Book Description
Mankiw's Principles of Economics textbooks continue to be the most popular and widely used text in the economics classroom. PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS, 4th Edition features a strong revision of content in all 23 chapters while maintaining the clear and accessible writing style that is the hallmark of the highly respected author. The 4th edition also features an expanded instructor's resource package designed to assist instructors in course planning and classroom presentation and full integration of content with Aplia, the leading online Economics education program. In the 4th edition Greg Mankiw has created a full educational program for students and instructors -- Experience Mankiw 4e. "I have tried to put myself in the position of someone seeing economics for the first time. My goal is to emphasize the material that students should and do find interesting about the study of the economy." - N. Gregory Mankiw.
Customer Reviews:
4th Edition is different!.......2007-06-10
I was sold a used copy of the third edition and was told it was identical to the fourth edition. It isnt. The fourth edition has added questions that my instructor is having us answer for the course requirements. This means I have to go back and buy another copy of the book, this time the right edition! Dont be fooled - buy the edition of the book recommended for the class!
Can't find a better deal than this! .......2007-06-08
I recieved my puchase on time, and the study guide has been extremely helpful. I would definately make another purchase from here!
$105?!? Are you kidding me?!?.......2007-04-01
I bought this for my college daughter for her macro class. $105 for a paperback? And in its fourth edition, which means that the author has added half a chapter and made used versions of older editions no longer viable for students trying to get by with high college costs.
Unforgivable price gouging.
Book Description
These two highly-respected authors have revised this best-selling book to include more current, modern subject matter and events, while maintaining those features that have contributed to its great success. It continues to use stories, graphs, and equations and a unified and logical organization that make economic concepts easy-to-understand and relevant to all readers. Users of this book see the connection between growth, trade, comparative advantage the production possibilities frontier. Recent changes in the economy are highlighted so that readers can understand how these events actually affect investment decisions and policy. The 90s boom and the recent bust are examined.
New issues such as the movements for and against globalization, trade agreements and barriers, the World Trade Organization, the enviroment, child labor, sovereignty, the impact of AIDs on developing economics are all explored in this new edition. This book continues to provide an excellent foundation in the scope and method of economics; demand, supply, and market equilibrium; measuring national output and national income; long-run and short-run concerns; aggregate expenditure and equilibrium output; the government and fiscal policy; the money supply and the Federal Reserve system; interest rates and output; inflation; the labor market and unemployment; macroeconomic issues and policy; the stock market and the economy; long-run growth; and open-economy macroeconomics.
An excellent reference resource for those involved in fiscal decision-making policies, whether in government or in large, international firms.
Customer Reviews:
ok.......2005-10-02
it was in good condition but should have been cheaper compared ot the condition
not a well writen book.......2004-07-08
The authors don't know how to explain the theories in a easier way, on the contrary, they try to confuse you as much as they can. They also have all sorts of stupid examples which have nothing to do with reality. They are theorists, not good writers!
There are also many mistakes in the book. not too professional.
If your university requires this book, you do not have a chooose, but it is not a good one.
Principles of Macroeconomics.......2003-06-25
The book was pretty much cleaner than I expected!! All the deals went very smoothly, and I really like purchasing through Amazon.com already! Thanks for all the good deal!
Review of Macroeconomics by Case/Fair.......2001-08-24
The authors provide an understandable presentation of the dynamics of demand/supply, the price structure, equilibrium and concepts of elasticity. The data employed is current & this version is supported by the publisher in various prior versions , as well as, this successive version. The work has considerable technological support in the form of the CD Rom and various instructional materials.The authors provide a useful "News Analysis" to integrate current events into the text. This is very useful in providing background information for students. The problem sets are topical and challenging. There is a considerable discussion of international economics and transitional economies. Overall, the text can satisfy a wide range of student interests. i.e. Those students having a quantitative orientation will appreciate the considerable graphs throughout the text. Students having a more visual learning experience will enjoy the various news items throughout the text & the extensive discussion of basic definitions. The chapter summaries and WEB exercises are helpful in integrating the material & applying the various concepts using current technologies. This text should be employed for intensive renditions of introductory economics at the collegiate level.There is an appropriate amount of microeconomic coverage in the Principles of Macroeconomics, as well as, the more comprehensive Principles of Economics work. After having read this book, students should have a firm grasp of economics and the various data employed by industry. In addition, students will become more knowledgable on current events applicable to studies in this field. This work would provide very helpful background for further studies in Price Analysis and Econometrics (Mathematical Economics).
excellent economics text for beginners.......1999-02-12
I am teaching an Economics class at the beginning college level at a private business college. This book is one of the better business textbooks I have encountered. It provides real-life and simplistic examples to help students understand complex issues. I recommend it.
