Macroeconomics of Self-fulfilling Prophecies - 2nd Edition - Hardcover

Farmer, Roger E. A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262062038 ISBN 13: 9780262062039

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1999

Synopsis

For many years it was fashionable to treat macroeconomics and microeconomics as separate subjects without looking too deeply at the relationship between the two. But in the 1970s there occurred an episode of high inflation and high unemployment, which was inconsistent with orthodox theory. As a result, macroeconomists began to pay much greater attention to the microfoundations of their subject.

In this book Roger E. A. Farmer takes a somewhat controversial point of view, arguing for the future of macroeconomics as a branch of applied general equilibrium theory. His main theme is that macroeconomics is best viewed as the study of equilibrium environments in which the welfare theorems break down. This approach makes it possible to discuss the role of government policies in a context in which policy may serve some purpose.

Since the publication of the first edition in 1993, self-fulfilling prophecies has become a major competitor to the real business-cycle view of economic fluctuations. The second edition has been updated in three ways: (1) problems are included at the end of every chapter, and a study guide containing sample answers to all of the problems is available; (2) a new chapter discusses research from the past five years on business fluctuations in multisector models; and (3) the chapter on representative agent growth models now includes an appendix that explains the transversality condition.

About this title

About the Author

Roger Farmer is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Review

" The idea that changes in the beliefs of economic agents may play an important role in business cycle fluctuations has made great strides during the last decade. Roger Farmer is a leader in this rapidly growing field of research and this book is important reading for anyone interested in modern macroeconomics." -- Sergio Rebelo, Tokai Bank Distinguished Professor of International Finance, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University

& quot; The idea that changes in the beliefs of economic agents may play an important role in business cycle fluctuations has made great strides during the last decade. Roger Farmer is a leader in this rapidly growing field of research and this book is important reading for anyone interested in modern macroeconomics.& quot; -- Sergio Rebelo, Tokai Bank Distinguished Professor of International Finance, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University

"The idea that changes in the beliefs of economic agents may play an important role in business cycle fluctuations has made great strides during the last decade. Roger Farmer is a leader in this rapidly growing field of research and this book is important reading for anyone interested in modern macroeconomics."--Sergio Rebelo, Tokai Bank Distinguished Professor of International Finance, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0262062038
• ISBN 13: 9780262062039
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 318