Macroeconomics: Theory through Applications
Russell Cooper, European University Institute
Andrew John, Melbourne Business School
Copyright Year: 2012
ISBN 13: 9781453328422
Publisher: Saylor Foundation
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA
Reviews
The textbook is comprehensive and includes excellent examples of real-world issues, events that relate to the chapter’s topics. The examples relate to the issues that businesses, individuals, federal and local governments. Each chapter begins with... read more
The textbook is comprehensive and includes excellent examples of real-world issues, events that relate to the chapter’s topics. The examples relate to the issues that businesses, individuals, federal and local governments. Each chapter begins with an event that occurred related to the chapter’s topic. This makes the textbook unique, in that it includes the practical application to concepts so that they are clearly understood. The textbook covers all macroeconomic topics included include in the template in the VCCS Master Course file.
The textbook includes real-world problems and examples, stories, issues and events that affected the development of economic policies, concepts, and models. Students will be able to connect the issues presented at the beginning of the chapter with the definitions and content of each chapter.
Each chapter subtopic has measurable learning objectives.
The textbook has many charts, graphs and illustrations to explain the chapter’s concepts and economic models and theories.
• Economics-macro and micro
• The State of the Economy
• Globalization and Capitalism
• The Great Depressions:
• The 1930s. 40’s, 2008
• Inflation
• Monetary and Fiscal Policies
• Federal Operations
• Money and Its Uses
• Toolkits for further Analysis
The content is accurate and portrays the real-world concepts as they relate to businesses, families, federal and local operations and individuals.
The content includes VCCS Master course topics: Concepts, theories, and issues that influence the economy, the application of how consumer and business decisions are made, the content is accurate and portrays the real-world concepts as they relate to businesses, families, federal and local operations and individuals.
The content includes VCCS Master course topics: Concepts, theories, and issues that influence the economy, the application of how consumer and business decisions are made, macroeconomic concepts, theories, issues, including scarcity, opportunity cost, supply and demand, economic growth, inflation, international trade, GDP, Aggregate Supply Model, Monetary Policy, Money, Banking, Federal Reserve, Fiscal Policy, ADAS Model, Barriers to Trade. The course content includes the master economics topics and the text can be used as transfer credit.
The textbook is up-to-date with economics concepts and the concepts are clearly illustrated with political, social and economic events in recent years that further explain the concepts and theories. There are references to key events, such as the economic downturn in 2008, globalization, all US recessions, unemployment, GDP, the emergence and use of technology. All of these events are illustrated and related to economic principles and theories. The content is current and the book can easily be updated as the economy and other things change that affect life and living.
The book has longevity of 5-10 years if updates are completed as events occur.
The information is relevant because the concepts, theories, principles are described in terms of current events and issue faced by all.
The textbook is written in comprehensible, clear language that can be understood by college students. All terms are clearly defined as they are being discussed and many of the terms have real-world examples that are identifiable by all. Each chapter has takeaways, discussion questions, and many re-enforceable summaries.
Each chapter is introduced with a case, story or event and is related to concepts of previous chapters.
The text is consistent in terms of topics, terminology, and framework. Each chapter ends the same: takeaways, discussion questions, etc. The chapter sections are labeled with the chapter number, followed by section objectives.
The text is divided into chapter numbers and chapter sub-headings. Each sub-heading is numbered, labeled and objectives are included. The text chapters can be easily reorganized, however, it is currently arranged in consecutive order, based on relationships of principles. Some principles relate to other principles and some basic principles, discussed in the first chapter are referenced throughout the textbook.
The topics are presented in a consisted logical fashion. The basic topics are discussed in the first three chapters. The more detailed topics are discussed in later chapters. All of the principles are interconnected.
The textbook is free of interface issues. The navigation of the text is consistent throughout the 16 chapters. the charts and illustrations are clear and the explanations included relate to chapter concepts. The methods and events are described as they relate to economic principles. As a reviewer, an outline of each chapter at the beginning of the chapter will be helpful.
Based on the reviewer's assessment. she did not detect grammatical errors.
The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. The author relates to many global issues that impact the US economy. Facts are presented as they happened and they are related to economics, especially macroeconomics issues.
Additional Comments/Recommendations
I enjoyed reading this textbook because the authors connected events to concepts. The textbook was so interesting to read and the reviewer thinks students would be able to identify and understand the world of economics.
1. There are excellent examples in the textbook, however, more details are needed when formulas are used the information is summarized and interpretation, for example on p. 46-show how the author said there was a 4 % increase in GDP+ 6.25 %, GDP nominal increase 10 %. Explain the 4 %.