C. Le Fevre
Book Description
O’Sullivan/Sheffrin makes use of Active Learning Tools which get readers involved in role-playing, help them apply concepts, and offer reinforcement of the material.
The books hallmark feature includes a focus on the 5 Key Principles of Economics: 1) Opportunity Cost, 2) The Marginal Principle (comparing marginal benefits and marginal costs), 3) Diminishing Returns, 4) The Spillover Principle (for externalities in production and consumption), and, 5) The Reality Principle (distinguishing real from nominal magnitudes).
For economists, financial analysts and other finance professionals.
Customer Reviews:
Macroeconomics: Principles and Tools.......2004-11-19
This easy-to-read, well-structured textbook is an excellent source of information for any economics student. I used this book for Principles of Macroeconomics, an online course I took over the summer. The book is simple yet gives sufficient detail on many topics to not only provide a broad overview, but it is able to go quite in depth. The authors provide the student with a great deal of tools to use and supply many activities, questions and methods to help relate concepts to the real world. This book is written much better than my Advanced Macroeconomics text and is much more student-friendly.
Not perfect, but pretty good.......2001-05-01
The book is by no means perfect, but it's a darn good book. Its major imperfection is that many important concepts are spread around and not specifically brought to the forefront alone. Otherwise, though, it allows for a great foundation in Macroeconomics for your GECO 200 or equivalent class.
Macroeconomics: Principles & Tools Review.......2000-03-31
This book gives a great overview of the study of economics. I used it for an Introduction to Global Economics class in college and found it to be easy to read and understand. The information is extremely up-to-date, and is displayed not only through text, but by charts and graphs as well. There also additional materials (practice test questions, a CD rom, and a guide to researching economics on the internet) which accompany the text which are available as well. Overall, a great book for the study of basic economics!
Book Description
In writing this textbook, Mankiw has tried to put himself in the position of someone seeing economics for the first time. The author's conversational writing style is superb for presenting the politics and science of economic theories to tomorrow's decision-makers. Because Mankiw wrote it for the students, the book stands out among all other principles texts by intriguing students to apply an economic way of thinking in their daily lives. Receiving such a praise as "perhaps the best ever" textbook in economic principles, it's no wonder Mankiw's prize project has quickly become one of the most successful books ever to be published in the college marketplace.
Customer Reviews:
it's "all that and a bag of chips".......2005-06-03
This is a demanding high school (or undemanding college) introductory textbook on the subject. Only the most rudimentary algebra is required, and honestly one could easily get through the book without even that.
The edition is handsomely printed, with a font that's easy on the eye and plenty of colorful and helpfully-glossed graphs. The chapters themselves are not too long, which helps with a student's morale, believe me.
Recently I was put into a situation where I had to go, in the space of about 4 months, from knowing jack-squat about economics to being able to teach college-level macroeconomics!
Well, I frantically collected a ton of textbooks and articles about macroeconomics, ranging from the elementary to the abstruse and got to work.
And I gotta say: when something befuddled me and I found myself threshing about from text to text for the best explanation, it was nearly always Mankiw who came through with the critical phrasing that made the idea click and got me saying: "Ohhhhhh! I get it!" most often.
Not that this was always the case. There were times when I found better explanations elsewhere (e.g., Chapter 19, on the foreign currency market, is exasperatingly elliptical and could use a major dummying-down), but more often than not, Mr. Mankiw had the goods: the clearest and most easy-to-follow way of wording or graphing a slippery or counter-intuitive concept.
Of course, it's easy to hate Mr. Mankiw: he's young, he's handsome, he's brilliant (one of the youngest full professors ever at Harvard), and he's rich (his textbooks are now standard in AP courses nationwide). Jerk!
Because of these reasons, I would love to trash his book, showing how it "ain't all that."
