Macroeconomics, Global Edition, 8th edition

Published by Pearson (June 5, 2020) © 2020
Olivier Blanchard

Title overview

A unified view of the latest macroeconomic events
In Macroeconomics, Blanchard presents an integrated, global view of macroeconomics, enabling students to see the connections between goods markets, financial markets, and labor markets worldwide. Organised into two parts, the text contains a core section that focuses on short-, medium-, and long-run markets and two major extensions that offer more in-depth coverage of the issues at hand. From the major economic crisis that engulfed the world in the late 2000s, to monetary policy in the US, to the problems of the Euro area, and growth in China, the text helps students make sense not only of current macroeconomic events but also of those that may unfold in the future. Integrated, detailed boxes in the 8th Edition have been updated to convey the life of macroeconomics today, reinforce lessons from the models, and help students employ and develop their analytical and evaluative skills.

Key features

  • Distinguished authorship. Olivier Blanchard is one of Pearson's most notable economics authors and brings his years of experience and research of macroeconomic issues, including his time as the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, to the text.
  • Margin notes create a dialogue with the reader, making the more difficult passages easier to comprehend, and giving students a deeper understanding of the concepts and the results derived along the way.
  • Short appendixes to some chapters expand on points made within the chapter for students who want to further explore macroeconomics.
  • Further Readings sections direct students to alternative sources of macroeconomic information.
  • End-of-chapter sections, consisting of a chapter summary, list of key terms, exercises, and list of symbols, ensure the material in the chapter has been digested.
  • Short, flexible chapters provide plenty of opportunity for alternative course organisation. A flowchart also makes it easy to see how the chapters are organised and fit within the book's overall structure.
  • Material is organised around 2 parts: the core (chapters 3-13), which focus on the short-, medium-, and long-run markets; and a set of 2 major extensions (chapters 14-20), which provide more detailed examination of the issues at hand. An intro to macroeconomics precedes the core (chapters 1-2), while the extensions are followed by a review of the role of policy (chapters 21-23).

New to this edition

  • Thoroughly updated references and trusted content from a renowned author keeps the text relevant
  • Comprehensive coverage of current macroeconomic events are integrated into every chapter of the book. 
  • Chapter 13 'The Challenges of Growth' discusses the relationship between growth and inequality, the challenges of climate change, and whether the introduction of robots will lead to mass unemployment.
  • Chapter 8 'The Phillips Curve, the Natural Rate of Unemployment, and Inflation' looks at the Phillips curve as it relates to inflation and unemployment (vs. a change between the two).
  • Chapter 9 'Putting All Markets Together: From the Short to the Medium Run' examines how changes in the Phillips curve relation have led to changes in monetary policy.
  • A new appendix in Chapter 1 titled 'What Do Macroeconomists Do?' gives students a sense of what careers they can pursue if they were to specialise in macroeconomics.
  • Figures and tables showcase the latest data available, bringing currency into your classroom.
  • Focus boxes discuss particular macroeconomic events or facts, showing students how they can use what they've learned to get an understanding of economics in the real world. Notable updates include:
    • The Denomination of Euro Banknotes: Between the Problem of Small Change and the Curse of Cash (chapter 4)
    • Will Bitcoins Replace Dollars? (chapter 4)
    • Will Japan Finally Overcome the Liquidity Trap? (chapter 4)
    • The European Sovereign Debt Crisis with a Special Focus on Greece during 2010-2013 (chapter 5)
    • From Henry Ford to Jeff Bezos (chapter 7)
    • Will Robot and AI Mean Job Destruction? (chapter 13)
    • What Lies Behind Chinese Growth? (chapter 12)
    • Uncertainty and Fluctuations (chapter 16)
    • Deficits and the Crowding Out of Private Investment: France During World War I (chapter 22)

