A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, Second Edition

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, Second Edition

by David Moss
Released July 2014
Publisher(s): Harvard Business Review Press
ISBN: 9781625271976

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Book description

Understanding the Ground Rules for the Global Economy

In this revised and updated edition of A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, David A. Moss draws on his years of teaching at Harvard Business School to explain important macro concepts using clear and engaging language.

This guidebook covers the essentials of macroeconomics and examines, in a simple and intuitive way, the core ideas of output, money, and expectations. Early chapters leave you with an understanding of everything from fiscal policy and central banking to business cycles and international trade. Later chapters provide a brief monetary history of the United States as well as the basics of macroeconomic accounting. You’ll learn why countries trade, why exchange rates move, and what makes an economy grow.

Moss’s detailed examples will arm you with a clear picture of how the economy works and how key variables impact business and will equip you to anticipate and respond to major macroeconomic events, such as a sudden depreciation of the real exchange rate or a steep hike in the federal funds rate.

Read this book from start to finish for a complete overview of macroeconomics, or use it as a reference when you’re confronted with specific challenges, like the need to make sense of monetary policy or to read a balance of payments statement. Either way, you’ll come away with a broad understanding of the subject and its key pieces, and you’ll be empowered to make smarter business decisions.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication Page
  5. Contents Page
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
  8. Part I: Understanding the Macro Economy
    1. 1 Output
      1. Measuring National Output
      2. Exchange of Output across Countries
      3. What Makes Output Go Up and Down?
      4. Isn't Wealth More Important Than Output?
    2. 2 Money
      1. Money and Its Effect on Interest Rates, Exchange Rates, and Inflation
      2. Nominal versus Real
      3. Money and Banking
      4. The Art and Science of Central Banking
    3. 3 Expectations
      1. Expectations and Inflation
      2. Expectations and Output
      3. Expectations and Other Macro Variables
  9. Part II: Selected Topics: Background and Mechanics
    1. 4 A Short History of Money and Monetary Policy in the United States
      1. Defining the Unit of Account and the Price of Money
      2. The Gold Standard: A Self-Regulating Mechanism?
      3. The Creation of the Federal Reserve
      4. Finding the Right Monetary Rule under a Floating Exchange Rate
      5. The Transformation of American Monetary Policy
    2. 5 The Fundamentals of GDP Accounting
      1. Three Measurement Approaches
      2. The Nuts and Bolts of the Expenditure Method
      3. Depreciation
      4. GDP versus GNP
      5. Historical and Cross-Country Comparisons
      6. Investment, Savings, and Foreign Borrowing
    3. 6 Reading a Balance of Payments Statement
      1. A Typical Balance of Payments Statement
      2. Understanding Credits and Debits
      3. The Power and Pitfalls of BOP Accounting
    4. 7 Understanding Exchange Rates
      1. The Current Account Balance
      2. Inflation and Purchasing Power Parity
      3. Interest Rates
      4. Making Sense of Exchange Rates
  10. Conclusion
    1. Output
    2. Money
    3. Expectations
    4. Uses and Misuses of Macroeconomics
  11. Epilogue
  12. Glossary
  13. Notes
  14. About the Author

Product information

  • Title: A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, Second Edition
  • Author(s): David Moss
  • Release date: July 2014
  • Publisher(s): Harvard Business Review Press
  • ISBN: 9781625271976