Macroeconomics

This text is difficult to read, as it is written in a very information-dense style. The figures are often very busy, as too much information is put into each one. This book should be used as a reference volume, but probably not as a textbook.

From my own explorations into the research on saving, it appears as though Mr. Kotlikoff is considered one of the heavyweights on this subject. This book is a collection of a dozen studies that he has authored or co-authored. Mr. Kotlikoff's preface to the book and the introductions to each of the four parts identify the key findings of the material discussed. This was helpful as this book was extremely difficult reading. The studies are heavily laden with intricate formulas that called for far more effort than I could bring myself to expend so as to comprehend them. To get to text that provided a reasonable return for the time and energy it takes to read it required frequent skimming.

Probably because I am most interested in what I perceive to be within my own locus of control, Part I entitled "Savings Motives" (and to a lesser degree Part IV called "Empirical Studies of Saving") held the most interest for me. Parts II and III included papers on savings that I believe would be of more interest to policymakers and those seeking a macro-economic perspective. Part II is labeled "Fiscal Policy and Savings," while Part III is entitled "Social Security, Demographics, and Savings."

With each study covering a different aspect of how savings are affected by selected variables, the value of this volume to any given reader is not dissimilar to that of a cookbook. Some may find that one or more studies are worth the value of obtaining the book, whereas others may not. Some of the findings are clearly of interest to me, but because of the significant difficulty rendered by the very technical presentation, and I was unwilling to give this book more than two stars.

Azariadis doesn't display the fun or power of macroeconomics. A dull book that intends to be "modern" in its language, and only hides the economics. There are five or six better advanced macroeconomics book to choose from. Buy it only and only if required in the reading list!

Not that well organized or motivated. A reader interested in Macroeconomics will not get much out of this book unless they look very hard. Intended as a book for first year graduate students in economics, it fails to bridge the gap between concept-building undergraduate courses and the relatively more mathematical graduate courses.

This book only provides questions and answers. No explanations of the answers. If you already know what economic data is used for gross domestic product and the GNP of Timbuktu, this book is for you. No explanation=no help.... Using this book, I passed the CLEP with a 96%.

This book contained no study materials. It was a waste of money

This book should be a non-starter for advanced students of Macroeconomics: poorly written, poorly thought through, difficult to follow and very closed-minded.

A waste of valuable book shelf space!

For $48 I expected a substantial book loaded with solid information. Instead it is in narrative form, a series of opinions, speeches to a forum, congressional testimony, many opinions contradictory to one another, most with a speaker bias or selling a point of view. I felt I did not learn anything nor use it for self education nor could I use it to guide others.

Holy smokes..what sort of a guy can write a book like this? I have never read such a boring work written by someone who appears to be such a pompous twit.

I wanted to purchase this e-Doc but the editorial review didn't make any sense to me. I found out later that the reason is that they put the wrong review text (Asia: The East is wireless). Perhaps if they change it, I will then consider it for purchase as I think you would.

The author harnesses empirical data but fails to put forth any meaningful hypothesis concerning the declining value of money in third world countries. I find the scholarship a bit narrow-minded. For example, the idea that the devaluation of the peso is the systematic outcome of the free currency market is poorly hatched and hardly researched. The author fails to address the geo-political landscape as potential causes for this loss of value and refuses to discuss the issue of NAFTA in a coherent way. My thinking is that the author is a pampered, ivory tower intellectual who has lost touch with his ability to reason.

I was very disappointed with this book. The appearance of this book is very poor because of the extensive use of Courier font. The book contains the same questions on different pages with different answers provided. Some of the questions are outdated and the answers are no longer true. It also contains many types of questions that never appeared in the actual exam. I must say buying this book was totaly a waste of money and time. Anybody can do much better on the exam if they review their own economics textbook rather than relying on this pass book.