Well, it is. Gulp.
Only one note: If you're planning on getting this book to study macroeconomics independently, you will find one irritating drawback: there are exercises at the end of each chapter, but no answers in the back. Essentially, therefore, it's a book for schoolchildren, not mature learners.
But its explanations -- believe me -- can't be beat.
Simply put, the best economics textbook on the market.......2004-08-09
UPDATE: This is the 3rd edition. The 4th edition just came out, and it is excellent. I have read every page, and will post a review as soon as I have time. But in the meantime, do not buy the 3rd edition. (I'm not sure why Amazon is still selling this now outdated edition.)
The rest of my review of the 3rd edition follows:
-----------
For 10 years, I have taught intro-level economics courses at a university. I have used a variety of books, and read many others (to steal their best ideas and examples for my teaching!). Mankiw is the one I like best.
More importantly, Mankiw is the one my students consistently like best. I often survey students near the end of the semester about their satisfaction with different aspects of the textbook, including: clarity, brevity, real-world relevance, effective layout & use of color, quality of the diagrams, and so forth. I tell my students not to sign their survey - I want their responses to be anonymous and completely candid. I tell students "If this book doesn't work for you, PLEASE tell me so that I can use a better one for my next batch of students."
More than any other textbook I've used, Mankiw's Economics textbook gets the highest student ratings in every category.
It might also be helpful for you to know about the difficulty level of Mankiw. I would describe it as average. For comparison, I would describe the following as above average difficulty level: Stockman, Stiglitz, Baumol/Blinder, Case/Fair, and Parkin. I would describe these books as below average difficulty level: Tucker, Miller, Bade/Parkin, Boyes/Melvin, and O'Sullivan/Sheffrin. I think the difficulty level of Mankiw is roughly comparable to that of Schiller, Colander, McConnell/Brue, and McEachern.
Despite that Mankiw is merely "average" difficulty level, it maintains a fairly good degree of analytical rigor.
Also, the writing style is student-friendly (but definitely not too informal), and, unlike other textbooks, Mankiw avoids introducing a lot of terms that won't be important for anything later in the book. The layout is attractive, yet clean and uncluttered, with lots of space in the margins for students to jot notes if they wish. Students find the end-of-chapter exercises very helpful.
The most distinguishing characteristic of the macroeconomics chapters is Mankiw's innovative approach. He first covers long-run topics: What determines a country's standard of living in the long run? What is the cause of the long-run upward trend in the cost of living? Why is there unemployment when things are "normal" (i.e. not a recession)? And many others (including saving, investment, the government budget deficit, the trade balance - all things you hear about on the evening news every day).
Then, he turns to short-run issues, such as recessions and booms.
Why treat the long run first? Because it's easier to learn the short-run analysis after students have learned the long-run equilibrium around which the economy fluctuates. (Also, there is much more agreement in the profession about the long-run analysis, whereas there's a fair amount of controversy over some of the details of the short-run analysis.)
How is this approach received? Very well, as evidenced by the fact that many other textbooks have copied it AFTER Mankiw first popularized it with the first edition of his Principles book, and before that, the first edition of his excellent intermediate macroeconomics textbook.
Mankiw is a superstar in the profession - and outside of it, as well. President Bush tapped him to be the Chairperson of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, and Mankiw briefs the President once or twice every week (in addition to many other important responsibilities.)
Despite working for a Republican Administration, Mankiw presents a very balanced treatment of economics in his textbooks (and I am telling you this as a Democrat!). In fact, Mankiw prefers GOOD ideas, whether Republican or Democrat (he recently argued for a gas tax increase to encourage conservation, and suggested the revenue be given back to consumers in the form of an income tax cut), rather than just pushing the Party line. This is integrity.
The company that publishes Mankiw's Principles of Economics textbooks, Thomson/South-Western, invests a lot of resources into continually improving this book. Compared to any other textbook publisher I know, they hire more student and teacher reviewers and devote more time and effort and money into obtaining, processing, and incorporating critical user feedback so that each edition, and accompanying supplements, are the very best they can be.
All in all, I readily recommend Mankiw's Principles of Economics textbook.
