Book Description

The history of consumption is a prism through which many aspects of social and political life may be viewed. The essays in this collection represent a variety of approaches and raise such themes as consumption and democracy, the development of a global economy, the role of the state, the centrality of consumption to Cold War politics, the importance of the Second World War as a historical divide, the language of consumption, the contexts of locality, race, ethnicity, gender, and class, and the environmental consequences of twentieth-century consumer society. They explore the role of the historian as social, political, and moral critic. Unlike other studies of twentieth-century consumption, this book provides international comparisons. ... Read more

Book Description

Inter-generational transfers are at the center of economic policy debates today. Reducing public debt; financing social security; taxing capital and bequests; and designing the education system imply substantial inter-generational transfers. The tool that economists employ to analyze these issues is the overlapping generations model, which reflects the different periods of life. When the model includes capital accumulation, it also allows researchers to formalize the development of an economy, relating its growth path to the savings behavior of young agents.The aim of this book is an in-depth analysis of this model that includes its major policy implications. ... Read more

Book Description

The economy of any nation is an intricate web of relationships among the factors determining supply and demand--and everything that affects them, from inflation to taxes to the stock market. The study of business cycles attempts to explain why economies grow and contract, experiencing periods of prosperity and pain. Consistent with the popular conception of economics as the "dismal science," economists secretly long for recessions (periods of negative growth) and depressions (severe contractions), not because they enjoy their devastating impact on human welfare, but because these downturns serve as excellent laboratories for observing what happens when markets break down. Despite over two centuries of debate, no one has yet definitively unlocked the secrets of economic downturns and how they might be prevented. In Recessions and Depressions, Todd Knoop takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of economic thought, tracing the evolution of business cycle theory. In the process, he presents an accessible introduction to what makes the economy tick, and offers new insights into understanding such historic economic events as the Great Depression, as well as more recent ones, such as the Asian meltdown in the 1990s, the financial crises in Latin America, and the U.S. recession of 2001, from which the United States is still recovering. Knoop reminds us that economists' track record in forecasting business cycles leaves much to be desired, and the quest to fully understand what causes economic downturns--and their effects on individuals and families--continues. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

good overview
does a good job of explaining in simple terms the effects different financial and economic organizations and markets have on one another. if you've ever been laid off or lost money in the stock market (as i have), this book can help you place your personal loss in the broader context and perhaps anticipate things so that you're better prepared in the future. ... Read more

Book Description

Macroeconomics for Developing Countries presents a valuable analysis of the current debate in development economics and provides the intermediate macroeconomic theory necessary to understand it. The book falls into four parts. The first two present received macroeconomic theory in its closed and open economy versions. Supported by a wide range of illustrations and examples from developing countries, the final two sections are devoted entirely to the macroeconomic problems of these countries. In light of recent develpoments in the macroeconomic field, such as the GATT agreement, this book is both timely and relevant. ... Read more

Book Description

Wherever there is money, there is money politics-a subject demanding ever greater attention at a time when monetary policies lead and the real economy follows. A principal defining characteristic of the contemporary global economy, Jonathan Kirshner contends, is the rise and preeminence of monetary phenomena—international financial crises, Central Bank Independence and inflation fighting, the creation of the euro, and monetary reform in emerging economies, to name only a few. Moreover, unlike most debates in political economy (such as those regarding trade policy), which are generally recognized as political, monetary phenomena and macroeconomic policies are typically represented as expressly apolitical. In Monetary Orders, a distinguished group of scholars explores the inescapable political origins of choices about money.The essays in Monetary Orders each address a specific issue or puzzle relating to money and its management. Their authors focus on markedly disparate cases but share a common observation: for most policy choices about money, market forces and economic logic can rule out certain options, but are indeterminate in explaining why one policy rather than another will be chosen.Ultimately, political factors are essential to explain fundamental and consequential choices about money.

