9 December 2022
Addis Ababa University
Department of Economics
Econ 907: Assignment II
Due Date: Friday 23 December 2022
This assignment carries 20 points (20% of the total score). If you are submitting hand-
written answers, please write legibly, if not, illegible answers will not be marked. Attempt
all the questions and make your answers to the point. Plagiarism is a serious academic
o¤ence which may result in nulli…cation of your scores.
1). Consider the following linear di¤erential equation system:
y_ 1 = 2y1 9y2 + 35
y_ 2 = 3y1 4y2 + 70
a). Solve the above system of linear di¤erential equations. (1 Point)
b). Draw the phase diagram. (1 Point)
c). Find the equation for the saddle path. (1 Point)
d). If y1 (0) = 0; what value must be chosen for y2 (0) to ensure that the system con-
verges to the steady state? (1 Point)
2). A …rm’s production function depends only on labour, L: output equals (L aL2 ). The
…rm pays a …xed wage, w; per unit of employed labour and incurs hiring costs equal
to qH 2 ; where H is the amount of new hire and receives a constant price , p, per unit
of output. The …rm’s labour force has a constant quit rate equal to . Solve for the
path of hiring that solves:
Z T
t
max e p L aL2 wL qH 2 dt
0
subject to L_ = H L (4 Points)
L (0) = L0
1
3). Consider the following multiplier-accelerator model of an economy. Let aggregate na-
tional income, Y , be equal to
Yt = Ct + It + Gt
where C, I, and G are consumption, investment, and government expenditure, respec-
tively. Assume that government expenditure is constant at G. However, assume that
consumption is given by
Ct = mYt
where 0 < m < 1 is the marginal propensity to consume. In addition assume that
investment is a fraction of the growth of national income in the previous year
It = (Yt 1 Yt 2 )
a). Derive the second order di¤erence equation for the national income implied by this
model. (1 point)
b). Solve the derived di¤erence equation. (2 points)
c). Determine what restrictions on the parameters of the model must be made to en-
sure convergence. (1 point)
4). Consider the problem of maximizing
X
T
max (3 ut ) x2t ;
ut 2[0;1]
t=0
subject to the the constraints
xt=1 = ut xt ; t = 0; 1; : : : ; T 1; x0 is given
a). Compute the value functions JT (x) ; JT 1 (x) ; JT 2 (x). (2 Point)
b). Find the corresponding optimal control functions uT (x) ; uT 1 (x) ; uT 2 (x).
(2 Point)
2
5). Consider the following equation:
x
x_ = 4x
1 + 4x2
a). Construct a bifurcation diagram for the above equation. (2 Points)
b). What type of bifurcation results? (2 Points)