Conversations with Leading Economists: Interpreting Modern Macroeconomics

This important book provides fascinating insights into the origins, development and current state of modern macroeconomics. The reader's imagination is instantly captured, and the subject matter brought alive, through conversations with fourteen leading economists including five Nobel Laureates. These interviews shed new light on the controversies witnessed in the field of macroeconomic theory and policy, the way macroeconomics is taught and the history and methodology of macroeconomic research. Their illuminating and contrasting discussions provide students and scholars alike with a unique, highly accessible and enjoyable way to explore the ever-changing landscape of modern macroeconomics. The major economists featured in this book are: Alberto Alesina Olivier Blanchard Mark Blaug Robert W. Clower David C. Colander Milton Friedman Robert E. Lucas, Jr. Gregory Mankiw Franco Modigliani Edward N. Prescott Paul C. Romer Robert M. Solow John B. Taylor James Tobin

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface 1. Interpreting Modern Macroeconomics: From Tobin to Romer 2. James Tobin 3. N. Gregory Mankiw 4. Milton Friedman 5. Robert E. Lucas Jr 6. Alberto Alesina 7. Robert W. Clower 8. John B. Taylor 9. David C. Colander 10. Olivier Blanchard 11. Franco Modigliani 12. Edward C. Prescott 13. Robert M. Solow 14. Paul M. Romer 15. Mark Blaug References Index

About the Author :
Brian Snowdon, Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Economics and Finance, Durham University, UK and Howard R. Vane, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Review :
'. . . all the interviews are worth reading.' '. . . these interviews, and the introduction of the editors, make for good reading and provide an interesting overview of the development of macroeconomics during the last decades.' 'The interviews are informative and a delight to read. This is not the first enterprise of this sort for Snowdon and Vane, and their experience shows. So does their knowledge of the macroeconomics literature. The questions were prepared with skill to prompt the subjects to reflect on their own work and the work of their contemporaries in light of macroeconomics before and after the peaks of their influence.' 'These conversations are valuable on many levels. The more or less casual reader with a general sense for the issues and interest in the subject might read them for enjoyment. The student struggling to construct a coherent picture in time for exams will find them of tremendous value. And I suspect that many professional economists will learn a great deal about every area but their own and perhaps even something about that.' 'More than fifteen years after I tried to find out what macroeconomists were up to in my book Conversations with Economists I wanted to go back to these economists to hear from them what has happened since then. There is no need to do that anymore here is the update. I am surprised to find out how similar the thinking has remained in some ways but also how rapidly the field has been changing in other ways, how more technical economics has become and how the issue of growth has come to dominate the agenda. These conversations are chock full of information and interesting tidbits, and provide a surprising and insightful view of the current state in macroeconomics. They should be mandatory reading to all students of economics and on top of the reading list of anyone who is interested in what is going on in macroeconomics.' 'This book looks behind the now prevalent and sanitised text book portrayals of macroeconomics and introduces the reader to the theoretical and ideological controversies which lie at the heart of the subject. A very clear introductory extended essay by the authors, which sets the scene is followed by a delightful, thought provoking and engaging set of conversations with some of the principal agenda setters of macroeconomic research. This book is for those who wish to gain a sense of excitement of the modern macroeconomic research agenda. It might even encourage them to read some economics.' 'This collection amounts to a great deal more than a series of entertaining conversations, though entertaining they certainly are. Snowdon and Vane provide their readers with a thoughtful introductory essay outlining the development of macroeconomics since the 1930s, and the themes that they deal with there occur and re-occur throughout their interviews, bringing considerable unity to the book as a whole. In Snowdon and Vane's view, macroeconomics is a serious subject that deals with substantive questions of great social importance, and its progress depends on vigorous and open debate among competing points of view. Student readers, of whom there ought to be many, will get from this book a sense of the infectious excitement that marks such debate, and even the most jaded of their teachers will be reminded of why, when all is said and done, there is no subject more worthwhile than economics.' 'Interviewing leading economists provides an effective way to comprehend the matrix in which their formal contributions arise. In providing these interviews Snowdon and Vane have performed a valuable service both for advanced students and professional economists.'