Francesca Loria

Visiting Professor

“Macroeconomics I”

2023 Fall Term

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Attended by around 200 students from the Bachelor Degree in International Business Economics and from the Double Bachelor Degree in Law and Business.

The course, designed by Davide Debortoli and Isaac Bailey, familiarized students with the methodology and the main results of macroeconomic research, including the analysis of contemporary macroeconomic issues such as expectations, exchange rates, debt, inflation, recessions, and monetary and fiscal policy. The first part considered the interactions between international trade and the domestic economy and studied alternative exchange rate regimes, with a special emphasis on the recent experience of the European Monetary Union. In the second part, the course covered the role of expectations and looked at their effects on economic activity and on economic policies. In the third part, it focused on recent issues regarding economic policies, such as government debt sustainability, the COVID-19 crisis, and the high inflation rate in 2021-2022. 

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Co-Instructor with Pedro Brinca

“Business Cycle Accounting: Theory and Applications”

 17–19 April 2018

University of Zurich

The course covered the business cycle accounting methodology, introduced by Chari et al. (2007), and its usefulness for business cycle analysis. We went the accounting procedure and equivalence theorems, both in theory and in practice. The theory behind DSGE model solution, log-linearization, simulation and estimation was covered and the students practiced in class the numerical techniques involved with these procedures within the context of the BCA model. Students were also introduced to BCAppit!, a graphical user interface designed to perform business cycle accounting exercises in a quick, user-friendly and efficient way. We presented the literature that followed Chari et al. (2007 (in particular extensions to the standard methodology) and ended the course with an exposition and discussion of recent advances in the BCA literature. For examination purposes, students presented their own business cycle accounting projects.

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Consultant & Teaching Assistant to Fabio Canova

September–November 2017

Bilateral Assistance and Capacity Building for Central Banks (BCC)
Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Assisted Fabio Canova in teaching VAR and BVAR techniques and in developing forecasting models for the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The course was sponsored by the Bilateral Assistance and Capacity Building for Central Banks (BCC). This programme, jointly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, has the purpose of supporting partner central banks in emerging and developing countries in building the analytical and technical expertise required for the efficient conduct of monetary policy.

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Teaching Assistant to Fabio Canova

“Practical DSGE Models”

13–15 September 2017

Euro Area Business Cycle Network (EABCN)
Training school hosted by Deutsche Bundesbank
Every policy institution has among the tools available for economic analysis at least one DSGE model. However, numerous short cuts are taken to put the models on the data which have little theoretical justification. Moreover, data anomalies, identification problems and measurement issues makes the matching between the theory and the data difficult. Most models are generally of large scale and little attention is generally paid to issues like model misspecification, model evaluation, model reduction and re-specification. The course offered hints on how one can address these all these issues in a unified way and make economic analyses more robust.

The course covered (i) Bayesian estimation of DSGE models, identification issues, (ii) choosing the variables to estimate DSGE models, dealing with trends/non-balanced growth paths, bridging models and data, (iii) data-rich DSGEs, combining information from different sources, role of measurement error, singularity and estimation, (iv) eliciting data-based priors, DSGE-VARs, (v) model evaluation, model pruning and re-specification, (vi) time-varying DSGE models: solutions and estimation issues, (vii) dealing with model misspecification. The course was primarily targeted to participants in the Euro Area Business Cycle Network but also aimed at doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers and economists working in central banks and government institutions outside of the network, as well as commercial organisations.

 

Teaching Assistant to Fabio Canova

“Advances in the Computational Methods for Models with Occasionally Binding Constraints”

7 June 2017
Florence School of Banking and Finance
European University Institute
Teaching Assistant to Fabio Canova for the course “Advances in the Computational Methods for Models with Occasionally Binding Constraints”. Introduced course participants to the Guerrieri and Iacoviello toolkit “OccBin” to solve and simulate models with occasionally binding constraints in Dynare. The course was targeted to financial stability officers, research department officers, Ph.D. and post-doctoral researchers, assistant professors.

