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Supplementary material for this textbook, including slides and DSGE and VAR estimation tutorials, can be found here
Supported by the LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund
Macroeconomic policy is one of the most important policy domains, and the tools of macroeconomics are among the most valuable for policy makers. Yet there has been, up to now, a wide gulf between the level at which macroeconomics is taught at the undergraduate level and the level at which it is practiced. At the same time, doctoral-level textbooks are usually not targeted at a policy audience, making advanced macroeconomics less accessible to current and aspiring practitioners.
This book, born out of the Masters course the authors taught for many years at the Harvard Kennedy School, fills this gap. It introduces the tools of dynamic optimization in the context of economic growth, and then applies them to a wide range of policy questions – ranging from pensions, consumption, investment and finance, to the most recent developments in fiscal and monetary policy. It does so with the requisite rigor, but also with a light touch, and an unyielding focus on their application to policy-making, as befits the authors’ own practical experience.
Advanced Macroeconomics: An Easy Guide is bound to become a great resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and practitioners alike.
“A tour de force. Presenting modern macro theory rigorously but simply, and showing why it helps understand complex macroeconomic events and macroeconomic policies.” — Olivier Blanchard (Peterson Institute, Professor Emeritus at MIT, and former Chief Economist and Director of Research at the IMF)
“This terrifically useful text fills the considerable gap between standard intermediate macroeconomics texts and the more technical text aimed at PhD economics courses. The authors cover the core models of modern macroeconomics with clarity and elegance, filling in details that PhD texts too often leave out. At the same time, the authors draw on their own extensive policy experience to provide thoughtful policy motivation and historical context throughout. Advanced undergraduates, public policy students and indeed many economics PhD students will find it a pleasure to read, and a valuable long-term resource.” — Kenneth Rogoff (Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University, former Chief Economist and Director of Research at the IMF)
“This is an excellent and highly rigorous yet accessible guide to fundamental macroeconomic frameworks that underpin research and policy making in the world. The content reflects the unique perspective of authors who have worked at the highest levels of both government and academia. This makes the book essential reading for serious practitioners, students, and researchers.” — Gita Gopinath (John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics at Harvard University, Chief Economist and Director of Research at the IMF)
“The words Advanced and Easy rarely belong together, but this book gets as close as possible. It covers macroeconomics from the classic fundamentals to the fancy and creative innovations necessary to anyone interested in keeping up with both the policy and the academic worlds.” — Arminio Fraga (former president, Central Bank of Brazil)
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The UK’s Changing Democracy presents a uniquely democratic perspective on all aspects of UK politics, at the centre in Westminster and Whitehall, and in all the devolved nations.
The 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU marked a turning point in the UK’s political system. In the previous two decades, the country had undergone a series of democratic reforms, during which it seemed to evolve into a more typical European liberal democracy.
The establishment of a Supreme Court, adoption of the Human Rights Act, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolution, proportional electoral systems, executive mayors and the growth in multi-party competition all marked profound changes to the British political tradition.
Brexit may now bring some of these developments to a juddering halt. The UK’s previous ‘exceptionalism’ from European patterns looks certain to continue indefinitely. ‘Taking back control’ of regulations, trade, immigration and much more is the biggest change in UK governance for half a century. It has already produced enduring crises for the party system, Parliament and the core executive, with uniquely contested governance over critical issues, and a rapidly changing political landscape. Other recent trends are no less fast-moving, such as the revival of two-party dominance in England, the re-creation of some mass membership parties and the disruptive challenges of social media.
In this context, an in-depth assessment of the quality of the UK’s democracy is essential. Each of the 2018 Democratic Audit’s 37 short chapters starts with clear criteria for what democracy requires in that part of the nation’s political life and outlines key recent developments before a SWOT analysis (of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) crystallises the current situation. A small number of core issues are then explored in more depth.
Set against the global rise of debased semi-democracies, the book’s approach returns our focus firmly to the big issues around the quality and sustainability of the UK’s liberal democracy.
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