Macroeconomics: Imperfections, Institutions, and Policies - Softcover

Carlin W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195691679 ISBN 13: 9780195691672

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

The distinctive feature of this book is that it provides a unified framework for the analysis of short- and medium-run macroeconomics. This gives students a model that they can use themselves to understand a wide range of real-world macroeconomic behaviour and policy issues. The authors introduce a new graphical model (IS/PC/MR) based on the 3-equation New Keynesian model used in modern macroeconomics. The three equations are the IS curve the Phillips curve and an interest rate-based monetary policy rule. The use of a common framework throughout for closed and open economies helps readers develop the economic intuition with which to address a diversity of macroeconomic problems. Applied chapters show how the models can be used to analyse performance in OECD economies over the past twenty-five years. The chapters on growth present an in-depth coverage of the Solow-Swan, endogenous and Schumpeterian models that allow the reader to understand how these approaches can be used to answer the big questions of growth: why some countries are rich and others, poor; why some catch up and others do not. Since the book is based on the mainstream 3-equation model used at the research frontier, the book gives students the economics background necessary for accessing advanced macroeconomics. It is also designed to appeal to graduate students, non-specialists in macroeconomics, professional economists and those from related disciplines who want a guide to the complexities of modern macroeconomics and to understand contemporary policy debates.

About this title

About the Author:

Wendy Carlin is Professor of Economics at University College London and is a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. She is managing editor of the Economics of Transition and has published widely on macroeconomics, institutions, and transition. David Soskice is Research Professor at Duke University and at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin. He is Centennial Professor in the European Institute at the London School of Economics. He is Emeritus Fellow in Economics at University College, Oxford and has held visiting positions at the Australian National University and the universities of Berkeley, Johns Hopkins Bologna, Cornell, Pisa, Trento and Yale. He has published widely in economics, industrial relations, and political science.

Review:

"When teaching intermediate macroeconomics in Harvard, I deeply felt that existing textbooks were all lacking: 1) proper microeconomic foundations linking important notions such as the Keynesian consumption function, the investment accelerator, the Phillips curve, the possibility of persistent (involuntary) unemployment, to precise sources of imperfections in the product, labor, or financial markets; 2) a suitable treatment of growth theory that can shed light on observed convergence and divergence patterns across countries and also on how growth policies should be designed in various countries at different stages of development. Being the first comprehensive attempt at filling these gaps, the Carlin-Soskice textbook should be used by any instructor who wants to bring her students to the frontier of modern macroeconomics while at the same time remaining fully accessible to a broad undergraduate audience." Philippe Aghion, Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics, Harvard University

"At last, an advanced undergraduate book which maps theory to facts. The theory, from the new Keynesian model of fluctuations to Schumpeterian models of growth, is sound. The applications, from European unemployment to the Japanese slump, highly revealing. You will enjoy every chapter, and become a good macroeconomist in the process. Olivier Blanchard, Class of 1941 Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology"

"The best way to learn economics is to have a textbook which develops a theoretical framework interactively with practical questions. Macroeconomics: Imperfections, Institutions and Policies does just this. The book is based on the mainstream monetary macro model which is now widely used by both academics and policy-makers. In a straightforward manner, it shows how this model can be used to address an enormous variety of practical questions without heavy use of mathematical technique." Stephen Nickell, School Professor of Economics, LSE; Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England

"Imperfect competition, knowledge-based growth, inflation-targeting central banks and many other central features of modern economic systems have recently been integrated into the heart of macroeconomic theory. Carlin and Soskice do the profession a great service by writing a textbook that makes these developments accessible to undergraduates. The book presents macroeconomics at its best - as a useful framework for analyzing important questions." Peter Howitt, Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences, Brown University

"What makes Carlin and Soskice invaluable is both their clarity and their commitment to helping the reader understand the intuitions that lie behind the models. Furthermore, there is constantly an attempt to make the work relevant to practical questions of public policy. They tackle the impact of German Reunification, EMU, British economic performance, the 1990s US boom, and the long-standing Japanese recession. There is a major final chapter addressing the issues of unemployment, especially among the larger nations of Continental Europe. The authors approach these questions through the penetrating analytical lens of their framework, critically address the empirical evidence and come up with sometimes novel conclusions to the conventional wisdom." Professor John Van Reenen Director, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics

" If, like me, you've been waiting a long time for the successor to Macroeconomics and the Wage Bargain, you will not be disappointed."

"Macroeconomics needs to be exciting and contemporary. Too often it becomes an area of difficulty and confusion for students. This book is to be welcomed for its very clear vision of what contemporary macroeconomics is about and its careful exposition leading the student to this." Dr Mary Gregory, Oxford University

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0195691679
• ISBN 13: 9780195691672
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 852