RE: Book for Principles of Macroeconomics

Hello,

I just thought you should know: the new (3rd) edition of Frank and
Bernanke is thoroughly updated and revised. Roger Kaufman (Smith
College) handled the revision while Bernanke was chair of the CEA.

On the question of a book to use: I think that the best books for macro
principles are Frank and Bernanke, Stiglitz and Walsh, and Taylor. They
all use an AD/AS model based on a Taylor rule for monetary policy and a
diagram that has output on the horizontal axis and the inflation rate
(not the price level) on the vertical axis. I have found this to be a
far superior way of teaching business cycles and macro policy to
principles students than the old AD/AS model.

Best,
Louis

PS Full disclosure: I am co-author of the study guide for the new
edition of Frank and Bernanke (not for the previous 2 editions.)
<><><><><><><>
Louis D. Johnston
Associate Professor
Department of Economics
College of Saint Benedict | Saint John's University
Collegeville, MN 56321
e-mail: ljohnston@csbsju.edu
web: employees.csbsju.edu/ljohnston

-----Original Message-----
From: Ka-fu WONG (SEF) [mailto:kafuwong@econ.hku.hk]
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 8:34 PM
To: Harjit Arora
Cc: tch-econ@elon.edu
Subject: Re: Book for Principles of Macroeconomics

For my course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this summer, I will
be using the Principles of Macroeconomics by Frank and
Bernanke (McGrawHill), simply because one of the author is currently the
Fed Chairman. Hopefully the name of the Fed Chairman
will motivate my students in learning the subject. Students will get to
learn how the Fed Chairman view the macro world. By
the way, the supporting materials appear as good as the others.
However, I believe that there has not been (and will not be)
any updating of current macro events in the book since Bernanke became
the Fed Chairman.

Sincerely,
Ka-fu WONG
School of Economics and Finance
University of Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2857-8512, Fax: (852) 2548-1152
http://kafuwong.econ.hku.hk

> Hello Everyone:
>
> I will be teaching Principles of Macroeconomics during the fall
> semester. I have not taught Principles courses in over 15 years and
> believe that the books have changed over this period. Could you
please
> suggest a good read book that emphasizes application of current
> macroeconomic events? Thank you.
>
> Regards,
>
> Harjit
>
> Harjit K. Arora, Ph.D.
> Professor of Economics
> Le Moyne College
> Syracuse, NY 13214
> (315) 445-4436 (phone)
> (315 445-4540 (fax)
> arora@lemoyne.edu
>
Received on Wed Jun 28 10:37:01 2006