Advanced Macroeconomics: An Easy Guide

Filipe Campante, Johns Hopkins University
Federico Sturzenegger, Universidad de San Andrés
Andrés Velasco, London School of Economics

Macroeconomic concepts and theories are among the most valuable for policy makers. Yet up to now, there has been a wide gap between undergraduate courses and the professional level at which macroeconomic policy is practiced. In addition, PhD-level textbooks rarely address the needs of a policy audience. So advanced macroeconomics has not been easily accessible to current and aspiring practitioners.

This rigorous yet accessible book fills that gap. It was born as a Masters course that each of the authors taught for many years at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. And it draws on the authors’ own extensive practical experience as macroeconomic policymakers. It introduces the tools of dynamic optimization in the context of economic growth, and then applies them to policy questions ranging from pensions, consumption, investment and finance, to the most recent developments in fiscal and monetary policy.

Written with a light touch, yet thoroughly explaining current theory and its application to policy-making, Advanced Macroeconomics: An Easy Guide is an invaluable resource for graduate students, advanced undergraduate students, and practitioners.

Reviews

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 for Economics
Chief Economist, IMF 2008-15

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... 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
Harvard University
Chief Economist, IMF 2001-3

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
Harvard University
Chief Economist, 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