Macroeconomic Theory: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Approach [Hardcover]

Michael Wickens (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691116407 | ISBN-13: 978-0691116402 | Publication Date: January 3, 2008

Macroeconomic Theory is the most up-to-date graduate-level macroeconomics textbook available today. This book truly offers something new by emphasizing the general equilibrium character of macroeconomics to explain effects across the whole economy, not just part. It is also the perfect resource for economists who need to brush up on the latest developments.

Michael Wickens lays out the core ideas of modern macroeconomics and its links with finance. He presents the simplest general equilibrium macroeconomic model for a closed economy, and then gradually develops a comprehensive model of the open economy. Every important topic is covered, including growth, business cycles, fiscal policy, taxation and debt finance, current account sustainability, exchange-rate determination, and an up-to-date account of monetary policy through inflation targeting. Wickens addresses the interrelationships between macroeconomics and modern finance and shows how they affect stock, bond, and foreign-exchange markets. While the mathematics needed for this book is rigorous, the author describes fundamental concepts in a way that helps make the book self-contained and easy to use. Accessible, comprehensive, and wide-ranging, Macroeconomic Theory will become the standard text for students and is ideal for economists, particularly those in government, central and commercial banking, and financial investment.

• The most up-to-date macroeconomics textbook available today
• Web-based exercises with answers (June 2008)
• Emphasis on general equilibrium macroeconomics addresses the whole economy
• Latest advances in macroeconomics covered fully and completely
• Gives up-to-date account of monetary policy
• Covers modern finance
• Extensive mathematical appendix for at-a-glance easy reference

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"There are very few good textbooks on the dynamic general equilibrium approach to macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Theory fills a big void and provides a comprehensive and integrated approach to the subject that covers both real and monetary models. Professor Wickens develops a series of topics, beginning with real models of the economy and proceeding through growth, fiscal policy, financial models, and the modern approach to monetary economies. Each topic begins with theoretical background and proceeds to practical applications. The level is appropriate for masters or advanced undergraduate students and is a welcome addition to the field that is likely to be widely adopted."--Roger E. A. Farmer, University of California, Los Angeles

"A most welcome graduate (or advanced undergraduate) textbook in macroeconomics. The book is well-written and the text is effectively organized and progresses in a natural and easy-to-follow way. The text offers a mathematical approach that is easily accessible to the students. The technical level is sufficiently detailed to allow students to understand the role of the underlying assumptions and how the models work, and yet it avoids unnecessary technicalities and sidetracks. As an extra bonus, it offers a treatment of financial aspects which are often neglected in macro textbooks."--Torben M. Andersen, University of Aarhus, Denmark

"This is an innovative graduate textbook that develops much of modern macroeconomics in the framework of stochastic general equilibrium models. The book is especially good for its integration of macro and finance."--Christopher Pissarides, London School of Economics and Political Science

"Wickens's text provides a tremendous introduction to modern macroeconomics. The coverage of material is thorough. The writing is clear and lively. The mathematics is sufficiently detailed without being overly technical, and the mathematical appendix helps keep the text largely self-contained. Intuition behind key results is provided beautifully throughout. Having worked through the text, students will be well-equipped for a journey toward the macroeconomics frontier."--David N. DeJong, University of Pittsburg

"This is a first-rate book that definitely helps fill a surprising lacuna in graduate macro teaching."--Andrew Scott, London Business School

"his book provides an integrated, self-contained, and accessible exposition of modern macroeconomic theory. Particular strengths include coverage of macroeconomic approaches to asset pricing and the analysis of monetary and fiscal policies. It is an excellent textbook for students in masters and PhD courses and an excellent reference for professional economists."--Philip Lane, Trinity College Dublin

About the Author

Michael Wickens is professor of economics at the University of York. He is the coeditor of "Handbook of Applied Econometrics" and was managing editor of the" Economic Journal" from 1996 to 2004.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (January 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691116407
• ISBN-13: 978-0691116402
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Business & Investing > International > Foreign Exchange

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best modern econ text, November 25, 2010

By 

Anthony Diepenbrock III "adiepenbrock" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Macroeconomic Theory: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Approach (Hardcover)

This text is unique. It is the only text that provides a DGE approach to macroeconomics (which is the only really correct approach), while at the same time covering legacy theories (such as Keynesian IS-LM) and distinguishing between the two. This way the reader can understand the deficiencies in the legacy theories, which are still often used in undergraduate econ courses.

The text's treatment of government finances and fiscal policy is excellent. I have a lot of econ textbooks to compare with this text, and clearly this text has the clearest exposition.

The text's treatment of the open economy and nominal exchange rates is also quite good. Here again the contrast between the current models (IS-LM-BP, Mundell-Fleming) and DGE models is carried out well.

The treatment of money is very good as well. The treatment covers the cash-in-advance and shopping time models and shows how they come close to the Keynesian money demand function.

Finally, I like the level of mathematics used in the text. I like log-linear models, because they cut to the heart of the issue. Many of the models presented are converted over to log-linear, which aids in the intuition to be gained from the model.

I hope that Prof. Wickens receives compliments on his book, because I want him to continue to update the text.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Students review, September 16, 2011

By 

Thor P. Nielsen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Macroeconomic Theory: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Approach (Hardcover)

As one of the other reviews note, this book often skips several steps in calculations. And its results are often just plain wrong. The economic interpretation of the equations (that is, the stuff we are actually doing the math for!) is poor or at best not very well explained.

Our professor is clearly uncomfortable teaching form this textbook citing the many errors and apologising for the lack of a logical notation(the book adds the subscript "t+s" rather than the standard "+s"), it is just an example of the many things which add to one being annoyed when reading the book or following courses using this book.

The parts on growth theory cover some very interesting models but nothing in the book seems to be at a very high level, which i suppose can be good or bad as it can mean the book explains it really well or that you arent learning what you need to. I think it is the second.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive coverage of modern macroeconomics, February 17, 2010

By 

John Satish Sharma "gourmet traveller" (melbourne, australia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Macroeconomic Theory: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Approach (Hardcover)

This book by Michael Wickens provides a comprehensive coverage of modern macroeconomics at a Master's Level. It covers key topics including: fiscal policy, monetary policy, open economy macroeconomics, public finance and asset pricing. Content on asset pricing and financial markets is invaluable for applied economists who have to grapple with policy issues and the interaction of the financial sector with the 'real economy'. Furthermore, the mathematical appendix and the list of problems and solutions provides excellent support material which helps ensure that the content has been well understood.