Harvard EC 1010B: Intermediate Macroeconomics
Ec 1010B is Harvard's intermediate macroeconomic theory course, covering growth, fluctuations, unemployment, inflation, and the analytics of fiscal and monetary policy. It's the second theory pillar of the economics concentration after Ec 10. Models that Ec 10B sketched verbally get full mathematical treatment here.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with Harvard University. This is an unofficial study guide.
What makes it hard
The course juggles several formal models (growth models, short-run fluctuation frameworks, open-economy extensions), each with its own assumptions and time horizon, and exams live at the boundaries between them. Students who can solve each model but can't say which one a question is invoking lose points they technically knew.
What you'll cover
- • National income and long-run equilibrium
- • The Solow growth model
- • Unemployment and labor markets
- • Money, inflation, and monetary policy
- • Short-run fluctuations
- • Open-economy macroeconomics
The EC 1010B study guide
How to study for Harvard EC 1010B, step by step.
- 1
Master the Solow model mechanically and verbally
Steady states, golden rule, convergence: solve them by hand, then explain in words what each result says about real economies. Growth is the backbone unit and exams return to it repeatedly.
- 2
File every model under its time horizon
For each framework, write down whether prices are flexible, what's exogenous, and which run it describes. Exam questions are sorted by these boundaries even when they don't announce it.
- 3
Trace policy shocks through each model
Take a fiscal expansion or rate cut and walk it through output, prices, and interest rates in every framework you know. The compare-across-models skill is the course's real deliverable.
- 4
Rework psets cold before each exam
Redo the hardest pset problems from a blank page days later. The exams reward regenerating the analysis, not recognizing your old solution.
Today
Today's EC 1010B plan
What a Fennie Daily Plan looks like for EC 1010B. Yours is built from your own syllabus and adapts every day to your deadlines and progress.
First plan free, no card required. Fennie is independent and unaffiliated with your school.
FAQ
Is Ec 1010B hard?
It's less computationally heavy than 1010A but more conceptually slippery, with several formal models with different assumptions and horizons. Keeping the frameworks distinct is the real challenge.
Should I take Ec 1010A or 1010B first?
Either order works for most students; both assume Ec 10 and calculus. Concentrators typically clear both during sophomore year.
How is Ec 1010B different from Ec 10B?
Ec 10B introduces the ideas; 1010B formalizes them, so you solve the models rather than describe them. The math step up is real but smaller than 1010A's.
More Harvard courses
EC 10A: Principles of Economics: Microeconomics
Ec 10A is the fall-semester microeconomics half of Harvard's famous Principles of Economics sequence, historically one of the largest courses at the college. It covers supply and demand, markets, firm behavior, and policy applications, and is the entry point to the economics concentration.
EC 10B: Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics
Ec 10B is the spring macroeconomics half of Harvard's principles sequence: GDP, inflation, unemployment, growth, monetary and fiscal policy, and international economics. Together with Ec 10A it forms the foundation for all further economics coursework at Harvard.
EC 1010A: Intermediate Microeconomics
Ec 1010A is Harvard's intermediate microeconomic theory course, covering consumer and producer optimization, equilibrium, market failures, and welfare. It's the first of the two theory pillars of the economics concentration after Ec 10, and where economics goes from graphs to calculus.