Books on Macroeconomics: A Reading List
Macroeconomics is the ‘big picture’ perspective of economics. It tries to explain aggregate changes in macro factors such as inflation, national income and gross domestic product. A macroeconomist observes business cycle fluctuations, upward and downward movements in economic growth. Central bank and the government look at macroeconomic factors keenly when observing a country’s economic health. Fiscal and monetary policies are defined by macroeconomic variables.
This reading list on Macroeconomics kicks off with John Maynard Keynes, the founder of Keynesian economics and closes with two books that study the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economies of the world.
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes
Keynes believed that government intervention was required for the economy to reach full employment. Aggregate demand or total spending by households, firms and the government were the key thrusters to the economy, according to Keynes. Free markets did not have a self-balancing act through which they would reach equilibrium. Keyne’s theory said that it is only through government intervention this was possible. Students of Macroeconomics could start with this book by Keynes. Get the Book - The General Theory of Employment
Milton Friedman on Economics – Selected Papers
Friedman is considered the pioneer of the Monetarist theory, in which he elucidates how the government can prevent the economy from going into a downward spiral by pumping money when the early signs of an economic depression present themselves, rather than later in its life cycle. His quintessential papers on economic theory can be found in the book Milton Friedman on Economics. Some of its components are Nobel lecture: Inflation and Unemployment, Interest Rates and the Demand for Money, Government Revenue from Inflation and A Statistical Illusion in Judging Keynesian Models.
