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Title: Advanced Macroeconomics by David Romer ISBN: 0-07-231855-4 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Pub. Date: 20 December, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $70.30 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (12 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: disappointment
Comment: I regret to say that this is not a good accompaniment for my graduate macroeconomics class. I thought I could somehow get some mileage out of this book, but as I read it I found out that its lack of technical details and rigor make my lecture notes look superior. I was misled to think that this is a great textbook through the early positive reviews below, that's why I bought it. Nevertheless, the empirical content is more than enough to satisfy one's curiosity, but I think it is not worthwhile to study advanced macroeconomics without learning fully the necessary theories and the accompanying mathematical techniques. This textbook must not be the choice for a core graduate level macroeconomics class; it's wordiness is comparable to the undergraduate textbook "Intermediate Microeconomics" text by Varian. It is readable of course, when you want to pass the time, but it won't do for a graduate level text. I'm disappointed because this is the second edition already but still the author stuck to the same way of presentation. Perhaps the only differences between the first and the second edition are the empirical data sets and a new chapter and nothing else. The first three chapters and chapter 7 of Obstfeld and Rogoff's treatise, "Foundations of International Macroeconomics," Barro and Sala-i-Martin's, "Economic Growth," and the chapters 2,3 and 4 of Blanchard and Fischer's, "Lectures in Macroeconomics," provide a more comprehensive view of modern acroeconomics.
Rating: 1
Summary: Simplistic
Comment: This has to be the world's most overused textbook. I have used it in no less than four semester-length courses, two undergraduate and two graduate. So obviously I am sick to death of this book, but I hated it the first time anyway. The book's title is completely misleading; its treatment of all subjects is extremely simplistic. This text might be appropriate for second-year undergraduates, but that's all. The mathematical content is pathetic. For instance, the concept of intertemporal optimization plays a key role throughout the text, but there is virtually no treatment of the calculus of variations, and no treatment of stochastic dynamic programming whatsoever. Thus, the core of this theory is gutted, and we only get a dumbed down version that is palatable enough for Romer's text to sell well with math-averse undergrads. I thought the Stokey-Lucas text was great for its use of recursive methods as a unifying concept. Well, the only unifying concept in Romer's book is the formula for a geometric sum; this will get you through about half of the problems. The scope of Romer's text is not just new classical macro, though; he also surveys Keynesian macro and other topics. (Actually the best thing about this book is that Romer is a relatively unbiased author, plus he surveys a lot of empirical evidence.) Once again his treatment of Keynes is ultra-simplistic - he takes the usual "sticky-prices" interpretation which misses the subtleties in the GTEIM. This time it is not the absence of mathematical rigor that lets Romer down, but simply his failure to address the important issues. Any reading of the GTEIM and related literature will verify this. My view is that any graduate course on macro should use one of the serious texts on new classical macro in conjunction with readings from original books/papers on other macro paradigms, and not use Romer.
Rating: 4
Summary: The best of its kind
Comment: There can be no question that Romer's text-book is an outstanding tome. However, I'm sure most reviewers would agree with me when I say that economists tend to have a love/hate relationship with this book. We love this book because of the breadth of topics covered and the quality of Romer's analysis and exposition. His discussion of dynamic inconsistency is the best I've seen, and the opening chapter on the Neo-classical growth model sets the standard to this day.
A fellow reviewer observed that complaints concerning Romer's penchant for "trivial" mathematics were misplaced because the technicality of modern macroeconomics precludes the possibility of discussing the issues in any other way. I agree. But I think a fairer assessment would be that there are instances where Romer could develop the mathematical underpinnings in a more consise way. The best example is the second chapter on the Ramsey growth model. The easiest way to understand this model is by using optimal control/dynamic programming techniques - which is how it is taught on most graduate courses. Romer's decision not to follow this route is probably borne of a desire to make the book more accessible to undergraduates - who are unlikely to come across these methods. Whatever the intention, the result is an exposition that confuses more than enlightens. Would it not have been better to include a good coverage of optimal control techniques in the appendix?
Nevertheless, an excellent book.
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Title: Microeconomic Theory by Andreu Mas-Colell, Michael D. Whinston, Jerry R. Green ISBN: 0195073401 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: June, 1995 List Price(USD): $102.00 |
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Title: Econometric Analysis by William H. Greene, William H Greene ISBN: 0130661899 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 22 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $130.00 |
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Title: Lectures on Macroeconomics by Stanley Fischer, Olivier J. Blanchard ISBN: 0262022834 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 21 March, 1989 List Price(USD): $70.00 |
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Title: Microeconomic Analysis by Hal R. Varian ISBN: 0393957357 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: March, 1992 List Price(USD): $80.95 |
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Title: Mathematics for Economists by Carl P. Simon, Lawrence Blume ISBN: 0393957330 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 1994 List Price(USD): $122.15 |
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