Customer Reviews

Introduction to Economic Growth (Second Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is a perfect book for students who want to get started in growth theory. It combines basic maths with useful graphs. It is selective, it has a direction and it really gets the reader more and more interested as progress is made. Undoubtly, Prof. Charles Jones has the gift of teaching, as the key concepts are conveyed clearly to the reader. Actually, if that was the aim of the book, it clearly succeeded.

Since most intermediate-level macroeconomics textbooks - probably because of lack of space - usually decide to devote no more than a chapter or two to what is often considered to be the most important topic in economics, Jones' book serves as a very neat introduction to the field. Obviously, noone should expect to see the rigour one can find in advanced treatments, but - without doubt - it is easier to jump to advanced treatments if you see the intuitive explanation first. I could say this is one of the best textbooks I had a chance to read.

This book delivers on its promise of being a textbook on economic growth theory for undergraduates. It is not easy (as economic growth is not), but it is definitely within the grasp of economics undergraduate with knowledge of basic economic principles. It also provides sufficient advance material in the second half of the book to stimulate further study into economic growth. However, beware that this is not a book about policy prescriptions for economic growth, it is about the theoretical framework to understand it (necessary, but not sufficient for policy prescriptions).

This is a excellent book about the economic growth theory. I've read excellent books as "Economic Growth" by R. Barro, "Advanced Macroeconomics" by David Romer and "Endogenous Growth Theory" by Philippe Aghion, the principal problem is the level, if you don't have notions about economic growth theory, you'll have problems to understand. Charles I. Jones wrote a excellent introduction about all the modern economic growth theory. I recommend this book amply.

Professor Jones' book is an excellent read. No doubt it is a bit slow for someone who knows mathematics but those who need a good introduction and want to get an insight into the problems of growth will find this book very useful. Ones mathematical skills can be used afterwrads to make a good progress. Jones did a very useful job and brought this technical subject within the reach of the undergraduate students.

This is an interesting book, but for anyone coming from some sort of substancial mathematical background, this book may seem a bit slow. In many ways it could be summarized in a 10-20 page paper. However, this book may be useful for those only vaguely familar with calculus and wanting a technical introduction to growth theory.

The book presents the subject in a very friendly way; great for a first glance to the subject. However, I have to agree that it turns out to be a little too basic as one approaches the chapters on new growth and other alternative theories.

This book provides an excelet review of basics on economic growth facts and theory. I recomend it for lecturing at the undergraduate level.

Amazon Marketplace--

Company sent wrong book. Then they put me through all kinds of hoops and a lot of emails to prove it was the wrong book. The provider's customer service was polite so I did give them 2 stars. However, Customer service would not give me a prepaid mailer or any type of UPS number to send the book back. Customer service was willing to give refund, if and only if, I spent my time and money on my account to package and send book back. Did not ever send me the correct book. They made a lot of futile effort to correct the problem their way which is the way I got the wrong book in the first place. They made me pay for a wrong book in advance. They wanted me to do it their way the second time which was they wanted me to return the wrong book by paying for the shipping in advance before they made a refund. I trusted them the first time. I will not trust them the second time to do the right thing. I am not stupid! I am not recommending this provider since they never sent me the right book which I asked them to do several times.

Regards,

Une traduction francaise de l'ouvrage vient de paraître chez DE BOECK. Ce livre est une belle tentative de construction d'une synthèse des théories de la croissance et d'essai d'une théorie générale. A la lecture certaines manies de l'auteur apparaissent, certaines bonnes, d'autres curieuses. Les bonnes sont sans aucun doute la pédagogie, le lien permanent avec les faits, la volonté "to takes Robert Solow seriously" et la réalisation d'une synthèse entre Solow et les théories endogènes. Mais 1) le chapitre 5 donne une présentation bien compliquée du modèle de Romer, on pouvait faire plus clair.2) Alors que les commentaires insistent sur l'importance de la dynamique transitoire, aucune présentation théorique de la beta convergence n'est proposée. 3) Jones prétend que la croissance endogène est caractérisée par l'action de la politique economique sur le taux de croissance. Il a beau jeu de montrer qu'il n'en est rien et que selon lui, la croissance endogène se définit par le choix des agents qui investissent en recherche (page 159). En fait tout le monde est d'accord avec lui sur ce point.