The Macroeconomics Anti-Textbook: A Critical Thinker’s Guide

Description

Mainstream textbooks present economics as an objective science, free from value judgements. The Macroeconomics Anti-Textbook demonstrates this to be a myth - one which serves to make such textbooks not only off-puttingly bland, but also dangerously misleading in their justification of the status quo and neglect of alternatives. In this much-needed companion volume to the popular Microeconomics Anti-Textbook, Tony Myatt reveals how the blind spots and methodological problems present in microeconomics continue to exert their influence in mainstream macroeconomics. From a flawed conception of the labour market, to a Pollyana view of the financial sector, macroeconomic principles as they are set out in conventional undergraduate textbooks consistently fail to set out a realistic, useful, or equitable framework for understanding the world. By summarising and then critically evaluating the major topics found in a typical macroeconomics textbook, the Anti-Textbook lays bare their sins of omission and commission, showing where hidden value judgements are made and when contrary evidence and alternative theories are ignored. The Macroeconomics Anti-Textbook is the student’s essential guide to decoding mainstream macroeconomic textbooks, and demonstrates how real-world economics is much more interesting than most economists are willing to let on. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Tables and Figures Preface: What is an Anti-Textbook? Acknowledgments About the Author Part 1 Introduction Chapter 1 What is macroeconomics? Chapter 2 Measurement, mismeasurement, and omission Part 2 Long-run economic growth Chapter 3 Growth: What we know and what we don’t Chapter 4 Growth: happiness and inequality Chapter 5 The financial system: the belly of the beast Part 3 Short-run fluctuations Chapter 6 Short-run macro models: a revolution that misfired Chapter 7 Fiscal policy: why deficits and debt might not matter Chapter 8 Money and banking: crony capitalism and the corruption it breeds Chapter 9 Monetary policy: the fixation on inflation Chapter 10 Inflation and unemployment: the political economy of unemployment Part 4 Conclusion Chapter 11 Summing up Postscript: Climate Change, The Covid Pandemic, And Genuinely Full Employment Notes References Index