1 comments about A Macroeconomics Reader.

1. Snowden and Vane provide the reader with a potpourri of different articles representing most of the existing schools of macroeconomic thought,ranging from Old Keynesian to New Keynesian,Monetarist,New Classical,Rational Expectations and Real Business cycle theorists.The major problem the editors and authors of these republished academic journal articles face is that they all either believe that Keynes provided no mathematical model of his theory of effective demand in the General Theory(GT) or they believe that there is a mathematical model specified but,based on the claims of Joan Robinson,Austin Robinson and Richard Kahn,there are many mathematical errors running through the GT.It is easily demonstrated that both views are incorrect.This brings us to Part I of this book ,which deals with the"What did Keynes(really)mean"literature.All of the contributions are flawed.This includes the articles by Coddington,Patinkin,Gerrard,and Tobin.All of these authors are unable to integrate any of Keynes's derivatives.Taking the antiderivative automatically would allow any mathematically literate economist to know exactly what Keynes meant because one would obtain the basic functions of Keynes's model of the GT.Consider the derivative specified by Keynes on pp.55-56 ,footnote 2 of the GT.It is that dZ/DN=w .Simple integration yields Z=wN+P,where P is the constant of Integration.Now Keynes specifies that D=pO four times on pp.282-285 of the GT.p is defined to be an expected price.O=F(N),where N equals total employment and O equals real output.P is defined five times on pp.282-285 as being expected profit.In chapter 3,Keynes states that setting D=Z is what the GT is all about.It is obvious that pO=wN+P or that P=pO-wN.Neither Patinkin,who dealt with this same footnote in five other journal articles and 3 books,Coddington,Gerrard,or Tobin,or any economist since 1936 has used simple integration to solve the"What did Keynes Really(really) Mean? "debate."Gerrard spends his entire time "interpreting the interpretations."He could have solved the entire question in 60 seconds by simple integration.

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1 comments about Public Spending in the 20th Century: A Global Perspective.

1. For the first time in four decades comes a fiscal history aimed at the masses. "Vito Tanzi and Ludger Schuknecht have directed their analysis and their provocative hypotheses to a general audience, all the while detailing interesting numbers for the most part by comparing the average percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) attributed to government of seventeen wealthy countries -- the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, and so forth -- from the 1870s until today. Their finding that government's share in GDP has quadrupled in that time immediately catches the reader's attention, and they delve sufficiently deep into data of key subperiods to draw some interesting and unusual references. Unlike previous analysts, Tanzi and Schuknecht place a great deal of weight on ideological factors in conditioning public choice, but they are wholly aware of the more garden-variety factors such as "Baumol's cost disease" and Wagner's law."

   "Probably the most intersting point made in the book is that although government's growth relative to the economy as a whole has been dramatic since the late Victorian era, the fraction of GDP absorbed by government has almost stopped growing since 1980 both in the United States and in other wealthy OECD countries."

   Tanzi and Schuknecht "seem to be familiar with the entire range of the analytic literature, though none of the "techy" modelings underlying this literature are revealed in any detail. This sort of exposition is probably wise because such inclusions would cause the nontechnical reader's eyes to glaze over and are unnecessary for those already anointed. Tanzi and Schuknecht do develop the theoretical notions intuitively, however, which is more important, and their bibliography will be particularly helpful for the neophyte scholar. Their index is quite comprehensive, and both lay and professional readers might start their study there after a quick reading of the initial and final chapters."

   Tanzi and Shuknecht wonderful explication of fiscal policy should make "Public Spending in the 20th Century" a "must read" book for anyone interested in the growth of government. "The wealth of descriptive data and the authors' fresh and lively style make this book very readable...A copy of Tanzi and Schuknecht's work should be on the desk of all policymakers who believe...that the institutions of fiscal choice really matter."

1 comments about Making Poverty: A History.

1. Thomas Lines, a freelance consultant in international agricultural markets, has written a most persuasive book on how to end poverty. He points out that poor countries have small populations, are remote, depend on exporting primary commodities to the global market, and import more food than they export. Three quarters of the world's 1.2 billion poorest people live in rural areas.
   
   Lines writes that the IMF and World Bank `promote and protect the interests of global capital'. They claim that the market lifts food prices, benefiting the poor. Instead, world food prices have halved since 1960. Twelve of the world's poorest countries are poorer than in 1985. In Britain, since 1988, the prices that farmers got for their produce have risen by just 3.4%: retail food prices rose by more than 50%.
   
   Global free markets have benefited speculators and supermarkets, not producers or consumers, producing `unfathomable wealth for those who have worked in finance'. Investors speculate in primary commodities, turning 2007's food price problem into 2008's world food crisis. The supermarkets have become the masters, the price makers, controlling global supplies.
   
   Lines proposes that national governments, not the World Bank or the World Trade Organisation, should decide their own policies. Governments should stop relying on exports to volatile commodity markets: rural policy should start from national food security, not foreign trade. Governments should support domestic agriculture and the production of staple foods, feeding their own people first. Governments should cut corporate power and raise agricultural workers' wages. Governments should raise and stabilise agricultural products' international prices. Governments should promote domestic and regional trade, especially in staple foods.
   
   Lines finishes by writing, "this approach is the only humane one and it has to be pursued, in the face of the powerful vested interest that will inevitably oppose it."

2 comments about Macroeconomics + DiscoverEcon with Paul Solman Videos code card.

1. I am very disappointed in this text. Am using it at a jr college for intro macro (also using same author for intro micro). The material is presented in a confusing way, often omitting important details, and I find the author's "conversational" tone to be condescending... especially when making references to "those of you who just don't get math" and similar phrases to the student...
   I bought and use Mankiw's texts to quickly and accurately learn the material taught in both of my classes, and only refer to Colander's texts to ensure I'm studying the corresponding Mankiw chapters for upcoming exams. I'm easily achieving 100% on graded Aplia assignments and averaging 95% on all exams so far in both classes, thanks to Mankiw's clear, precise, and accurate texts. Meanwhile, my classmates who are using only Colander's texts are really struggling to learn the material needed to be successful in both classes (micro & macro).
   I do not understand the popularity of this author - Mankiw's my author of choice to achieve an easy, excellent grade while actually learning the course material.



2. I used this text (and Colander's other Principles text on Micro) for both my Macro and Micro econ classes and found it to be a wonderful, detailed explanation of the basic principles needed to grasp the concepts. The information was clear and concise, and the many charts and graphs made learning the material enjoyable (and easy). Thanks to David Colander for a wonderful text!

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