Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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76 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
can I shed some light?, October 20, 2006
If you're confused about all of Dr. Mankiw's different macroeconomics texts floating about out there, lemme try to set you straight.
The one you see on this page: "Macroeconomics" is usually used in 2nd or 3rd year macroeconomics courses in college. This is because the exercises at the end of each chapter can be a little equation-intensive, and some of the exercises, such as the proper derivation of the IS-LM curve, require differentiation. The text of each chapter itself is not so vicious, so a energetic instructor could conceivably use this book in a lower-level course, if you were willing replace the book's exercises with easier ones.
Anyhow, the seventh edition has just come out: this has a bluish abstract geometric-type design on a tan background. The ISBN-13 is 9781429238120. The sixth edition had a blue cover; the fifth edition had an orange cover. The publisher, Palgrave-MacMillan, claims that the seventh edition balances "short-run and long-run issues in a way that emphasizes the relevance of Keynesian and classical ideas to current practice. Featuring the latest data and extensive coverage of the current financial crisis, the text has also been revised with the addition of new case studies on real-world issues such as President Obama's stimulus plan and a study of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe."
Mankiw is also well-known as the author of "Principles of Macroeconomics," currently in its fifth edition (ISBN-10: 0324589972; ISBN-13: 978-0324589979), at least as of my writing. This text is more appropriate for freshman-level, non-major survey courses, or for high-school courses provided that they're honors courses, such as AP courses. The exercises at the end of each chapter require only arithmetic and the most rudimentary algebra.
Note that "Macroeconomics" is not just a gratuitous ratcheting up of "Principles of Macroeconomics:" they're two fundamentally different books, arranged differently, and with completely different publishers. There are even massive concepts in "Macroeconomics" (IS-LM model, Solow steady state, the Keynesian consumption function, etc.) which don't warrant a mention in the much more watered-down "Principles of Macroeconomics."
The publisher of Mankiw's "Principles of Macroeconomics," Thomson South-Western also puts out an even simpler version of that text called "Essentials of Economics" (currently ISBN-10: 0324590024; ISBN-13: 978-0324590029). This book is quite obviously intended for use in normal high-school settings: it's just a watered down version of "Principles of Economics." Whatever edition "Principles of Macroeconomics" is in, that's the edition that "Essentials of Economics" will be in, since they come out in tandem.
Believe it or not, we ain't finished yet. Whenever Thomson South-Western comes out with a new "Principles of Economics," they also come out with a new "Brief Principles of Economics," which is a shorter -- but not watered-down -- version of "Principles of Economics." The level of this is the same as that of "Principles of Economics" (i.e., freshman surveys or honors high school), it's just that many discussions have been given short shrift, should that meet your needs. Like "Essentials of Economics," this will always have the same latest edition as "Principles of Economics." Currently, "Brief Principles of Macroeconomics" is ISBN-10: 0324590377 and ISBN-13: 9780324590371.
As far as I know, Dr. Mankiw is not the author of an intermediate-level microeconomics text similar to the "Macroeconomics" text I discussed first.
Hope all this helps.
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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A clear, concise, and well written text on the economic choices and behaviors of nations, September 8, 2006
If you are familiar with Mankiw's introductory text "Principles of Economics", you know that he writes in a clear, concise, and as lively a manner as you are likely to find in a text on economics. Since I find economics quite interesting, I wanted more when I read through that textbook. For those of us who felt that desire, Mankiw has updated his intermediate text on macroeconomics for this sixth edition.
Microeconomics is the study of the economic behavior of people as individuals and in organizations such as corporations. Macroeconomics is the study of economic behavior of human beings as nations and the economic interactions between nations. It involves aspects of the economy such as money, savings, growth, stocks and flows, inflation, unemployment, taxation, national budgets and so forth. The study does not prefer one type of government policy over another, but studies the tradeoffs of the effects of different economic choices. Those of us who prefer specific outcomes will prefer certain choices over others, but that is not a part of the broader topic.
Mankiw writes this volume in his clear and concise style. He notes that he remembers being a student and not appreciating long textbooks, so he worked hard to keep this book as tight as possible. He also uses short case studies, apt cartoons, clear graphs, chapter summaries, a list of key concepts for each chapter, questions for review, as well as problems and applications to help the diligent reader master the material he provides. There are discussions of functions within each chapter, but much of the math is put into footnotes and in chapter appendices. Each chapter has a conclusion that gives the chapter a sharp point and some of the chapters have FYI boxes that deal with specific topics such as "The Liquidity Trap" or "Two Arithmetic Tricks for Working with Percentage Changes".
This is a topic that everyone would be better off studying. It would help you realize how much nonsense is noised into lives by the talking heads, experts, politicians, and even so-called "economists" on TV, in our newspapers, and in far too many books. I am not saying that Mankiw has any special or unique view that is better than other macroeconomists. What I am saying is that studying a good textbook on this will help you. This is a good, balanced, and well written text that is a good choice among many. I liked it and felt that I benefited from it. I suspect that unless you are already trained in macroeconomics, you would benefit, too.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I wish all textbooks were like this one..., November 10, 2006
As an econ student at UC Davis, I have learned to appreciate books that explain concepts concisely and in an easily understandable way. This is one of those few. Chapters are relatively short and are uncluttered with unnecessary examples or tangents. Graphs are labeled with simple explanations that are useful for clarification as well as quick-reference.
I recommend this book to people who want to understand econ without trudging through the swamp of repetition, needless technicality, and headache.
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