Macroeconomics
An Introduction

Provides a lucid and novel introduction to macroeconomic issues and introduces an alternative approach of understanding macroeconomics.

Alex M. Thomas (Author)

9781108731997, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 September 2021

250 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.7 cm, 0.33 kg

'… a welcomed, invigorating study of macroeconomics principles … Thomas's book inspires economics educators to pursue a reflective and pluralist approach to macroeconomics, founded in the principles of open-mindedness, realism and social purpose, without losing on the technical rigour or policy applicability.' Danielle Guizzo, Review of Political Economy

Macroeconomics: An Introduction, provides a lucid and novel introduction to macroeconomic issues. It introduces the reader to an alternative approach of understanding macroeconomics, which is inspired by the works of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and Piero Sraffa. It also presents the reader with a critical account of mainstream marginalist macroeconomics. The book begins with a brief history of economic theories and then takes the reader through three different ways of conceptualizing the macroeconomy. Subsequently, the theories of money and interest rates, output and employment levels, and economic growth are discussed. The book ends by providing a policy template for addressing the macroeconomic concerns of unemployment and inflation. The conceptual discussion in Macroeconomics is situated within the context of the Indian economy. Besides using publicly available data, the contextual description is instantiated using excerpts from works of fiction by Indian authors.

List of Illustrations
List of Fiction
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
Note to the Reader
1. What is Economics
2. Conceptualizing the Macroeconomy
3. Money and Interest Rates
4. Income and Employment Levels
5. Economic Growth
6. Why Economic Theory Matters
7. The Policy Objective of Full Employment
8. The Policy Objective of Low Inflation
9. Towards Good Economics
References
Data Sources
Index of Names
Index of Subjects.

Subject Areas: Macroeconomics [KCB], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA], Economics [KC]