Table of contents

PART I: INTRODUCTION

  1. 1. A Tour of the World
  2. 2. A Tour of the Book

PART II: THE SHORT RUN

  1. 3. The Goods Market
  2. 4. Financial Markets I
  3. 5. Goods and Financial Markets; The IS-LM Model
  4. 6. Financial Markets II

PART III: THE MEDIUM RUN

  1. 7. The Labor Market
  2. 8. The Phillips Curve, the Natural Rate of Unemployment, and Inflation
  3. 9. Putting All Markets Together: From the Short to the Medium Run

PART IV: THE LONG RUN

  1. 10. The Facts of Growth
  2. 11. Saving, Capital Accumulation, and Output
  3. 12. Technological Progress and Growth
  4. 13. The Challenges of Growth
  5. EXTENSIONS

PART V: EXPECTATIONS

  1. 14. Financial Markets and Expectations
  2. 15. Expectations, Consumption, and Investment
  3. 16. Expectations, Output, and Policy

PART VI: THE OPEN ECONOMY

  1. 17. Openness in Goods and Financial Markets
  2. 18. The Goods Market in an Open Economy
  3. 19. Output, the Interest Rate, and the Exchange Rate
  4. 20. Exchange Rate Regimes

PART VII: BACK TO POLICY

  1. 21. Should Policy Makers Be Restrained?
  2. 22. Fiscal Policy: A Summing Up
  3. 23. Monetary Policy: A Summing Up
  4. 24. Epilogue: The Story of Macroeconomics

Download the detailed table of contents

Author bios

About our authors

Olivier Blanchard. Senior fellow and former C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, is the Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A citizen of France, Blanchard has spent most of his professional life in the United States. After obtaining his PhD in economics from MIT in 1977, he taught at Harvard University and returned to MIT in 1982. He was chair of the economics department from 1998 to 2003. In 2008, he took a leave of absence to serve as economic counsellor and director of the research department at the International Monetary Fund where he stayed until 2015. He then joined the Peterson Institute.

Blanchard has worked on a wide set of macroeconomic issues, including the role of monetary and fiscal policy, speculative bubbles, the labor market and determinants of unemployment, economic transition in former communist countries, and the nature of the Global Financial Crisis. In the process, he has worked with numerous countries and international organizations.

Blanchard is the author of many books and articles, including two textbooks on macroeconomics, one at the graduate level with Stanley Fischer and the other at the undergraduate level. He is a past editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the NBER Macroeconomics Annual and founding editor of American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. He is a fellow and former Council member of the Econometric Society, a past president of the American Economic Association, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Alessia Amighini. Alessia Amighini is associate professor of economics at Università del Piemonte Orientale in Novara and adjoint professor of international economics at the Catholic university in Milan and co-Head of the Asia Centre and Senior Research Fellow at ISPI. After graduating from Bocconi University, she received a PhD in development economics from the University of Florence and then worked as an economist at UNCTAD in Geneva.

Francesco Giavazzi. Francesco Giavazzi senior is professor of economics at Bocconi University in Milan and for 10 years has been a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he has often taught the basic macroeconomics course for undergraduates. After studying electrical engineering in Milan, he received a PhD in economics at MIT in 1978. He then taught at the University of Essex (UK) and since 1983 in Italy, first at the University of Venice, then at the University of Bologna and later at Bocconi.

His research has focused on fiscal policy, exchange rates and the creation of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). His books include Limiting Exchange Rate Flexibility: The European Monetary System with Alberto Giovannini and The Future of Europe: Reform or Decline with Alberto Alesina, both published by MIT Press. In 2019, jointly with the late Alberto Alesina and his Bocconi colleague Carlo Favero, he published Austerity: When It Works and When It Doesn’t for Princeton University Press. He has been editor of the European Economic Review for a decade and the director general at the Italian Treasury during the 1992 exchange rate crisis and the preparations for Italy’s entry into EMU.

He divides his life between Milan and Cambridge (Mass.) although his best days are spent skiing and hiking in the Dolomites and rowing along the canals in Venice.

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