This graduate textbook is a "primer" in macroeconomics. It starts with essential undergraduate macroeconomics and develops in a simple and rigorous manner the central topics of modern macroeconomic theory including rational expectations, growth, business cycles, money, unemployment, government policy, and the macroeconomics of nonclearing markets. The emphasis throughout the book is on both foundations and presenting the simplest model for each topic that will deliver the relevant answers. The first two chapters recall the main workhorses of undergraduate macroeconomics: the Solow-Swan growth model, the Keynesian IS-LM model, and the Phillips curve. The next chapters present four fundamental "building blocks" of modern macroeconomics: rational expectations, intertemporal dynamic models, nonclearing markets and imperfect competition, and uncertainty. Later the book deals with growth, notably the Ramsey model, overlapping generations, and endogenous growth. Chapter 10 moves to the famous "real business cycles" (RBC), which integrate in a unified framework growth and fluctuations. The final chapters look at the issue of stabilization, how best to guard the economy from shocks, and the connections between politics and the macroeconomy. To make the book self contained, a mathematical appendix gives a number of simple technical results that are sufficient to follow the formal developments of the book.
Industry Reviews
"In this new text, designed for first year graduate students, Jean-Pascal Bénassy conducts a review of every important development in macroeconomic theory since the 1950s. Each topic is viewed through explicit models, designed to reveal its central issues as simply and directly as possible, but without giving up either rigor or substance. There are 590 references, from Abel to Zabel. An encyclopedic achievement!"--Robert E. Lucas, Jr., University of
Chicago and 1995 Nobel Laureate in Economics
"Jean-Pascal Bénassy has written a remarkably thorough and circumspect textbook which includes a unified presentation of the most important advances in macroeconomics of the past three decades. Because macroeconomics remains a field with deep divisions, Benassy's balanced treatment will gain currency not only as a reference work but also as a standard for introductory graduate level macroeconomic courses."--Michael C. Burda, Professor of Economics,
Humboldt University, Berlin
"This book contains lucid and cobweb-free presentations of a truly immense range of macroeconomic models. It not only covers the basic models of economic growth and fluctuations but also has peerless treatments of specialized topics such as the effect of imperfections in financial markets and the political economy of deficits. Graduate students should find this invaluable regardless of the predilections of their instructors. As a reference, it also provides a
superb repository of our progress to date."--Julio J. Rotemberg, William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
"This textbook represents a real tour de force as it offers a fascinating panorama of modern macroeconomic theory that reads like a novel. Jean-Pascal Bénassy, with his customary expository elegance and his unmatched ability to distill the essential, carries the reader without effort from the simple to the sophisticated. This milestone book is a must-have for students and teachers alike."--Philippe Weil, Professor of Economics, Sciences Po, Paris and
Université Libre de Bruxelles