2. Check calculations- page 52
3. Explain the word emigration and provide examples.
4. Check URL links-some are not working
5. Include the Table of Content at the beginning of the Text. The reviewer went to the Saylor site to find the outline of the 16 chapters.
6. Check formats: example p. 234 and others started a new paragraph without spacing or should the sentence have started in the preceding paragraph.
7. Checking Your Understanding-Where are the solutions?
I would adopt the textbook, with the development of some interactive activities to keep students engaged.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: What Is Economics?
- Chapter 2: Macroeconomics in Action
- Chapter 3: The State of the Economy
- Chapter 4: The Interconnected Economy
- Chapter 5: Globalization and Competitiveness
- Chapter 6: Global Prosperity and Global Poverty
- Chapter 7: The Great Depression
- Chapter 8: Jobs in the Macroeconomy
- Chapter 9: Money: A User's Guide
- Chapter 10: Understanding the Fed
- Chapter 11: Inflations Big and Small
- Chapter 12: Income Taxes
- Chapter 13: Social Security
- Chapter 14: Balancing the Budget
- Chapter 15: The Global Financial Crisis
- Chapter 16: Macroeconomics Toolkit
Ancillary Material
Submit ancillary resourceAbout the Book
Russell Cooper and Andrew John have written an economics text aimed directly at students from its very inception. You're thinking, ”Yeah, sure. I've heard that before.“
This textbook, Macroeconomics: Theory Through Applications, centers around student needs and expectations through two premises: … Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives. … Students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem.
Many books claim to present economics in a way that is digestible for students; Russell and Andrew have truly created one from scratch. This textbook will assist you in increasing students' economic literacy both by developing their aptitude for economic thinking and by presenting key insights about economics that every educated individual should know.
How? Russell and Andrew have done three things in this text to accomplish that goal:
1. Applications Ahead of Theory: They present all the theory that is standard in Principles books. But by beginning with applications, students get to learn why this theory is needed.
The authors take the kind of material that other authors put in ”applications boxes“ and place it at the heart of their book. Each chapter is built around a particular business or policy application, such as social security, globalization, and the wealth and poverty of nations.
Why take this approach? Traditional courses focus too much on abstract theory relative to the interests and capabilities of the average undergraduate. Students are rarely engaged and the formal theory is never integrated into the way students think about economic issues. And traditional books are organized around theoretical constructs that mean nothing to students. The authors' applications-first approach ensures that students will not see chapters with titles like ”Cost Functions“ or ”Short-Run Fluctuations“. They introduce tools and ideas as and when they are needed. Each chapter is designed with two goals. First, the application upon which the chapter is built provides a ”hook“ that gets students' attention. Second, the application is a suitable vehicle a vehicle for teaching the principles of economics.
2. Learning through Repetition: Important tools appear over and over again, allowing students to learn from repetition and to see how one framework can be useful in many different contexts.
Each piece of economic theory in this text is first introduced and explained in the context of a specific application. Most are re-used in other chapters, so students see them in action on multiple occasions. As students progress through the book, they accumulate a set of techniques and ideas. These are collected separately in a ”toolkit“ that provides students with an easy reference and also gives them a condensed summary of economic principles for examination preparation.
3. A Student's Table of Contents vs. An Instructor's Table of Contents: There is no further proof that Russell and Andrew have created a book aimed specifically at educating students about economics than their two tables of contents.
The Student's Table of Contents speaks to students, piquing their interest to involve them in the economics, and a Instructor's Table of Contents with the economics to better help you organize your teaching—and frankly, you don't need to get excited by economics, you already are.
About the Contributors
Authors
Russell Cooper is currently Professor of Economics at the European University Institute in Florence Italy and the Fred Hofheinz Regents Professor of Economics at the University of Texas, a position he has held since 2003. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982 and has held positions at Yale University, the University of Iowa and Boston University. Cooper is a NBER Faculty Research Fellow and the Fellow of the Econometric Society.
Andrew John is Associate Professor of Economics at Melbourne Business School. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from The University of Dublin, Trinity College, in 1981, and his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1988. He has held academic appointments at Michigan State University, the University of Virginia, and INSEAD. He has also held visiting appointments at the University of Michigan, the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, and the University of Texas at Austin. He joined Melbourne Business School in January 2009. Andrew has consulting experience in the areas of marketing, economics, and strategy. He has worked with clients in Australia, Europe, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has also worked with firms in the consumer goods and consulting sectors. Andrew has taught economics to undergraduates, Ph.D. students, MBA students, and executives. His research interests include state-dependent pricing models, environmental economics, coordination games, and consumer boycotts. His published research has appeared in top economics and business journals, including American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Management Science, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Marketing. His work is widely cited in economics journals."