312835 Optimal Control Models of Technical Progress in Macroeconomics (S) (WiSe 2012/2013)

In this course I will give an overview of models of economic growth which include technical progress as one of the main sources of growth. The course starts with the endogeneous growth models from the neoclassical growth theory, such as models of embodied technical change of Bliss. Then the description of the ways how technical change is modelled in new growth theory is given. Here the basic models are those of Aghion&Howitt and of Grossman&Helpman. This strand of literature has numerous following-up papers in 1990s and 2000s, including models of directed technical change, which have wide application in environmental models (Acemoglu, Aghion).
All of these models employ the optimal control techniques to obtain the solution and steady states. I will concentrate on the common features of these models from the mathematical viewpoint and will discuss their further extensions. In later lectures I would like to discuss some alternative approaches through distributed optimal control methods to modelling technical change, which appeared recently in the literature.
Prerequisite for the course is basic understanding of optimal control methods and growth theory.