Along with covering the basics -- monetary and fiscal policy, productivity and investment, inflation and unemployment -- Real World Macro includes a chapter on major controversies in macroeconomics, such as the legacy of Keynesianism in the United States and the basics of Marxist economic theory. It also takes a critical look at international trade and finance, covering such topics as the debt crisis and arguments for and against "free trade."
The twentieth edition contains new chapter introductions reviewing the concepts examined in each article, and discussion questions relating them to a standard textbook. While Real World Macro is an excellent supplement to any mainstream text, its articles have also been keyed to David Colander’s popular textbook, Economics, 5th edition, and its macroeconomics "split."
Real World Macro's readable articles are drawn from the pages of Dollars & Sense, the bimonthly magazine of popular economics. Dollars & Sense also publishes the books Real World Micro, Current Economic Issues, Real World Globalization, Real World Banking, The Environment in Crisis, Introduction to Political Economy, and Unlevel Playing Fields: Understanding Wage Inequality and Discrimination.
