简 明 目 录
第 1 部分 引言
第 1 章 像经济学家一样思考 1
第 2 部分 宏观经济学：数据与主题
第 2 章 度量经济活动：国内生产总值与失业 31
第 3 章 度量价格水平与通货膨胀 61
第 3 部分 长期经济
第 4 章 经济增长、生产力与生活水平 87
第 5 章 劳动力市场：工人、工资与失业 115
第 6 章 储蓄与资本形成 143
第 7 章 货币、价格与美联储 173
第 8 章 金融市场与国际资本流动 195
第 4 部分 短期经济
第 9 章 经济的短期波动 219
第 10 章 短期的支出与产出 239
第 11 章 稳定经济：美联储的作用 277
第 12 章 总供给、总需求与通货膨胀 317
第 5 部分 国际经济
第 13 章 汇率与开放经济 355
术语表.....................................................................................................................................G-1
ix
PART 1 Introduction
1 Thinking Like an Economist 1
PART 2 Macroeconomic: Issues and Data
2 Measuring Economic Activity: GDP and Unemployment 31
3 Measuring the Price Level and Inflation 61
PART 3 The Economy in the Long Run
4 Economic Growth, Productivity, and Living Standards 87
5 The Labor Market: Workers, Wages, and Unemployment 115
6 Saving and Capital Formation 143
7 Money, Prices, and the Federal Reserve 173
8 Financial Markets and International Capital Flows 195
PART 4 The Economy in the Short Run
9 Short-Term Economic Fluctuations: An Introduction 219
10 Spending and Output in the Short Run 239
11 Stabilizing the Economy: The Role of the Fed 277
12 Aggregate Demand, Aggregate Supply, and Inflation 317
PART 5 The International Economy
13 Exchange Rates and the Open Economy 355
xi
PART I Introduction
Chapter 1 Thinking Like an Economist 1 Economics: Studying Choice in a World of Scarcity 2 Applying the Cost-Benefit Principle 3
Economic Surplus 4
Opportunity Cost 4
The Role of Economic Models 5
Three Important Decision Pitfalls 6
Pitfall 1: Measuring Costs and Benefits as Proportions rather than Absolute Dollar Amounts 6
Pitfall 2: Ignoring Implicit Costs 7
Pitfall 3: Failing to Think at the Margin 8 Normative Economics versus Positive Economics 13 Economics: Micro and Macro 13
The Approach of This Text 14
Economic Naturalism 14
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 1.1 15
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 1.2 15
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 1.3 16
Summary 17 • Core Principles 17 • Key Terms 17
• Review Questions 18 • Problems 18 • Answers to Self-Tests 19 • Appendix: Working with Equations, Graphs, and Tables 20
PART 2 Macroeconomic: Issues and Data
Chapter 2 Measuring Economic Activity: GDP and Unemployment 31
Gross Domestic Product: Measuring the Nation’s Output 32
Market Value 33
Final Goods and Services 35
Produced in a Country during a Given Period 38
Methods for Measuring GDP 39
The Expenditure Method for Measuring GDP 39
GDP and the Incomes of Capital and Labor 42
Nominal GDP versus Real GDP 45
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 2.1 47
Real GDP and Economic Well-Being 47
Why Real GDP Isn’t the Same as Economic Well-Being 48
Leisure Time 48
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 2.2 48
Nonmarket Economic Activities 49
Environmental Quality and Resource Depletion 49
Quality of Life 49
Poverty and Economic Inequality 50
But GDP Is Related to Economic Well-Being 50
Availability of Goods and Services 50
Health and Education 51
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 2.3 52
Unemployment and the Unemployment Rate 53
Measuring Unemployment 53
The Costs of Unemployment 55
The Duration of Unemployment 56
The Unemployment Rate versus “True” Unemployment 56
Summary 57 • Key Terms 58 • Review
Questions 58 • Problems 58 • Answers to Self-Tests 60
Chapter 3 Measuring the Price Level and Inflation 61
The Consumer Price Index and Inflation 62
Inflation 65
Adjusting for Inflation 66
Deflating a Nominal Quantity 66
Indexing to Maintain Buying Power 69
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 3.1 70
Does the CPI Measure “True” Inflation? 71
The Costs of Inflation: Not What You Think 73
The True Costs of Inflation 74 “Noise” in the Price System 74 Distortions of the Tax System 75 “Shoe-Leather” Costs 76
Unexpected Redistributions of Wealth 76
Interference with Long-Term Planning 77
Hyperinflation 77
Inflation and Interest Rates 79
Inflation and the Real Interest Rate 79
The Fisher Effect 82
Summary 83 • Key Terms 83 • Review Questions 84 • Problems 84 • Answers to Self-Tests 85
PART 3 The Economy in the Long Run
Chapter 4 Economic Growth, Productivity, and Living Standards 87
The Remarkable Rise in Living Standards: The Record 89
xiii
xiv CONTENTS
Why “Small” Differences in Growth Rates Matter 91
Why Nations Become Rich: The Crucial Role of Average
Labor Productivity 93
The Determinants of Average Labor Productivity 95
Human Capital 95
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 4.1 96
Physical Capital 97
Land and Other Natural Resources 99
Technology 100
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 4.2 101
Entrepreneurship and Management 102
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 4.3 103
The Political and Legal Environment 103
Unemployment 134
Types of Unemployment and Their Costs 135
Frictional Unemployment 135
Structural Unemployment 136
Cyclical Unemployment 136
Impediments to Full Employment 136 Summary 139 • Key Terms 139 • Review Questions 140 • Problems 140 • Answers to Self-Tests 141
Chapter 6 Saving and Capital Formation 143
Saving and Wealth 144
Stocks and Flows 145
The Costs of Economic Growth 105
Promoting Economic Growth 105 Capital Gains and Losses 146
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 6.1 147
Policies to Increase Human Capital 106 Why Do People Save? 149
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 4.4 106
Policies That Promote Saving and Investment
106 THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 6.2 149
Saving and the Real Interest Rate 150
