The BYU Macroeconomics and Computational Laboratory is a collaborative group of undergraduate students and professors at BYU doing research in the field of computational macroeconomics. We operate under the following set of premises:
- Bright, motivated undergraduate students can make significant contributions to macroeconomic research.
- To do so, they need appropriate training in numerical tools and economic theory.
- They also need guidance from faculty dedicated to undergraduate mentoring.
Following the example of the BYU Math Department’s successful IMPACT program, we select a group of well-prepared undergraduate students who have completed the economics core curriculum and who have a solid background in mathematics. We train these students extensively during Spring Term in an intensive “boot camp” environment where they are a) introduced to a set of useful computational mathematics tools, b) introduced to modern dynamic macroeconomic theory and methods, and c) trained in numerical programming techniques. During the following academic year students are brought onto faculty-sponsored research projects, usually as full coauthors with the intent of producing a paper ready for submission to peer-reviewed academic journal by the end of the school year.
I participated in the BYU Macroeconomics and Computational Laboratory as a student from April 2012 to May 2013 and then as a TA from April 2013 to July 2013.