Macroeconomics, 6th. ed.

• Main Author: Stephen D. Williamson
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Pearson 2020
• Subjects: Macroeconomics
• Online Access: http://dspace.uniten.edu.my/jspui/handle/123456789/15315
• Institution: Universiti Tenaga Nasional

The first five editions of Macroeconomics had an excellent reception in the market. In the sixth edition, I build on the strengths of the first five editions, while producing a framework for students of macroeconomics that captures all of the latest developments in macroeconomic thinking, applied to recent economic events and developments in macroeconomic policy. Previous editions of this text used available macroeconomic models and new ideas to analyze the events of the global financial crisis of 2008- 2009. Now, with the financial crisis receding in the rear-view mirror, there are new challenges that macroeconomists and policymakers need to address, and that students should come to terms with. What are the causes and consequences of the low rates of labor force participation and employment in the United States? What is unconventional monetary policy, and why are many central banks in the world engaging in such policies? What are the macroeconomic implications of default on debt by sovereign governments? Why are real rates of interest so low in world? Can inflation be too low, and what should governments do about too-low inflation? What is the role of fiscal policy in a liqudidity trap? What is Neo-Fisherism? What is secular stagnation? These questions, and more, are answered in this revised sixth edition. In detail, the key changes in the sixth edition are: • Chapter 6, “Search and Unemployment,” has been revised to include a section on the “one-sided search model,” an approach to modeling the behavior of the unemployed. This model determines the reservation wage for an unemployed worker, and shows how unemployment benefits, job offer rates, and separations determine the unemployment rate. • Chapter 12, “Money, Banking, Prices, and Monetary Policy,” includes a new section about unconventional monetary policy and the zero lower bound. Unconventional policies include quantitative easing and negative nominal interest rates. • In Chapter 13, there is a new section on business cycle theories as they relate to the 2008-2009 recession in particular. • Chapter 14 address how New Keynesian models fit the data, and the chapter contains new material on the liquidity trap. • Chapter 15 is entirely new, and analyzes inflation and its causes in a New Keynesian framework. A basic New Keynesian model shows how monetary policy is conducted, in conventional circumstances, and when the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate is a problem. The chapter discusses how secular stagnation or world savings gluts can lead to low real interest rates, and zero lower bound monetary policies. Finally, a dynamic New Keynesian rational expectations model is used to introduce Neo-Fisherism—the idea that central banks should correct too-low inflation by increasing nominal interest rates. • New end-of-chapter problems have been added. • New “Theory Confronts the Data” features include “Government Expenditure Multipliers in the Recovery from the 2008-2009 Recession” (Chapter 11), “The Phillips Curve” (Chapter 15), and “Greece and Sovereign Default” (Chapter 16). • New “Macroeconomics in Action” features include “Default on Government Debt” (Chapter 9), “Social Security and Incentives” (Chapter 10), and “Quantitative Easing in the United States” (Chapter 12). Data figures all have been revised to include the most recent data.