Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ph5wq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T13:43:53.029Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

David Colander
Affiliation:
Middlebury College, Vermont
Get access

Summary

The field of macroeconomics can be divided loosely into two branches, a theoretical branch, which sets out the vision of how macroeconomic problems may come about and how they might best be dealt with, and an applied branch, which talks about actual policy – questions such as: Should one use monetary policy to stimulate output? Should one use fiscal policy to offset recessions? And: Should the interest rate or the money supply be used as a measure of monetary tightness? The two branches are of course related with theoretical work guiding policy, and experience in policy guiding theoretical work. But the relation is loose and indirect.

Over the last 30 years, the two branches of macro have become further and further divided as the theoretical macromodels have become more complicated and as our understanding of the statistical problems of fitting the models to the empirical evidence has improved. Today, almost all economists agree that the simple models of yesterday – both theoretical IS/LM type models and the structural macroeconometric models that accompanied them – were far from adequate as theoretical models or as a guide to policy. In response, modern macrotheory has become a highly technical theoretical and statistically sophisticated field of study in which microfoundations of macrotheory play a central role.

Because of the technical difficulty of the tools needed to study macroeconomic theory grounded in microfoundations, the underlying vision of macrotheorists is often given short shrift in both the theoretical debates and in the training of students.

Type
Chapter
Information
Post Walrasian Macroeconomics
Beyond the Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model
, pp. 1 - 24
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by David Colander, Middlebury College, Vermont
  • Book: Post Walrasian Macroeconomics
  • Online publication: 02 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617751.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by David Colander, Middlebury College, Vermont
  • Book: Post Walrasian Macroeconomics
  • Online publication: 02 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617751.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by David Colander, Middlebury College, Vermont
  • Book: Post Walrasian Macroeconomics
  • Online publication: 02 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617751.002
Available formats
×