Brief Principles of Macroeconomics

Author: N. Gregory Mankiw
List Price: $75.95
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ISBN: 0324171900
Publisher: South-Western College Pub (March, 2003)
Sales Rank: 633,141
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5
Don't look at those lib'ruls, children -- move along now
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.


Rating: 3 out of 5
Some good, some poor
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.

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