International Macroeconomics
Spring 2026
Assoc. Prof. Chris Ball
Economics Department
Email: christopher.ball@qu.edu
Office phone: +1 203 582 8745
Office Location: 4th Floor Rocky Top Student Center
QU Course Number: EC 350
Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Time: 11:00 pm - 12:15 pm
Location: Tator Hall 116
Office Hours: TBD and As Needed
EC 350 Spring 2026 Syllabus: download​
My Substack Column:
https://globalecon.substack.com/
Our QU Econ Research Team:
https://www.globaleconomics.net/
Note: Substack columns are FREE. There's an option to pay monthly to support my work, but I would never ask my students to do that. If you sign up, please just stay on for free!
Recommended OPTIONAL Book:
International Macroeconomics: A Modern Approach by Schmitt-Grohe, Uribe, and Woodford. This is a great book for people interested in diving a little deeper into the models and topics.
​My Notes and Materials (PDF)
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Module 0: Review Materials
(No need to do this in advance, but when we need this info, you'll know to find it here)
Time Paths: Fundamentals (PDF 01​) and Intermediate (PDF 02)
AS-AD Basics: (PDF 03)
The Law of One Price: (PDF 04)
"Hat Algebra": (PDF 05)
Practice Problems
AS-AD Analysis and Time Paths: download
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Module 1: Open Economy Fundamentals
Budget Constraints and Open Economy Identities
Open Macro Accounting (PDF 10)
Two period model and business cycles
CA Dynamics Domestic Business Cycles (PDF 11)
Two Period Endowment Model Summary and Notes (PDF 12)
Savings, Investment and Current Accounts in Small Open Economies
CA Dynamics Savings and Investment (PDF 13)
How Savings and Investment Can DRIVE Trade Deficits (PDF 14)
Large Open Economies
Large Open Economies (PDF 15)
Special Topics: Large/Persistent Imbalances, Twin Deficits, and Sudden Stops
Sudden Stops (PDF 16)
Large Open Economies USA (PDF 17)
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Practice Problems
PP 01 Open Economy Basics - download
PP 02 Two Period Endow Open Macro Model - download
PP 03 Open Economy Loanable Funds Analysis - download
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EXAM 1 - THURS, FEB 26 in class (Answer Key)
Module 2: Money, Policy and Open Economies
Nominal Exchange Rates and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
Intro Law of One Price and PPP (PDF 21)
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Money Markets, FOREX Markets and Interest Parity
Real_Money_Market_Basics (PDF 32)
FOREX Market (PDF 33)
Money Forex and Time Paths Two Examples (PDF 34)
Increase Domestic M Unant & Ant (PDF 35)
Increase Foreign M Unant & Ant (PDF 36)
Open Economy Monetary Policy (PDF 37)
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Fixed Exchange Rates
General E 01 Basic S&D Analysis in FOREX Mkt (PDF 38)
General E 02 Advanced S&D Analysis in FOREX Mkt (PDF 39)
General E 03 R and FIXED (PDF 40)
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Empirical Projects
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Software Installation Guide (R, GitHub, Positron): download
Country List (Students and Selected Countries): download
Data: download
Initial R Code for everyone: download
Full R Code for everyone: download
Project 1 for Module 1: download
Project 2 for Module 2: download
Full R Code for Proj 2: download
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Special Topics
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Real Exchange Rates: PPP and Real Exch Rate (PDF 22)
​Terms of Trade: Terms of Trade (PDF 23)
Traded and Nontraded Goods: Exchange Rate Overshooting
The Role of NonTradables (PDF 24)
​Choosing Exchange Rate Regimes
Brief Intro to Exchange Rate Regimes (PDF 31)
​Choosing Exchange Rate Regimes and OCA (PDF 41)
Detecting Exchange Rate Intervention (PDF 42)
The Open Economy Policy Trilemma (PDF 43)
Special Topic Trilemma one-pager (PDF 44)
Sterilization and Risk Premia (PDF 45)
Special Topic Sterilization Challenge (PDF 46)
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Practice Problems
PP 04 Money and FOREX - download
PP 05 Supply and Demand FOREX - download
PP 06 Special Topics - download
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EXAM 2 - TUES, May 5 at 10:30AM in TH 116
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Appendix
Two period model with Investment (PDF APP 01)
T-NT Model details and derivations (PDF APP 02)
Two Country Large Open Econ Model (PDF APP 03)
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