Macroeconomics

Although this book is put out by a respected academic press it is ultimately, a polemical, not a scientific, work. The authors ignore copious evidence (statistical and otherwise) which would undercut their case. Indeed, the original econometric evidence that is presented to support their position is fundamentally flawed.

This book is covering all the aspects of the economic and social aspects of e-Commerce. It is well thought through. I enjoyed the book.

This is one of the classic text in the area. It covers most of the main policy areas in a series of chapters written by separate authors. The multi-author thing is a bit disturbing given very different levels. Another drawback is that it contains relatively little economics and not all of that is up-to-date -- most of the book presents policy and institutional details. The latest version is quite up-to-date but nothing on the Constitutional Treaty and little on the 2004 enlargement.

parkin's macro text, like his micro text, provides a rudimentary, yet comprehensive, survey of macro econ. it is good for students who have a slight grasp of economics and would like to know more about it. parkin does a good job of explaining and introducing the fundamental concepts. more advanced econ students or individuals with a base of economic knowledge, spend your time and money somewhere else

The authors present in a systematic manner, but there are quite a lot of errors. Beyond this, I recommend the followings to the next edition (if any):

1. Include the materials that are not found in this latest edition but available from the previous edition;

2. Include more figures wherever necessary;

3. Re-write the derivations in the appendices in a more detailed manner.

4. Give more intuitions to those complicated formulae wherever possible.

Student of the co-author

Most of the time, this reads like a text book--or at least some sort of book you'd have for a class. But that's not a bad thing. This just isn't something you pick up just for fun. You have to be interested.

I have a growing interest in women's studies, so anything releating to gender is of interest to me. Most of the essays in this book are interesting glimpses of small aspects of gender (often coupled with race or class, sometimes in historical contexts) in the consumer culture. The specialized information is very interesting, and the accompanying pictures and graphics add to it.

Some of the contributions, however, are rather dull. Don't be afraid to skip something you don't want to read. Just go to the next article. Chances are, you won't be missing much.

I recommend not reading the "introduction to students," however--especially if you're not a student. But even if you are, as I am, it's a little dull and, well, pointless. Just get to the good stuff. It is a rather good examination of gender in the consumer culture.

OK for macroeconomists. At times the text is a hard read. It could offer more/better insights if it had clearer practical examples. Overall an essential reading for econometrists in macroeconomics.

Bhalla wants to fight. He claims that globalization - far from being the bugaboo imagined by the WTO protestors - has led to a world where incomes are becoming more equally distributed. The conventional wisdom that incomes are diverging rapidly is, Bhalla claims, based on bad numbers and bad number crunching. When the right numbers are crunched properly - here Bhalla says in effect "trust me, I am the only person who knows how to do this right" - we find that incomes are in fact becoming more equally distributed across the world's citizens.

More specifically, Bhalla makes the following points: (1) Income inequality is declining across nations (in large part because of rapid income growth in poor populous nations such as China and India in East and South Asia). (2) Income inequality is rising in many nations. (3) Because inequality across nations is the larger component of total world income inequality, total inequality is declining despite the rise in inequality in the average nation.

Unless you have time to spare, however, I recommend you read The New Geography of Global Income Inequality instead of this book. It's more expensive than the Bhalla book, but it's also a much better book - more focused, better organized, more convincing, and more theoretically informed. In fact, if not for the price of The New Geography, I would recommend it for college courses in globalization and economic development. I would not recommend Bhalla's book for undergraduates. In addition to The New Geography, I also recommend the September 2002 article in the American Economic Review by Bourguignon and Morrisson, "Inequality among world citizens, 1820-1992."

I have the Chinese version of the book, and I find it difficult to read through it, although the author of the book did not apply advanced mathematics.

Macroeconomics, an introduction to advanced methods.

This book is used in the advanced makroeconomics course at the University of Uppsala in Sweden (M.Sc in Economics).

Chapter 2 starts with a very simple model, using 5 equations. Short-term and long-term multipliers are derived, such as dY/dG, followed by stability analysis.

Chapter 3 adds the labor market to the chapter2 model.

Chapter 4, does increased money-wage flexibility lessen the amount of unemployment that follows from a decrease in aggregate demand? The chapter2 model is extended a bit.

Chapter 5 adds rational expectations, if the agents in the market have expectations on government policy, how does this affect the outcome?

Chapter 6 more rational expectations.

Chapter 7, the bond market is studied, how are budget deficits financed?

Chapter 8, after learning the basics with a simple model, 5 - 7 equations, the reader gets his/her hands dirty with the Mundell/Fleming model. The model covers exchange-rates, the bond-market, the labor-market, long/short-term etc.

Chapter 9, More Mundell/Fleming

Chapters 10 and 11 cover some "new" theories such as labor-unions and government spending.

All the models in the book can be analyzed with pen and paper. However, you'll need a basic understanding of matrix algebra and calculus.

A major flaw in the book is that you're expected to derive most of the multipliers yourself. Furthermore, several chapters are difficult to read, because they're unclear.

If you're looking for a tutorial on macroeconomic models, then I would not recommend it. Still a give it 3 stars, and that only because I had a good teacher, whose lectures made most chapters clear.