Contributors: Rawi Abdelal, Harvard Business School Mark Blyth, Johns Hopkins University Michele Chang, Colgate University Francis Gavin, University of Texas, Austin Ilene Grabel, University of Denver William Grimes, Boston University Eric Helleiner, Trent University Jonathan Kirshner, Cornell University Hector Schamis, Cornell University David Stasavage, London School of Economics Hongying Wang, Syracuse University ... Read more

Book Description

"This book deals with the financial side of international economics and covers all aspects of international finance. Prof. Gandolfo has written what will be a classic in international finance. His erudition, expository and technical skills are combined to fulfill the needs of undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and staff members in international economic organisations. The literary part is clear, and the underlying intuition of the arguments is stressed. This is followed by a mathematical analysis, which uses the state of the art techniques. In this manner the reader can go from the intuition-literary argument to the formal derivations and proofs. There are many books and articles by exponents of alternative points of view. I know of no other book that provides the scope, balance, objectivity and rigor of the book." (Professor Jerome L. Stein, Brown University) ... Read more

Book Description

Currency Competition and Foreign Exchange Markets is a major new theoretical and empirical study of international currencies that focuses on the role the Euro (the future European currency) will play in the international monetary and financial system, along with the US dollar and the Japanese yen. In contrast to much of the existing literature that approaches the subject from a macroeconomic perspective, Philipp Hartmann develops a theoretical model that uses game theory, time series and panel econometrics, and links financial markets analysis with transaction cost economics. The resultsare presented with reference to political, historical and institutional considerations, and provide accessible answers topolicy makers, business people and scholars world wide. ... Read more

Book Description

Macroeconomics would not be what it is today without Edmund Phelps. This book assembles the field's leading figures to highlight the continuing influence of his ideas from the past four decades. Addressing the most important current debates in macroeconomic theory, it focuses on the rates at which new technologies arise and information about markets is dispersed, information imperfections, and the heterogeneity of beliefs as determinants of an economy's performance. The contributions, which represent a breadth of contemporary theoretical approaches, cover topics including the real effects of monetary disturbances, difficulties in expectations formation, structural factors in unemployment, and sources of technical progress. Based on an October 2001 conference honoring Phelps, this incomparable volume provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account in years of the present state of macroeconomics while also pointing to its future.

The fifteen chapters are by the editors and by Daron Acemoglu, Jess Benhabib, Guillermo A. Calvo, Oya Celasun, Michael D. Goldberg, Bruce Greenwald, James J. Heckman, Bart Hobijn, Peter Howitt, Hehui Jin, Charles I. Jones, Michael Kumhof, Mordecai Kurz, David Laibson, Lars Ljungqvist, N. Gregory Mankiw, Dale T. Mortensen, Maurizio Motolese, Stephen Nickell, Luca Nunziata, Wolfgang Ochel, Christopher A. Pissarides, Glenda Quintini, Ricardo Reis, Andrea Repetto, Thomas J. Sargent, Jeremy Tobacman, and Gianluca Violante. Commenting are Olivier J. Blanchard, Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Mark Gertler, Robert E. Hall, Robert E. Lucas, Jr., David H. Papell, Robert A. Pollak, Robert M. Solow, Nancy L. Stokey, and Lars E. O. Svensson. Also included are reflections by Phelps, a preface by Paul A. Samuelson, and the editors' introduction. ... Read more

Book Description

Developed fifty years ago by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the analytic methods of business cycles and economic indicators enable economists to forecast economic trends by examining the repetitive sequences that occur in business cycles. The methodology has proven to be an inexpensive and useful tool that is now used extensively throughout the world. In recent years, however, significant new developments have emerged in the field of business cycles and economic indicators. This volume contains twenty-two articles by international experts who are working with new and innovative approaches to indicator research.They cover advances in three broad areas of research: the use of new developments in economic theory and time-series analysis to rationalize existing systems of indicators; more appropriate methods to evaluate the forecasting records of leading indicators, particularly of turning point probability; and the development of new indicators. ... Read more

Book Description

The NBER Macroeconomics Annual presents pioneering work in macroeconomics by leading academic researchers addressed to a broad audience of public policymakers as well as to the academic community. Each paper is followed by comments and discussion to give a more complete context for the views expressed. The 2004 edition features a range of papers aimed at providing coherent and informative answers to such important questions as the effect of federal government debt on interest rates; the stochastic dimension of the American economy; the role of technology as a source of economic fluctuations; and the interaction of capital flows, fiscal policy, and monetary policies in developing countries, emerging markets, and OECD countries. ... Read more

Book Description

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. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A recommended textbook for first-year graduate students
Though the name is "self-fulfilling prophecies", but I regard it as a standard advanced textbook for macroeconomics.

