I looked at a variety of classes offered my first semester, but I was too intimidated to register for any economics or business courses listed in the catalog. Word on the street was that Economics 101 was a weeder course many students failed. As the first semester went on, a friend of one of my roommates who seemed to spend more time in our dorm room than the library struggled with the class and, ultimately, failed. This confirmed my impression that passing the introductory economics class would be impossibly difficult for me. I graduated four years later without having taken a single economics course.
In hindsight, Occam’s razor favors the theory that this friend of my roommate was simply not a very good student. She spent an awful lot of time complaining about schoolwork as she and my roommates gussied themselves up while “pre-gaming” for frat parties. If she’d allocated more of her time to memorizing economic theories and mathematical formulas, she would've had a better chance of passing Econ 101.
Ten years later, this book has provided me with the introduction to economics I never got at my university, nor from my high school, for that matter. Unlike the cutthroat design of Econ 101 at University of Michigan, this book is not designed to suss out who will fail the course and drop out of business school. The author does present the reader with mathematical formulas and economic theories, but even those who haven’t picked up a math textbook in years will be able to comprehend them. The charts, graphs, and figures provided are all relevant and expounded upon in the text. The theory of comparative advantage is fleshed out by the historical account of political economist David Ricardo arguing against British lawmakers’ protectionist trade policies in 1817. The relationship between the US Federal Reserve and short-term interest rates is compared to the speedometer and gas pedal on a car. If you can understand layman’s explanations of these theories and formulas, you can then understand how these same principles apply to a nation’s economy on a massive scale.
Most, if not all, macroeconomic principles were presented in a nuanced way. The reader is not encouraged to memorize these theories as though they are laws of physics. The author presents economics as an imperfect science, as actual economic conditions are messier than the principles appear on paper. He argues that learning these fundamentals of macroeconomics is important because "only by understanding the baseline relationships can you begin to recognize departures from the rule and, most important, begin to formulate reasoned explanations for what might be driving them.”
In the introduction to the book, Moss explains why it’s important for the general public to have a basic understanding of macroeconomics. The information is approachable to those coming into the study of economics as complete novices. It also could be a good refresher for those who learned a bit about economics in the past but want to get back into it. I knew very little about the subject, but careful reading of this book has given me a solid foundation for further independent study of macroeconomics.
A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics is organized into two parts. Part one covers the three basic pillars of macroeconomics: output, money, and expectations. Part two goes into more depth on each of these topics. So, if you want an even more concise guide to macroeconomics, you can simply read the first three chapters, a mere 85 pages in length.
If you're looking for a compendious introduction to macroeconomics for beginners, or if you want a refresher for terms and theories you struggled to learn back in your Econ 101 class in college, you’ve found the right book.
In hindsight, Occam’s razor favors the theory that this friend of my roommate was simply not a very good student. She spent an awful lot of time complaining about schoolwork as she and my roommates gussied themselves up while “pre-gaming” for frat parties. If she’d allocated more of her time to memorizing economic theories and mathematical formulas, she would've had a better chance of passing Econ 101.
Ten years later, this book has provided me with the introduction to economics I never got at my university, nor from my high school, for that matter. Unlike the cutthroat design of Econ 101 at University of Michigan, this book is not designed to suss out who will fail the course and drop out of business school. The author does present the reader with mathematical formulas and economic theories, but even those who haven’t picked up a math textbook in years will be able to comprehend them. The charts, graphs, and figures provided are all relevant and expounded upon in the text. The theory of comparative advantage is fleshed out by the historical account of political economist David Ricardo arguing against British lawmakers’ protectionist trade policies in 1817. The relationship between the US Federal Reserve and short-term interest rates is compared to the speedometer and gas pedal on a car. If you can understand layman’s explanations of these theories and formulas, you can then understand how these same principles apply to a nation’s economy on a massive scale.
Most, if not all, macroeconomic principles were presented in a nuanced way. The reader is not encouraged to memorize these theories as though they are laws of physics. The author presents economics as an imperfect science, as actual economic conditions are messier than the principles appear on paper. He argues that learning these fundamentals of macroeconomics is important because "only by understanding the baseline relationships can you begin to recognize departures from the rule and, most important, begin to formulate reasoned explanations for what might be driving them.”
In the introduction to the book, Moss explains why it’s important for the general public to have a basic understanding of macroeconomics. The information is approachable to those coming into the study of economics as complete novices. It also could be a good refresher for those who learned a bit about economics in the past but want to get back into it. I knew very little about the subject, but careful reading of this book has given me a solid foundation for further independent study of macroeconomics.
A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics is organized into two parts. Part one covers the three basic pillars of macroeconomics: output, money, and expectations. Part two goes into more depth on each of these topics. So, if you want an even more concise guide to macroeconomics, you can simply read the first three chapters, a mere 85 pages in length.
If you're looking for a compendious introduction to macroeconomics for beginners, or if you want a refresher for terms and theories you struggled to learn back in your Econ 101 class in college, you’ve found the right book.
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