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The MIT Press

7 total works

Cover of Lectures on Macroeconomics
The main purpose of Lectures on Macroeconomics is to characterize and explain fluctuations in output, unemployment and movement in prices.

Lectures on Macroeconomics provides the first comprehensive description and evaluation of macroeconomic theory in many years. While the authors' perspective is broad, they clearly state their assessment of what is important and what is not as they present the essence of macroeconomic theory today.The main purpose of Lectures on Macroeconomics is to characterize and explain fluctuations in output, unemployment and movement in prices. The most important fact of modern economic history is persistent long term growth, but as the book makes clear, this growth is far from steady. The authors analyze and explore these fluctuations.

Topics include consumption and investment; the Overlapping Generations Model; money; multiple equilibria, bubbles, and stability; the role of nominal rigidities; competitive equilibrium business cycles, nominal rigidities and economic fluctuations, goods, labor and credit markets; and monetary and fiscal policy issues. Each of chapters 2 through 9 discusses models appropriate to the topic. Chapter 10 then draws on the previous chapters, asks which models are the workhorses of macroeconomics, and sets the models out in convenient form. A concluding chapter analyzes the goals of economic policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, and dynamic inconsistency.

Written as a text for graduate students with some background in macroeconomics, statistics, and econometrics, Lectures on Macroeconomics also presents topics in a self contained way that makes it a suitable reference for professional economists.

Cover of IMF Essays from a Time of Crisis
Stanley Fischer served as First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 1994 to 2001. IMF Essays from a Time of Crisis collects sixteen essays written for the most part during his time at the IMF, each updated with Fischer's later reflections on the issues raised. The IMF drew much criticism for some of its actions during Fischer's tenure, and he vigorously defends the "battlefield medicine" practiced by the IMF during a series of economic crises, which included the problems of economic transition in the former Soviet bloc and the Asian financial crisis. Fischer addresses the subsequent calls for reform of the international financial system and makes the case for the IMF as an international lender of last resort.

The first section of essays, "The Role of the IMF and the Reform of the International Financial System," considers the IMF's role in the international financial system in light of the crises of the 1990s. The second section, "Macroeconomic Policy, Stabilization, and Transition," examines such topics as exchange rate regimes, inflation, and Eastern Europe's relation to the European Union. The final section, "Poverty and Development," reflects Fischer's basic belief that economic policies should explicitly target poverty reduction. These engaging and accessible essays will appeal not only to economics students, economists, and policymakers but also to the general reader interested in the international monetary system.

Cover of Reform in Eastern Europe
How can the new governments of Eastern Europe succeed in moving from centrally planned to free-market economies? This report identifies the major policy choices to be made and discusses what will work and what will not. "Reform in Eastern Europe" provides a statement of reform policy that stands in the mainstream of modern Western economics. Based on their experience with stabilization polices in other countries, the authors show how Eastern Europe can reduce unemployment during the painful adjustment process, create effective and socially acceptable mechanisms to subject enterprises to market discipline, and replace barter trade under CMEA with market-based international trade. Although conditions vary from country to country in Eastern Europe, the authors argue that all countries must seek stabilization and price liberalization, privatization, and then economic restructuring. It describes and evaluates the alternatives available to eliminate fiscal deficits, control money creation, and decontrol prices while blunting the immediate painful effects of lower wages, unemployment, and other disruptions.
The authors propose a plan for privatizing state-owned enterprises without placing them in the hands of those who accumulated wealth under the communist regimes. They recommend and detail methods for achieving orderly restructuring - in effect, closing most of the existing production structures and creating a whole new economy - covering issues of national saving, the creation of a financial intermediation system, the role of direct investment, labour allocation and unemployment.

Cover of Exchange Rates and Inflation
Rudiger Dornbusch's articles on exchange rates and open economy macroeconomics are among the most frequently cited in the field of international economics. Collected for the first time in "Exchange Rates and Inflation, "these articles, written over the past fifteen years, cover a wide range of issues while providing unique insights into the research style of a major economist. During this period the economics profession has shifted from global monetarism to the new classical economics, and Dornbusch's own interests, and some of his beliefs, have changed as well.Twenty two articles are gathered in four parts: Exchange Rate Theory; Special Topics in Exchange Rate Economics; Equilibrium Real Exchange Rates, and Inflation and Stabilization. Each part includes an introduction that discusses the essays and places them in context.

