A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, by Harvard Business School Professor David A. Moss, is an accessible primer on macroeconomic theory and practice. Fiscal and monetary policy help set the ground rules for the global economy, and the Guide illuminates, through current and historical examples, how and why the rules keep changing.

Professor Moss explains the basic relationships between various macroeconomic phenomena and how they help shape the global economy. The heart of the Guide is a logical presentation of macoeconomic building blocks:



* Output - How the value of goods and services that a nation produces (GDP) is measured, and why this output ulitmately determines its standard of living.

* Money - How the money supply and the various "prices" of money - the interest rate, the exchange rate, and the price level (and thus inflation) - affect the overall economic environment.

* Expectation - How expectations of key macroeconomic factors (such as inflation and interst rate changes) and of the underlying strength of the economy can shape the decisions of economic actors, from consumers to business to governments.

Professor Moss also explores some of the controversial questions that animate current economic policy debate :

* Is the American current-account deficit a threat to theeconomy?

* Is deficit spending by government an effective economic stimulus?

* Can investment in stocks and bounds "save" social security?



Avoiding simplistic solutions, A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics instead present the basic principles and relationships at the core of such questions. It demonstrates how macroeconomic phenomena affect the relative risks and rewards of decisions made by executives and managers every day.



Table of Contents :



Part I. Understanding the macroeconomy

1. Output

2. Money

3. Expectations



Part II. Selected Topics - Background and mechanics

4. A Short history of money and monetary

5. The fundamentals of GDP accounting

6. Reading a balance of payments statement

7. Understanding exchange rates



Conclusion