by the four organizers and acceptance decisions will be announced in late March 2025. Please direct questions about workshop content to Adrien Auclert (aauclert@stanford.edu), and questions about logistics and the application process to confer@nber.org.