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Concise Guide to Macroeconomics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know
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Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 339
EAN: 9781422101797
ISBN: 1422101797
Label: Harvard Business School Press
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 189
Publication Date: 2007-07-05
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Studio: Harvard Business School Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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Now more than ever before, executives and managers need to understand their larger economic context. In A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, David Moss leverages his many years of teaching experience at Harvard Business School to lay out important macroeconomic concepts in engaging, clear, and concise terms. In a simple and intuitive way, he breaks down the ideas into output, money, and expectations. In addition, Moss introduces powerful tools for interpreting the big-picture economic developments that shape events in the contemporary business arena. Detailed examples are also drawn from history to illuminate important concepts.
This book is destined to become a staple in MBA courses as well as the go-to resource for executives and managers at all levels seeking to brush up on their knowledge of macroeconomic dynamics.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: should go deeper
Comment: I'm a programmer but want to know more about the economic - you know what happened the last few months. This book is really an introduction to a complicated topic.
My feeling is that it's overly simplified. I don't expect it to explain TED, LIBOR, CDO, CDS, ... but some basic concept like opportunity cost is not presented in the book.
It's a good book in term of the organization and writing style, but it should really go a little bit further
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good book; quick read; kinda sterile
Comment: To follow up a concise guide to something, I'll make a concise review.
Pros:
Short book = Quick read
Very easy to read
Topics explained well and consequently easy to understand
Great for beginners to the economic world
Probably will help for going into an Econ 101 class
Has numerous good ideas that are explained well.
Cons:
Tends to be US-centric as far as examples of application
Can be sterile and text-bookish at times
Seems too simplistic; might not help enough for an economics class
Despite the number of cons, I feel that they are not that extreme. All in all, this book is short enough and good enough to qualify it for 4 stars. But it's simply not a perfect 5 in my opinion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Quick reding, just the information you need.
Comment: Unlike most academic books, this one gives just the neccesary information, leaving you with the perfect insights. Lacks the depth of more explanation of some macro theory, but that's not the purpose of the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A little *too* concise (3.5 stars)
Comment: This book does introduce some basic macro concepts concisely, and in clear prose. Most of the main points are nicely summarized in simple graphics showing you how one thing (GDP, inflation, whatever) goes up as something else goes down, etc. And the author (DM) does remind you several times, in a general way, that the real world often behaves differently from macroeconomic theory.
That said, it's often hard to distinguish whether DM is talking about real effects or hypothetical ones. For example, DM mentions a couple of arguments aginst the Keynesian idea of stimulating the economy by means of deficit spending (an idea that was big in the 1930s-1970s, and that might make a comeback under the Obama Administration). The "rational expectations" argument says that consumers might rationally expect taxes to be higher in the future, to pay back for the deficit spending; and therefore they might increase their savings (in preparation for paying those taxes) instead of spending on goods or services. To the extent they save, that would neutralize the intended stimulus effect. The "crowding out" argument says that if the government tries to raise money by selling bonds, it will be competing with private borrowers for funds; the resulting increased demand for money could raise interest rates; and the higher rates, in turn, could discourage entrepreneurs and other private borrowers from borrowing; with the result that potentially useful projects would go unfunded and be scuttled. Has either of these effects ever been observed, and if so, to what extent? Or are they just arguments by supply-side economists, Reagan Republicans and other anti-Keynesian partisans? We are never told.
The book may also disappoint you if you're looking for insights into the current world situation. For example, in the chapter describing economic output (i.e., goods and services, usually measured by GDP), DM notes "At root, most financial assets represent claims on real productive assets (such as plants and equipment), which in turn are expected to generate output in the future. But of course, all of these productive assets were once output themselves" (@27; emphasis in the original). Maybe this statement is true, in a textbook theoretical way, about shares of stock in corporations: profs teach that a share of stock represents a claim to a piece of the company's assets. But this statement doesn't help you understand how the value of outstanding credit default swaps and other financial derivatives based on US home mortgages can be $33-$47 trillion, while the value of the mortgages themselves is only $10-$11 trillion, and the value of the homes (real assets, and BTW not "productive" ones) subject to the mortgages is in many cases less than the mortgages themselves. How do those financial assets in excess of 1x the mortgage values represent claims on real anything? DM's book doesn't clarify the mystery of derivatives -- or even mention it. Unfortunate, since the estimated value of all outstanding financial derivatives of all types is around $60T, roughly 3x-4x global GDP.
Another striking comment comes from a discussion of monetary policy: "A lower rate of interest may encourage consumption by making saving appear less attractive (since it now pays less) and -- what is essentially the same thing -- by reducing the cost of consumer borrowing" (@73). Sure, a lower interest rate could reduce the cost of consumer borrowing; the problem with DM's remark is between the dashes. If you don't save, couldn't that simply mean you're spending the money you earn, rather than borrowing? To call borrowing "essentially the same thing" as not saving seems an illustration of the messed-up thinking that got us into the current crisis, rather than something that will help you think your way out of that crisis.
If DM had allowed himself even 10 additional pages or so for thoughtful analysis and more specific examples of how well the theory relates to the real world, the book might have been more balanced. Instead, while its generally clear writing style is admirable, the book is a bit too short on substance.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Exactly what the title promises
Comment: It is rare to find a book so aptly described by its title as "A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics." The book really is concise; the text is only 141 pages long, and even that number might give an exaggerated impression because there are fairly wide margins and two blank pages between each chapter, as well as numerous graphs and tables. Yet in those 141 pages, this guidebook covers the essentials of output and GDP accounting, the role of money, interest and expectations in monetary policy and business cycles, a brief monetary history of the United States, as well as the basics of international economics: why countries trade, how to read a balance of payments statement, and what sorts of forces move exchange rates.
The tables and charts scattered throughout the book provide excellent intuition for understanding international comparisons of GDP, the history of business cycles, or whatever topic is presently at hand. All of these media are well referenced in the text, clearly explained, and contain up-to-date information. Moss also illustrates some concepts, such as the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage, with examples of his own; these too are excellent.
What impresses me most about the book is that Moss seems to have gotten the technical level just right: this book has none of the anecdote-ridden flakiness so common to journalistic writing about economics, nor is it ponderous or over-burdened with theory. This guide will aptly explain the essentials of the field to those who are curious; I know of no other book like it, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you have any lingering doubts (you shouldn't) just click on the "Search Inside" icon at the top of the page, and click "Surprise Me" to get a random sample of Moss's writing.
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