It introduced the basic technique and standard approach in modern macroeconomics, including linear difference equations, intertemporal optimization, representative agents and OG models, competitive equilibrium and welfare theorem, standard models of money (CIA and money in utility function), etc. It is good to think macroeconomics as a branch of applied general equilibrium.

It also includes some frontiers of research like RBC and calibration, increasing returns, multi-sector models, etc.

As it's name suggests, it tells much on multiple equilibria and sunspots, it maybe an alternative approach to explain the real phenomena.

The most important, all these materials are introduced in a moderate level. The mathematics used is more acceptable to the first-year graduate students in economics compare to some other texts.

Since it emphasizes on fluctuations, it lacks of some important topics like unemployment, labor market, incomplete and imperfect market, fiscal policy, policy-making, and little on endogenous growth. But it is not so bad, this keeps the text short and more friendly. Not a book can include all the important topics in the subject. The basic has been told, and all the others could upon to others.

So it is suitable for first-year graduate students in economics and is better to be used together with Blanchard & Fisher's "Lectures on macroeconomcs". ... Read more

Book Description

Growth Theory presents a concise survey of the modern macroeconomic theory of growth. This new edition includes six lectures presented in the Summer of 1992 at the University of Siena and includes a new chapter where Solow charts the changes in growth theory from 1969 to the present. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

On the book
I am compelled to write a review after reading with utter disbelief the negative comments that some fool posted above.
He/she rambles how Solow's book does not account for human capital. Well, if that person had actually bothered reading the book (or even taking some basic growth theory classes, but after reading his/her syntax we can safely assume that it is too much to be wished for), he/she would realize that the book DOES INDEED cover various variations/enrichments of the standard Solow, including indeed the Lucas Human capital variation.

This book is a nice addition for any growth economist/student library. To the "reviewer" above: get an education before you start even THINKING about criticizing economists of professor Solow's stature.

It's a classical economic book.
This book is a classical book, it's very important to read because is one of the most important theory, if you are agree or disagree no matter. If you want criticizing the neoclassical theory you need to understand all the Solow argument. I'm not very convinced of this theory, but it's fundamental to read this book.

A Masterly Study
This is a masterly study. Solow speaks about the old neoclassical growth theory in the first half of the book and then goes on in the second half to review the developments of new growth theory that started in the mid eighties. He comments on the essence of Lucas' work (on human capital), Romer's work (on endogenous technical change), the work of Grossman and Helpman (on quality ladders) and that of Aghion and Howitt (on creative destruction). These references have now reached the status of classics in endogenous growth theory. Solow provides penetrating insights into the new developments. The book is a must for any student of the subject interested in traversing the bridge that connects the old to the new growth theory.

Solow is out of time
In his book Solow describes his growth-theory. But this theory already is out of time. It does not apply to many countries. Why not you might ask. Well first, Solow leaves a very important variable out, namely human capital. Second, Solow makes assumptions, which obviously will never hold, like an equal productionfunction for every country but also equal technological availability for each country. I do not have to explain why this will not hold for it speaks for itself. Many third-world countries have based their policies on Solow's growth-theory in the sixties, seventies and eigthies, but without any succes. It is time for these countries to change policies and to discover other growth and development strategies to catch-up with developed countries, specially with ecommerce comming up. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Prosperity Forever
This book is an easy-to-read handy how-to guide to permanent prosperity. It clearly shows you how to use debt and stock options and general public exuberance to paper over structural problems and let financial instabilities grow.

