Coordination Games

This book studies the implications of macroeconomic complementarities for aggregate behavior. The presentation is intended to introduce Ph.D. students into this sub-field of macroeconomics and to serve as a reference for more advanced scholars. The initial sections of the book cover the basic framework of complementarities and provide a discussion of the experimental evidence on the outcome of coordination games. The subsequent sections of the book investigate applications of these ideas for macroeconomics. The topics Professor Cooper explores include: economies with production complementarities, search models, imperfectly competitive product markets, models of timing and delay and the role of government in resolving and creating coordination problems.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; 1. Experimental evidence and selection; 2. A framework for analysis; 3. Technological complementarities; 4. Imperfect competition and demand spillovers; 5. Thick markets: search and matching; 6. Timing of discrete choices; 7. Government policy; 8. Concluding thoughts; References; Endnotes.

Review :
"The field of macroeconomic complementarities investigates how and why real-world economies sometimes appear to 'overreact' to small external and internal shocks. Russ Cooper's new book is a readable and scientifically honest summary of recent research, by himself and others, on the strategic foundations of these complementarities. The book seems to me ideally suited for graduate courses in macroeconomics, and for all those who want a deeper understanding of what triggers economic 'overreactions'." Costas Azariadis, UCLA "Cooper's book gives a lucid, insightful and panoramic exposition of coordination games and their macroeconomic applications. It is an excellent book not only to learn about the subject, but also as a reference for the expert." Jess Benhabib, New York University "Russell Cooper is one of the leading exponents of the role of 'complementarity' in macroeconomics, so it is no surprise that he has written an outstanding book on the subject. What is amazing is how much he has managed to cram into this elegant, small volume. It is a lucid introduction to the literature as well as a report from the trenches. It will serve the graduate student as a text and the researcher as a handy guide. It contains material on experimental and empirical research as well as theory. And throughout it is focused on macroeconomic issues. Anyone interested in frontier research in macroeconomics will want to have a copy of this book." Douglas Gale, New York University "Finally, serious economic theory to tell us what Keynes really meant. Must reading for the modern macroeconomist." Robert Hall, Stanford University "The book is an excellent broad survey of the macroeconomic coordination game literature. Indeed, it is amazing how much material it covers in this literature, while maintaining cohesiveness. Cooper has done the profession a great service in writing this book." John Bryant, Journal of Economic Literature