Book Description
This macroeconomics text is well known for using the Keynesian model in the teaching of economics; yet in recent editions, the authors have expanded coverage of the growth model considerably to achieve more balanced coverage. The text uses the aggregate supply/ aggregate demand model as a fundamental tool for learning macroeconomics. It achieves the right level of rigor and detail, presenting complicated concepts in a relatively straightforward manner and using timely economic data. Using puzzles, issues, and well-developed examples, the authors provide a good balance of theory to application. Homework Xpress and Aplia are available with the Anniversary Tenth Edition and two new sets of end of chapter questions have been added as well to help students prepare for exams: ?Test Yourself? and ?Discussion Questions?.
Customer Reviews:
Get Economics by Baumol........2006-07-22
Economics by Baumol covers both micro and macro. Get that book, and you don't have to buy two books. Hint.
Book Description
These two highly-respected authors have revised this best-selling book to include more current, modern subject matter and events while maintaining those features that have contributed to its great success. It continues to use stories, graphs, and equations and a unified, logical organization to make economic concepts easy-to-understand and relevant to all readers. Users of this book see the connection between growth, trade, comparative advantage, and the production possibilities frontier. When readers understand how a simple competitive market system works, they are ready to focus on problems of real-world markets.
Currency data has been updated through the second quarter of 2003, with coverage of deflation, the effects of the war with Iraq and the war on terrorism, and the wars' impact on the national deficit. A comprehensive overview introducing economics begins the book; subsequent topics include: foundations of microeconomics: consumers and firms; market imperfection and the role of government; concepts and problems in macroeconomics; the goods and money markets; macroeconomic analysis; and the world economy.
An excellent desk reference for economists; this book will serve any business owner, as an understanding of basic economics will prove helpful in all ventures.
Customer Reviews:
Good combo.......2006-02-08
This review is for Principles of Economics (7th Edition). I actually bought this book instead of Principals of Macroeconomics which looks almost the same. After I received it, I realized it was the incorrect book. I went the publisher's website and did some research. This book includes all the information I needed for the Macro class. It also contains the full contents of both the publisher's Macro and Micro books. Turns out this book was a great book to keep for future references.
In addition to this being a great find, this book is very well written and I had no trouble understanding all the points.
Student's opinion of this book.......2005-09-11
From a first-time macroeconomic student's point of view, this book sucked. The glossary was very poor making it troublesome to look up unfamiliar terms. Each chapter makes frequent reference to charts and graphs that are located several pages away, causing you to have to shuffle back and forth between pages, trying to decipher difficult new concepts. This book also assumes some prior knowledge of economic concepts, and moves very quickly through progressively more complex material. Thumbs down from a new student's perspective.
Excellent book for economic students in their first year.......1999-05-04
This book presents and explains both Micro and Macro Theory in a very friendly way. It explains step by step the functions of the micro and macro theory and describes the fuctions of the instituions and organizations involve in the economy as a whole. It gives historical background, which many students look for in order to understand how? why? who? the study of economics. Besides it explains really well the economic terminology introduce as you read the book. Finally the book presents current event cases through the chapters which are related it to the ideas presented in the reading.
Book Description
Case and Fair is the trusted Macroeconomics text that teaches students through stories, graphs, and equations...and now, a new emphasis on excellence in assessment.
These two highly-respected economists and educators have revised this best-selling Macroeconomics book to include more current topics and events while maintaining its hallmark feature of teaching economics through stories, graphs, and equations; relevant to students with various learning styles (verbal, visual, and numerical).
Book Description
Principles of Microeconomics has been thoroughly revised, simplified, and updated for the Fourth Edition. Co-written by Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize for his research on imperfect markets, and Carl E. Walsh, one of the leading monetary economists in the field, Principles of Microeconomics is the most modern and accurate text available.
Book Description
In writing this textbook, Mankiw has tried to put himself in the position of someone seeing economics for the first time. The author's conversational writing style is superb for presenting the politics and science of economic theories to tomorrow's decision-makers. Because Mankiw wrote it for the students, the book stands out among all other principles texts by intriguing students to apply an economic way of thinking in their daily lives. Receiving such a praise as "perhaps the best ever" textbook in economic principles, it's no wonder Mankiw's prize project has quickly become one of the most successful books ever to be published in the college marketplace.