I recommend it to everyone. ... Read more

Book Description

Wellknown economists analyze and discuss the latest developments in inequality economics, predominantly income inequality. The papers are theoretical, empirical and experimental and have not been published beforehand. They give answers to the problem of measurement of inequality and related topics like equivalence scales or the influence especially of the public authorities in the way of different kinds of taxation. This volume is of special interest for all those working in the field of distributional economics. ... Read more

Book Description

Emerging economies have been the beneficiaries of sharply increased volumes of international capital inflows in the past decade. These inflows have eased foreign financing constraints and offered the potential for higher investment and growth.At the same time, they have posed challenges for policy makers by threatening to fuel inflation, adversely affect international competitiveness, and undermine domestic banking stability.The essays in this volume provide a timely and useful comparison of the experiences of emerging Pacific Basin countries in both Asia and Latin America. ... Read more

Book Description

Now researchers can more effectively use the abundant array of data from the annual Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) by utilizing this handy guidebook.Aimed at making this rich data set more accessible, The Panel Study of Income Dynamics describes PSID's topics, study design, research methods, and available data files.It reviews key analysis issues and identifies essential variables for the user.Several detailed analysis examples show how to make use of the PSID to estimate earnings regressions, changes in women's income following divorce, and the correlation between parents' income and a child's adult income, as well as to create a longitudinal poverty measure.This guidebook concludes by giving information on how to obtain PSID documents and the data files themselves. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is an essential resource for all researchers--particularly those studying income, employment, family, health, wealth, and retirement. "Hill's book provides a cognet and painstaking introduction to a complex base. . . . Hill provides a comprehensive overview of the substantive content of the PSID. . . . The reader will find everything needed to make a decision concerning initial use of the PSID, including the storage size in megabytes (MB) of each available file. . . . By providing a brief yet thorough overview of this complex data set, Hill's book increases the PSID's accessibility.This book is thus a welcome addition to the new series." --Journal of the American Statistical Association "The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). . . offers sociologists the type of detailed, longitudinal information that informs today's agenda-setting research on poverty, earnings, employment patterns, and family life-course transitions.The PSID's richness. . . derives from a complex data structure. . . . Hill's guide, the second of a Sage series intended to assist researchers in the use of major social science data bases, extends aid to both the prospective and the experienced PSID analyst.Written in direct, easy-to-read prose, this slim volume provides a concise introduction to the PSID, summarizing special features of the panel's design, content, and data-editing procedures.Readers are informed of the main subtleties involved in applying weights that correct for sample attrition and selection probabilities; though brief, Hill's treatment of this topic helps to demystify a fairly complicated set of rules.Newcomers especially stand to benefit from the description of key filtering variables one must use to exploit the longitudinal possibilities of the data and from a set of helpful summary tables.Old friends of the PSID, along with the just acquainted, will appreciate the instructive examples of cross-sectional analysis, pooled cross-section of time-series regression, and other longitudinal estimation strategies--ones that nicely illustrate certain steps involved in successfully analyzing the data. . . . Hill's handbook is a valuable resource.Researchers preparing to use this data set for the first time can now avail themselves of a compact, well-rounded digest of PSID essentials.Experienced practitioners will welcome the volume as a quick, reliable reference for many details that recurrently affect PSID date management and analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "Martha Hill has done an excellent job with this relatively brief description of an extremely complicated data set. It is clear, reads well, describes the main features and complications of the data, and provides very useful summary tables. It will be a very useful introduction to the PSID for new users at all levels of sophistication; it will also be a useful resource for experienced users, simply because it provides clear answers to the most common problems encountered when using the PSID." --Annemette Sorensen, Harvard University "Dr. Hill's monograph provides a useful overview of a major social science research data base--The Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Succinct, yet comprehensive in its coverage, the monograph will become a useful model for other large-scale social science data bases. Less detailed than technical documentation or a user guide, the monograph is a superb introduction for social scientists to the Survey Research Center's Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The monograph reviews the major issues related to the study--survey design, and content, field procedures, data preparation and data quality. The monograph discusses principal analytic issues related to the study and provides good examples of PSID data analysis for both new and experienced users of these data." --Daniel Kasprzyk, United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics ... Read more