Customer Reviews

Macroeconomics

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A clear and altogether pleasant presentation; excellent layout and typography. A quick check indicated it was perhaps a bit less thorough than Olivier Blanchard (Mankiw doesn't mention the problems with non-performing loans in the Japanese banking system; Blanchard does), but one has to draw the line somewhere, and there is something to be said for allowing the instructor a bit more flexibility to introduce examples. Quite interesting--I hesitate to label a textbook exciting, but it would be an undersatement to say that Mankiw's text is neither soporific nor unduly convoluted; it inspires further inquiry. If you are required to use another text in a course, so be it; if reading for your own education, Mankiw is excellent. One might be sorely tempted to purchase it as a supplement to other less clear texts.

This is a clearly written and nicely organized upper-division macroeconomics textbook. Mankiw uses plain English and simple math to model the macroeconomy in the short-run (the IS/LM model), the long-run (the AS/AD model), and the very long run (the Solow growth model). He also devotes a lot of space to the Mundell-Fleming model of international trade and finance. One of the best features is the frequent use of short case studies that apply economic theory to "real world" problems such as the Great Depression or the Japanese slump of the 1990s. Mankiw's views are mainstream -- he doesn't even hint at the existence of alternatives such as Austrian economics or neo-Marxism -- but he is non-dogmatic about policy and quite candid about the limits of what economists really know about the economy. His book is a small masterpiece of clear economic writing for undergraduates.

So why did I give it only four stars? I was disappointed by the relative neglect -- in spite of the many "case studies" -- of the micro-economic, historical, and institutional realities that underlay the graphs and algebra of conventional macroeconomic analysis. Let me give two examples of what I mean:

-- According to Ben Bernanke, Asian countries responded to the financial turbulence of the 1990s by amassing huge foreign exchange reserves to defend their currencies against future attacks. These savings have for the most part been invested in the U.S., where they have financed trade deficits and fueled asset bubbles in the equities and housing markets. In other words, capital has flowed from relatively capital-poor countries to a capital-rich country, where it has paid for consumption binges.

-- According to Robert Pollin, two decades of union-bashing, downsizing and free trade have led to widespread job insecurity in the U.S. With workers too intimidated and too worried about jobs to press for wage increases, the economy was able to grow in the 1990s without triggering a round of inflation, and the benefits of this growth were skewed towards upper-income groups. In other words, extra-market power relationships in the workplace directly affected macroeconomic performance and income distribution.

I don't doubt that these developments can be captured and analyzed in the IS/LM or AS/AD framework. I'm not so sure, however, that many people steeped in this mode of analysis would have expected these developments ex ante. That would have required a knowledge of history, policy responses, and specific markets that is difficult to capture in abstract models. For my taste, any approach to economics that focuses on algebraic relationships between economic aggregates to the semi-exclusion of history and institutions is just too "otherworldly" to be satisfying. But maybe that's a problem with the way my mind works, not with macroeconomics. It certainly doesn't mean that Mankiw's book is anything less than excellent. Any student interested in learning basic macroeconomic analysis should read it.

Well-written book: tries hard to restate conclusions and show how changes in policies and variables affect aggregate functions, etc. Sometimes confusing: doesn't always state whether a trend holds in the short run or long run.

Since I'm more used to micro, I found the vagueness of all the curves a bit maddening, as well as the lack of definitions and real-world indications of variable values. More importantly, there is basically no math here: I don't see how this book could possibly suffice for a grad student in econ (which I am not).

Interesting book on tough subject.

This book is very well written. I like the clear dichotomy between those topics which are classical and those which Keynesian. Yes, it is true that there is not alot of math in this text, but that is fine for the following reason. In grad school, what is initially more important is a clear understanding of all that you should have learned as an undergrad. You will learn the math you need as well as how to apply it. Secondly, this book, if you pay attention, will really help you master the simple models and learn how to manipulate them in order to suit your purpose. In one section, Mankiw will define is endo and exo variable because of a question he wants to answer, but switch those same variables around in order to answer a very different set of questions. I really liked that approach because alot of published work is derivative in nature: take an existing model and modify it in a new way, after which show the contribution.

In summary, the value of this book is that you will be able to get a clear idea about all of the major topics in contempory maco. Having an easy reference once you get to grad school is nice.

This book is very well written in terms of clarity, succintness, content, and readability. The various examples and real-world cases offer great (and immediate) opportunities to apply the theoretical material of pages past. The book utilizes proper notation and vocabulary while maintaining a readable text devoid of verbose or academically pretentious wording. In terms of shortfalls, the technical readers will be driven nuts by the lack of certain important events, concepts, and the feel of a specialized-for-economists book.

Mankiw's intermediate text is less rigorous than his introductory text. While I really enjoy mankiw's writing style and use of practical examples to explain abstract ideas, the book is simply too easy and will not suffice for students looking to prepare themselves for graduate level economics courses.

Mankiw really gives an in-depth explanation of Macroeconomics in an easy to understand way. I've taken this course at Fordham University and we used this book. This book is everything a beginner needs to know in complex economic policy.

I purchased this text for self-study for the Macroeconomics CLEP. While incredibly well written for the material it presents, it did not cover all of the topical areas I encountered on the CLEP, nor did it go into sufficient depth for several areas that were.

I bought this edition rather than the newer editions. I'm learning a lot from the book.

I bought this book for my grad school macro class because I had realtively weak macro backround.

I think this is the best book for studying a little before the original grad school text.

For the seller, I would buy from them again anytime, fast shipping and cheap price. to be honest my book is kind of abused. there are several stickers on the cover and almost every page is highlighted but the binding is very good and i paid just 4 dollars for it so it is very acceptable for the price and it is good for the job.

Altough my copy was not very good you can get a very nice one. I bought quite a few text books like this and I paid as low as 0.90 cents some of them. I had some practicly new books.

So its all about luck, you can get a really nice one if you are lucky and if not it is still perfectly usable.