Customer Reviews:
Solid introductory text for students and general readers.......2004-08-23
This very readable book is a subset of the chapters included in Prof. Mankiw's "Principles of Economics". That book has thirty-six chapters in thirteen parts. This has eighteen chapters in eight parts. Parts one and two are common to both editions. This one excludes the discussion of microeconomics in parts three through seven, but has the rest of the chapters in parts eight through fifteen.
It is much more manageable for a one term introductory course in macroeconomics. However, do not confuse this introductory text with the more mathematically rigorous book Macroeconomics that is also authored by Mankiw. However, if you want to be an econometrician, neither text is probably enough to get you where you need to be to launch into those studies.
This book has a lot of strengths for those who want to develop some intuitions about economic thought and who may not have the mathematics necessary for a more rigorous treatment of the subject. However, the foundation it will give you will be sound and ecumenical enough to allow you to take on further studies in various branches of macroeconomics that have a more defined theology on the role of government in the economy.
Simply put, the best economics textbook on the market.......2004-08-09
"Brief Principles of Macroeconomics" is identical to Mankiw's "Principles of Macroeconomics," except that 5 chapters on mainly microeconomic topics have been deleted. These five chapters cover elasticity, price controls, consumer & producer surplus, taxation, and international trade. Most college macro courses do not cover these topics, so students can save a few bucks by purchasing this "Brief" version.
For 10 years, I have taught intro-level economics courses at a university. I have used a variety of books, and read many others (to steal their best ideas and examples for my teaching!). Mankiw is the one I like best.
More importantly, Mankiw is the one my students consistently like best. I often survey students near the end of the semester about their satisfaction with different aspects of the textbook, including: clarity, brevity, real-world relevance, effective layout & use of color, quality of the diagrams, and so forth. I tell my students not to sign their survey - I want their responses to be anonymous and completely candid. I tell students "If this book doesn't work for you, PLEASE tell me so that I can use a better one for my next batch of students."
More than any other textbook I've used, Mankiw's Economics textbook gets the highest student ratings in every category.
It might also be helpful for you to know about the difficulty level of Mankiw. I would describe it as average. For comparison, I would describe the following as above average difficulty level: Stockman, Stiglitz, Baumol/Blinder, Case/Fair, and Parkin. I would describe these books as below average difficulty level: Tucker, Miller, Bade/Parkin, Boyes/Melvin, and O'Sullivan/Sheffrin. I think the difficulty level of Mankiw is roughly comparable to that of Schiller, Colander, McConnell/Brue, and McEachern.
Despite that Mankiw is merely "average" difficulty level, it maintains a fairly good degree of analytical rigor.
Also, the writing style is student-friendly (but definitely not too informal), and, unlike other textbooks, Mankiw avoids introducing a lot of terms that won't be important for anything later in the book. The layout is attractive, yet clean and uncluttered, with lots of space in the margins for students to jot notes if they wish. Students find the end-of-chapter exercises very helpful.
The most distinguishing characteristic of the macroeconomics chapters is Mankiw's innovative approach. He first covers long-run topics: What determines a country's standard of living in the long run? What is the cause of the long-run upward trend in the cost of living? Why is there unemployment when things are "normal" (i.e. not a recession)? And many others (including saving, investment, the government budget deficit, the trade balance - all things you hear about on the evening news every day).
Then, he turns to short-run issues, such as recessions and booms.
Why treat the long run first? Because it's easier to learn the short-run analysis after students have learned the long-run equilibrium around which the economy fluctuates. (Also, there is much more agreement in the profession about the long-run analysis, whereas there's a fair amount of controversy over some of the details of the short-run analysis.)
How is this approach received? Very well, as evidenced by the fact that many other textbooks have copied it AFTER Mankiw first popularized it with the first edition of his Principles book, and before that, the first edition of his excellent intermediate macroeconomics textbook.
Mankiw is a superstar in the profession - and outside of it, as well. President Bush tapped him to be the Chairperson of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, and Mankiw briefs the President once or twice every week (in addition to many other important responsibilities.)
Despite working for a Republican Administration, Mankiw presents a very balanced treatment of economics in his textbooks (and I am telling you this as a Democrat). In fact, Mankiw prefers GOOD ideas, whether Republican or Democrat. For example, he recently argued for a gas tax increase to encourage conservation, and suggested the revenue be given back to consumers in the form of an income tax cut. Mankiw clearly does not just "push the Party line." This is integrity.
