MACROECONOMICS

N. Gregory Mankiw
PowerPoint Slides by Ron Cronovich
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The Science of Macroeconomics

2010 Worth Publishers, all rights reserved

SEVENTH EDITION

In this chapter, you will learn:

about the issues macroeconomists study the tools macroeconomists use some important concepts in macroeconomic
analysis

Important issues in macroeconomics

Macroeconomics, the study of the economy as a whole, addresses many topical issues, e.g.:

What causes recessions? What is

government stimulus and why might it help?

How can problems in the housing market

spread to the rest of the economy?

What is the government budget deficit?

How does it affect workers, consumers, businesses, and taxpayers?
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Important issues in macroeconomics

Macroeconomics, the study of the economy as a whole, addresses many topical issues, e.g.:

Why does the cost of living keep rising? Why are so many countries poor? What policies
might help them grow out of poverty?

What is the trade deficit? How does it affect the

countrys well-being?

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U.S. Real GDP per capita

(2000 dollars)
9/11/2001 First oil shock long-run upwardprice trend

Great Depression
World War II

Second oil price shock

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U.S. Inflation Rate

(% per year)

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U.S. Unemployment Rate

(% of labor force)

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Why learn macroeconomics?

1. The macroeconomy affects societys well-being.
U.S. Unemployment and Property Crime Rates

crimes per 100,000 population

percent of labor force

Social problems like homelessness, domestic violence, crime, and Property crimes (right scale) poverty are linked to the economy. For example
Unemployment (left scale)

Why learn macroeconomics?

2. The macroeconomy affects your well-being.
percent change from 12 mos earlier

In most years, wage growth falls when unemployment is rising.

change from 12 mos earlier

Why learn macroeconomics?

3. The macroeconomy affects election outcomes.
Unemployment & inflation in election years year
1976
1980 1984

U rate
7.7%
7.1% 7.5%

inflation rate
5.8%
13.5% 4.3%

elec. outcome
Carter (D)
Reagan (R) Reagan (R)

1988
1992 1996

5.5%
7.5% 5.4%

4.1%
3.0% 3.3%

Bush I (R)
Clinton (D) Clinton (D)

2000
2004 2008

4.0%
5.5% 7.2%

3.4%
3.3% 3.8%

Bush II (R)
Bush II (R) Obama (D)

Economic models
are simplified versions of a more complex reality irrelevant details are stripped away are used to show relationships between variables explain the economys behavior devise policies to improve economic performance

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The use of multiple models

No one model can address all the issues we
care about.

E.g., a supply-demand model of the U.S. car

market

can tell us how a fall in aggregate U.S. income

affects price & quantity of cars.

cannot tell us why aggregate income falls.

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The use of multiple models

So we will learn different models for studying
different issues (e.g., unemployment, inflation, long-run growth).

For each new model, you should keep track of its assumptions which variables are endogenous,
which are exogenous the questions it can help us understand, those it cannot
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Prices: flexible vs. sticky

Market clearing: An assumption that prices are
flexible, adjust to equate supply and demand.

In the short run, many prices are sticky

adjust sluggishly in response to changes in supply or demand. For example: many labor contracts fix the nominal wage for a year or longer many magazine publishers change prices only once every 3-4 years
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Prices: flexible vs. sticky

The economys behavior depends partly on
whether prices are sticky or flexible: If prices sticky (short run), demand may not equal supply, which explains:
unemployment (excess supply of labor) why firms cannot always sell all the goods they produce

If prices flexible (long run), markets clear and

economy behaves very differently
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Outline of this book:

Introductory material (Chaps. 1 & 2) Classical Theory (Chaps. 3-6)
How the economy works in the long run, when prices are flexible

Growth Theory (Chaps. 7-8)

The standard of living and its growth rate over the very long run

Business Cycle Theory (Chaps. 9-14)

How the economy works in the short run, when prices are sticky
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Outline of this book:

Policy debates (Chaps. 15-16)
Should the government try to smooth business cycle fluctuations? Is the governments debt a problem?

Microeconomic foundations (Chaps. 17-19)

Insights from looking at the behavior of consumers, firms, and other issues from a microeconomic perspective

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Chapter Summary
Macroeconomics is the study of the economy
as a whole, including growth in incomes changes in the overall level of prices the unemployment rate

Macroeconomists attempt to explain the

economy and to devise policies to improve its performance.

Chapter Summary
Economists use different models to examine
different issues.

Models with flexible prices describe the

economy in the long run; models with sticky prices describe the economy in the short run.

Macroeconomic events and performance arise

from many microeconomic transactions, so macroeconomics uses many of the tools of microeconomics.