 

Teaching Assistant to Enrique Mendoza

“Macroprudential Policy: Promises and Challenges”

8–10 March 2017
Florence School of Banking and Finance
European University Institute
The course studied macroprudential policy in quantitative dynamic general equilibrium models with collateral constraints, covering theoretical foundations, optimal policy design and evaluation, and implementation hurdles. In terms of topics, the course covered (i) a primer on financial markets modeling in open economy models and fundamentals of macro models of financial crises, (ii) stylized facts of credit booms and sudden stops, (iii) collateral constraints and the case for macroprudential policy, (iv) quantifying the effectiveness of optimal vs. simple financial policy rules in sudden stop models, (v) time-inconsistency in the conduct of macroprudential policy, (vi) the interaction between monetary and financial policies (Tinbergen’s rule and the need for coordination).

The course was targeted to financial stability and research departments of central banks, Ph.D. students, research departments of private banks and EU Officials (e.g. ECB, SSM, SRB).

 

Teaching Assistant to Fabio Canova

“Econometric Methods for the Analysis of Banking Data”

13–15 January 2016
Florence School of Banking and Finance
European University Institute
The course provided tools to analyse the properties of disaggregated banking data, their cyclical characteristics and to test hypotheses regarding the behaviour of banks in the funding and lending markets. It studied situations where bank heterogeneities are constant and when heterogeneities evolve over time and when they affect both the level and the dynamics of their lending activities. It also provided some explanations for some empirical puzzles found in the literature. In terms of methodology it covered (i) static panel models of monetary policy transmission, (ii) dynamic homogenous models of bank profitability, (iii) dynamic heterogeneous panel models of pass-through, (iv) partial pooling and endogenous grouping of data, (v) panel VAR models for the study of risk and contagion.

The course was targeted to financial stability and research departments of central banks, Ph.D. students and private sector economists working with bank data.
 

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Teaching Assistant to Ramon Marimon

“Macroeconomics II”

7 January – 6 February 2015
Department of Economics
European University Institute
Teaching Assistant to Ramon Marimon for the course “Macroeconomics II” (English, PhD level). Tasks involved introducing students to the Business Cycle Accounting methodology developed by Chari, Kehoe and McGrattan (Econometrica, 2007) and evaluating projects on BCA exercises run on several OECD countries for the Great Recession period which the students prepared under my supervision.
 

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Teaching Assistant to Lutz Weinke

“Makroökonomie II”

“Monetary Economics”

“IAMA: Introduction to Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis”

“AMA: Advanced Macroeconomics Analysis”

1 June 2011 – 31 July 2012
Institute of Economic Policy
School of Business and Economics
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Various tasks involving teaching and research related activities for Lutz Weinke, head of the institute. For instance:
- Preparation of lecture slides and teaching material for the courses “Makroökonomie II” (German, B.Sc. level), “Monetary Economics” (English, B.Sc. and M.Sc. level), “IAMA: Introduction to Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis” and “AMA: Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis” (English, M.Sc. and Ph.D. level).
- Search, procurement and recording of relevant literature and datasets.
- Assistance in preparing presentations of research papers at departmental Brown Bag Seminar and at Lunch Seminar at the European Central Bank.
 

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Teaching Assistant to Michael Kvasnicka

“Advanced Macroeconomics”

19 September – 1 October 2011
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Universidad de la Habana
International Summer School in Economics and Management (ISSEM)
Tasks involved preparing and holding daily exercise classes for the course “Advanced Macroeconomics” (English, B.Sc. and M.Sc. level).

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Teaching Assistant to Elmar Wolfstetter

“Mikroökonomie II”

1 October 2010 – 31 May 2011
Institute of Economic Theory I (Micro)
School of Business and Economics
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Various tasks involving teaching related activities for Elmar Wolfstetter, head of the institute. For instance:
- Preparation of lecture slides for the course “Mikroökonomie II” (German, B.Sc. level).