The company that publishes Mankiw's Principles of Economics textbooks, Thomson/South-Western, invests a lot of resources into continually improving this book. Compared to any other textbook publisher I know, they hire more student and teacher reviewers and devote more time and effort and money into obtaining, processing, and incorporating critical user feedback so that each edition, and accompanying supplements, are the very best they can be.
All in all, I readily recommend Mankiw's Brief Principles of Macroeconomics textbook.
Does a good job for its objective.......2004-07-13
The book attempts to teach a reasonable mainstream core of macroeconomics and its basic models. The writing style is very good. For those who are looking for a broad discussion of policy issues, this may not be the book for them. However, the book is intended for first year college economics students and the need for them to understand a few consensus macroeconomic concepts and models so that they can apply those models and concepts to policy issues after they leave the course. A good example of putting the cart before the horse is the comment by a reviewer who thought the book had a liberal bent. Of course, we all now know that N. Gregory Mankiw is the head of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers (not exactly a recommendation for becoming a card carrying liberal). And that's the danger of reviewing introductory economics textbooks on the basis of an illusory political intent. The books most often ought to be rated on their objective--presenting a few models and techiniques to the student who will most often not take another formal economics course. Don't dismiss the book because it isn't steeped in political pronouncements. Check it out for technical useability and its writing clarity. You might like it.
Don't look at those lib'ruls, children -- move along now.......2003-12-26
A nice intro, but as noted by another reviewer, very short shrift given to other schools of economic thought. A recommended reading list gives plenty of well-respected conservative writers, with Milton Friedman topping the list, but only Paul Krugman appears representing other thoughts, and he's singled out as a "liberal economist". I think there are somewhat more honest introductions to the subject.
Some good, some poor.......2002-06-24
Mankiw's book has a good organization -- for what it has. He spends a lot of time laying out some key fundamental topics, such as unemployment, GDP, CPI, DJIA, and so forth.
However, his book is entirely mum on the fact that there are different schools of thought, e.g., Keynesians, Classicals, Monetarists, Austrians, etc. A reader comes away thinking that all economists agree with Mankiw, and that simply is not true. Many other principles-level economics books have specific chapters devoted to these schools of thought.
In my Macro classes, I put Mankiw on "reserve" in the library and suggest that students read the 5 chapters dealing with "The Data of Macroeconomics" and "The Real Economy in the Long Run." However, I use other text books for the rest of the course, since they explain why economists disagree, give better information about actual public policy issues, and help a student understand, e.g., what the federal reserve is doing, or why some politicians like deficit spending and others dislike it, or whether the trade deficit is important or not.
For a reader who merely wants to understand the core issues mentioned above, Mankiw is a good book which I highly recommend. For a reader who wants to understand the nature of the public policy debates over these core issues, Mankiw is a horrible book which I suggest that you avoid like the plague.
Book Description
Macroeconomics: Principles and Policy remains a proven leader in the world of economics. Since introducing the aggregate supply/aggregate demand model as a fundamental tool for learning economics over two decades ago, William J. Baumol and Alan S. Blinder continue to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to apply modern economics to their world--now and in the future. This is all the more true today, as the U.S. economy enters its first recession in more than a decade.
Customer Reviews:
A good introduction to macroeconomics.......2003-12-25
"Increasing demand leads to rising interest rates which leads to reduced investment spending and appreciating currency exchange rates..." The authors of "Macroeconomics" effortlessly provide the economic reasoning that underlie events like these such that they really make common sense - and without the need for rote memorization on the part of the reader. A previous reviewer from Los Angeles did an excellent job in praising Baumol and Blinder for their clear and concise teaching, and I strongly agree with his comments. Instead of going into abstract theories and ideas, Baumol and Blinder focus on making the reader understand the "real world" implications of macroeconomics. For example, each chapter in their book introduces a different contemporary economic issue as a way to illustrate the ideas being described in the text. Additionally, the authors outlined eight take-home messages that they believe the reader should remember after finishing the book. Although the authors label these take-home messages as "Ideas for Beyond the Final Exam", these ideas are equally relevant for student and non-student alike.
