The Current State of Macroeconomics : Leading Thinkers in Conversation

The book provides an authoritative guide to the current state of macroeconomics and the views of the leading practitioners of the discipline. The subject is approached from three main perspectives: methodology, theory and economic policy. The focal interest of the book is its being built on extensive conversations with some of the world's leading macroeconomists. The book is structured in two parts: the first contains a brief introduction and the transcript of the conversations, and the second presents systematic analysis of the main information they contain. The conversations cover all the major topics of macroeconomic theory, as well as questions of methodology, relationships with the real economy, academic systems and future lines of research. This book will be important supplementary reading for macroeconomics courses at different levels, and for a wider audience of researchers and scholars in economics. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 Part I: Interviews......Page 16 1 Professor Alberto Alesina......Page 18 2 Professor Costas Azariadis......Page 31 3 Professor Charles R. Bean......Page 47 4 Professor Victoria Chick......Page 63 5 Professor Lawrence J. Christiano......Page 86 6 Professor Alex Cukierman......Page 111 7 Professor Martin Eichenbaum......Page 130 8 Professor Robert Eisner......Page 148 9 Professor Charles A.E. Goodhart......Page 164 10 Professor Robert J. Gordon......Page 178 11 Professor Robert E. Lucas Jr.......Page 190 12 Professor Albert Marcet......Page 196 13 Professor Stephen Nickell......Page 209 14 Professor Christopher A. Pissarides......Page 222 15 Professor Danny T. Quah......Page 235 16 Professor Thomas J. Sargent......Page 260 17 Professor Dennis J. Snower......Page 272 18 Professor Charles Wyplosz......Page 289 Part II: Analysis of Interview Information by Topic......Page 300 1 About the Authors......Page 302 Mathematics......Page 303 Statistics/Econometrics......Page 304 Academic systems......Page 305 Relation of microeconomics to macroeconomics......Page 307 Schools of macroeconomic thought......Page 308 Growth theory......Page 313 Business cycle theory......Page 314 Labour economics......Page 315 Theory of macroeconomic policy......Page 317 Other theories......Page 320 Present and future research......Page 321 US economy......Page 323 European economies......Page 324 European integration......Page 326 Other questions......Page 327 Part III: Bibliography......Page 330 1 Interviewees’ references......Page 332 2 Other references......Page 356 A......Page 363 B......Page 364 C......Page 365 D......Page 366 E......Page 367 G......Page 369 I......Page 371 L......Page 372 M......Page 373 N......Page 375 P......Page 376 R......Page 378 S......Page 379 U......Page 381 V......Page 382 Z......Page 383 This work sets out to show the state of macroeconomics at the end of the 20th century from three main perspectives: methodology, theory and economic policy. It is built on extensive conversations with some of the world's leading macroeconomists. These are based on wide questionnaires, covering jointly almost all the topics of macroeconomic theory, as well as questions of methodology, real economy, and even academic systems and future lines of research. Some of the questions have been put to all the respondents or many of them, with the aim of bringing out their different positions. References about authors and themes are also provided The book sets out to show the current state of macroeconomics, from three main perspectives: methodology, theory and economic policy. It is built on extensive conversation with some of the world's leading macroeconomists. These are based on wide questionnaires, covering jointly almost all the topics of macroeconomic theory, as well as questions of methodology, real economy, and even academic systems and future lines of research. Some of the questions have been put to all the respondents or many of them, with the aim of bringing out their different positions. References about authors and themes are also provided. "The book provides an authoritative guide to the current state of macroeconomics and the views of the leading practitioners of the discipline. The subject is approached from three main perspectives: methodology, theory and economic policy. Based on extensive conversations with some of the world's leading macroeconomists, the book is structured in two parts: the first contains a brief introduction and the transcript of the conversations, and the second presents systematic analysis of the main information they contain."--BOOK JACKET. Carlos Usabiaga Ibáñez. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 321-351) And Index.