Lawrence Christiano is the Alfred W. Chase Professor of Business Institutions. He joined the Northwestern University faculty in 1992 and is a consultant to the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Cleveland and Minneapolis, and a Research Affiliate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). In 2001, he was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society.

Christiano's research has been focused primarily on the problem of determining how the government's monetary and fiscal instruments ought to respond to shocks over the business cycle. This research has two parts; one involves formulating and estimating an empirically plausible model of the macroeconomy, and the second involves developing economic concepts and computational methods for determining optimal policy in an equilibrium model. He has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.

Christiano teaches macroeconomics, international finance and applied time series analysis. He received his PhD in economics from Columbia University. Prior to his appointment at Northwestern, Professor Christiano worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (1985-1992) and was a professor at the University of Chicago (1981-1985).

• Ph.D., 1982, Economics, Columbia University
• M.Sc., 1977, Econometrics/Mathematical Economics, London School of Economics
• M.A., 1975, Economics, University of Minnesota
• B.A., 1973, History/Economics, University of Minnesota

• Alfred W. Chase Chair in Business Institutions, Northwestern University
• Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, Carnegie-Mellon University, 6/12/1985
• Assistant Professor of Business Economics, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, 9/12/1985
• Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Northwestern University
• Visiting Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Northwestern University, 11/12/1991

• Director, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, 1991-1992
• Economist, then Senior Economist, then Research Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, 1985-1992

What drives economic growth in a globalized world? This course focuses on the economic forces and the policy responses that are relevant for business and investment strategies. Specific topics include the meaning and measures of national and international economic activity; what determines which emerging markets develop and grow, while others stagnate; what drives booms and recessions, how they are propagated globally, and how government policy responds; monetary policy and its effect on financial institutions and credit markets; government liabilities and how markets react to government debt; what determines trade deficits and surpluses, and the relative strength of a currency. The course provides a high-level overview to aid business planning, investment strategies, and policy analysis.

This is a lecture and case-based course, with group projects and a final exam.