Cover of Rethinking International Trade
Over the past decade, a small group of economists has challenged traditional wisdom about international trade. "Rethinking International Trade provides a coherent account of this research program and traces the key steps in an exciting new trade theory that offers, among other possibilities, new arguments against free trade. Krugman's introduction is a valuable guide to research that has delved anew into the causes of international trade and reopened basic questions about the international pattern of specialization, the effects of protectionism, and what constitutes an optimal trade policy In the four sections that follow, he takes a revisionary look at the causes of international trade, and discusses growth and the role of history, technological change and trade, and strategic trade policy. Essays in part I review and challenge the theories of Ricardo and his successors, rethinking a 160-year tradition of looking at international trade. Models are presented in which trade frequently arises because of opportunities to exploit increasing returns through exports rather than from comparative advantage. In part II, Krugman traces the resulting pattern of trade specialization not only to the influence of comparative advantage but also to more arbitrary factors such as historical events, the rachet effect of cumulative processes, technological changes, and temporary economic shocks. Part III expands on the theme of technological change as a key factor in determining the pattern of specialization in international trade and addresses questions about the effects of innovation, or lack of it, on a country's international trade position. The concluding essays examine the issue of protectionismalong with other elements of trade policy, showing how protectionist policies, used as an export enhancement device by some national governments, may shift world specialization to the advantage of the protectionist nations. Paul R. Krugman is Professor of Economics at MIT.

Cover of East-West Migration
This sequel to "Reform in Eastern Europe" is a report on one of the most pressing issues for countries with economies in transition and their neighbours. Focusing on the problem of East-West migration, the authors delineate and promote the notion of European free trade and capital flows as a means of raising productivity and increasing worker stability in the East and of reducing income gaps between countries. As economists who have been deeply and consistently involved in the recent upheavals in the East, the authors are in a position to take a well-informed stance on the economic and social dislocations that are occurring. They first outline the problem and recommend that Europe begin to admit primary migrants and that the US increase its quota. They then look at migration statistics from previous eras to predict equivalent levels in the near future and take into account the long-run and short-run effects of migration in the US and Europe. They conclude with a discussion of "the best defense of all", economic progress, and lay out the necessary conditions for free trade, investment, and aid.

Cover of Indexing, Inflation and Economic Policy
Mainstream macroeconomics is under attack, professionally and in the popular press, as rarely before. Stanley Fischer has brought together this collection of essays in support of the view that mainstream macroeconomics can contribute much that it is both scientifically and socially useful to the analysis of policy issues and controversies. The book is divided into four parts, each with its own introduction. The preface presents Fischer's methodological defense of macroeconomics.The essays cover: The Costs and Effects of Inflation: Toward an Understanding of the Real Effects and Costs of Inflation (with Franko Modigliani). Toward an Understanding of the Costs of Inflation: II. Inflation, Unemployment, and Public Opinion Polls (with John Huizinga). Relative Shocks, Relative Price Variability, and Inflation. Wage Indexation and Inflation: Wage Indexation and Macroeconomic Stability. Indexing and Inflation. Contracts, Credibility, and Disinflation. Exchange Rate versus Money Targets in Disinflation. Indexation in the Capital Markets: The Demand for Index Bonds. On the Nonexistence of Privately issued index Bonds in the U.S. Capital Market. Call Option Pricing When the Exercise Price Is Uncertain, and the Valuation of Index Bonds. Welfare Aspects of Government Issue of Indexed Bonds. Policy Issues: Long-Term Contracts, Rational Expectations, and the Optional Money Supply Rule. Seigniorage and the Case for a National Money. On Activist Monetary Policy with Rational Expectations. Dynamic Inconsistency, Cooperation, and the Benevolent Dissembling Government. Israeli Inflation and Indexation.Stanley Fischer is Professor of Economics at MIT and coauthor with Rudiger Dornbusch of "Economics" and "Macroeconomics."