It should be kept in mind that the eighth edition of this textbook was published in 1999, so most of the "contemporary" issues that are discussed within are now out of date. In one chapter, for example, the authors' upbeat commentary on America's 1998 budget surplus seems sadly ironic considering the large budget deficit that we are currently dealing with in financing the War on Terror in 2003. Additionally, I thought many of the examples in the book were a bit "pro-Clinton", and depending on one's own political orientation, that may or may not be welcome. I have not looked at the ninth (and latest) edition of "Macroeconomics", but assuming that the fundamental principles remain the same, I would encourage the reader to pick up that copy in order to have a more current and up-to-date illustration of ideas.
Readers looking for mathematical models and equations to play with will be sorely disappointed, as the only foray into mathematical analysis involves deriving the demand-side equilibrium condition of the Keynesian economic model (a simple algebraic equation). But considering that the slant of this book is towards "real world" understanding, I think the authors were probably justified in keeping the mathematical equations to a minimum.
All in all, I think "Macroeconomics" by Baumol and Blinder would be an excellent introduction for the economically-illiterate person (as I was before reading this book). Although many of the examples in the eighth edition are a bit out of date, it is true that the fundamental economic principles that are discussed endure throughout all of the editions of this textbook.
macro class textbook.......2003-03-12
this is a good straight forward text that does not get bogged down in the unecessary details for an introduction to the subject. It is simplified, and straightforward, while trying to be enjoyable reading.
Very fast shipping. Excellent book condition.......2002-01-17
Very fast transaction. Happy with the transaction
Perfect for Intro-level course.......2002-01-10
Baumol and Blinder explain all the important concepts of macroeconomics with tremendous clarity. Students with little or no knowledge of economics will find this book most straight-forward. Interesting real world examples are given to reinforce key ideas. For example, the authors describe the Asian crisis of 1998 to illustrate the shortcomings of a fixed exchange rate system. Secondly, unlike other econ. textbooks, this one is filled with colorful graphs and even photographs. I wouldn't be too surprised if this book succeeds in piquing the interest of those students, who are averse to econ. Finally, the attempts at humor are generally unsuccessful but provide a refreshing change from the unceasing monotony of most college textbooks.
the authors clearly know how to teach.......2000-04-04
I think this introductory econ book is exceptionally good as a text book; a book that truely deserves 5 stars. If a book explains things clearly, I usually give it 4 stars, but this book goes beyond that. The authors made a concious effort to make learning easy and meaningful.
Right at the beginning, the authors will tell you that they don't expect you to be a econ fanatic and remember every little detail - in fact, the authors seem to completely understand why we students forget most details soon after the final exam. So, right a way they list out the main ideas - in their own words: "ideas for beyond the final exam". Not only did the authors filtered out the most important material, they also truly believed that the material will be improtant beyond the final exam - in life that is. It is the first text book I saw that has such a candit and honest attitude because so many books and so many people talks down to me rather than at me.
Also, for each chapter, the authors always begin with some kind of "bait question", something that the reader understands but usually can't answer right a way. This is a great way to focus the chapter and entice people to read. And all the examples the authors use are either famous or recent (or both). One effect is to make you think what you are learning is truly useful because you can use it to analyze so many things from the news. A more subtle impression is that the authors really did update the book every few years to reflect important events that just occurred. As a computer science engineering major, I have seen countless "8th editions" that's just like the prior ones - but I seriously doubt the prior editions of this econ book talked about Asian economic crisis or the booming economy of the 1998 / 99
clear book + impressive effort = 5 stars
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- Retirement Income Redesigned: Master Plans for Distribution: An Adviser's Guide for Funding Boomers' Best Years
- Run With the Bulls Without Getting Trampled: The Qualities You Need to Stay Out of Harm's Way and Thrive at Work
- Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium: An Interview With Peter Seewald
- Steel and Steelworkers: Race and Class Struggle in Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh (Suny Series in American Labor History)
- Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach
- The Antitrust Revolution: Economics, Competition, and Policy
- The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America
Books Index
Books Home
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General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Study Guide for Mankiw's Principles of Macroeconomics, 4th
Principles of Microeconomics
Study Guide for Mankiw's Principles of Microeconomics, 4th
Managerial Accounting
Brief Principles of Macroeconomics