Policies That Support Research and Saving, Self-Control, and Demonstration Effects 152
Development 107
The Legal and Political Framework 107
The Poorest Countries: A Special Case? 107 THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 6.3 153
National Saving and Its Components 155
The Measurement of National Saving 155
Are There Limits to Growth? 108
Summary 110 • Key Terms 111 • Review Questions 111 • Problems 111 • Answers to Self-Tests 113
Chapter 5 The Labor Market: Workers, Wages, and Unemployment 115
Five Important Labor Market Trends 116
Trends in Real Wages 116
Trends in Employment and Unemployment 117
Private and Public Components of National Saving 157
Public Saving and the Government Budget 158
Is Low Household Saving a Problem? 160
Investment and Capital Formation 161
Saving, Investment, and Financial Markets 163
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 6.4 166
Summary 168 • Key Terms 168 • Review Questions 169 • Problems 169 • Answers to Self-Tests 170
Supply and Demand in the Labor Market 118
Wages and the Demand for Labor 118 Chapter 7 Money, Prices, and the
Federal Reserve 173
Shifts in the Demand for Labor 120 Money and Its Uses 174
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 5.1 124
The Supply of Labor 124
Shifts in the Supply of Labor 126
Explaining the Trends in Real Wages and Employment
126 THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 7.1 175
Measuring Money 176
Commercial Banks and the Creation of Money 177
Large Increases in Real Wages in Industrialized Countries 127
Real Wage Growth in the United States Has The Money Supply with Both Currency and Deposits 180
The Federal Reserve System 182
Stagnated since the Early 1970s, while Employment Growth Has Been Rapid 127
Increasing Wage Inequality: The Effects of Globalization and Technological Change 129 Globalization 129
Technological Change 131
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 5.2 133
The History and Structure of the Federal Reserve System 183
Controlling the Money Supply: Open-Market Operations 183
The Fed’s Role in Stabilizing Financial Markets: Banking Panics 185
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 7.2 185
CONTENTS xv
Money and Prices 188
Velocity 188
Money and Inflation in the Long Run 189
Summary 191 • Key Terms 192 • Review
Questions 192 • Problems 192 • Answers to Self-Tests 193
Chapter 8 Financial Markets and International Capital Flows 195
The Financial System and the Allocation of Saving to Productive Uses 196
The Banking System 197
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 8.1 198
Bonds and Stocks 198
Bonds 199
Stocks 200
Bond Markets, Stock Markets, and the Allocation of Savings 203
The Informational Role of Bond and Stock Markets 203
Risk Sharing and Diversification 204
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 8.2 205
International Capital Flows 206
Capital Flows and the Balance of Trade 207
The Determinants of International Capital Flows 209
Saving, Investment, and Capital Inflows 210
The Saving Rate and the Trade Deficit 212
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 8.3 213
Summary 215 • Key Terms 215 • Review Questions 215 • Problems 216 • Answers to Self-Tests 217
PART 4 The Economy in the Short Run
Chapter 9 Short-Term Economic Fluctuations: An Introduction 219
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 9.1 220
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 9.4 233
Why Do Short-Term Fluctuations Occur? A Preview and a Tale 234
Alice’s Ice Cream Store: A Tale about Short-Run Fluctuations 235
Summary 236 • Key Terms 237 • Review
Questions 237 • Problems 237 • Answers to Self-Tests 238
Chapter 10 Spending and Output in the Short Run 239
The Keynesian Model’s Crucial Assumption: Firms Meet Demand at Preset Prices 241
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 10.1 242
Planned Aggregate Expenditure 243
Planned Spending versus Actual Spending 243
Consumer Spending and the Economy 245
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 10.2 246
Planned Aggregate Expenditure and Output 247
Short-Run Equilibrium Output 250
Finding Short-Run Equilibrium Output: Numerical Approach 251
Finding Short-Run Equilibrium Output: Graphical Approach 252
Planned Spending and the Output Gap 254
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 10.3 256
The Multiplier 257
Stabilizing Planned Spending: The Role of Fiscal Policy 258
Government Purchases and Planned Spending 258
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 10.4 260
Taxes, Transfers, and Aggregate Spending 261
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 10.5 263
Fiscal Policy as a Stabilization Tool: Three Qualifications 264
Fiscal Policy and the Supply Side 265
The Problem of Deficits 265
The Relative Inflexibility of Fiscal Policy 265
Recessions and Expansions 221 Summary 266 • Key Terms 267 • Review
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 9.2 223 Questions 268 • Problems 268 • Answers to
Some Facts about Short-Term Economic Fluctuations 224
Output Gaps and Cyclical Unemployment 227
Potential Output 227
The Output Gap 228
The Natural Rate of Unemployment and Cyclical Unemployment 229
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 9.3 230
Okun’s Law 232
Self-Tests 269 • Appendix A: An Algebraic
Solution of the Basic Keynesian Model 271 • Appendix B: The Multiplier in the Basic Keynesian Model 274
Chapter 11 Stabilizing the Economy: The Role of the Fed 277
The Federal Reserve and Interest Rates: The Basic Model 278
xvi CONTENTS
The Demand for Money 279
Macroeconomic Factors That Affect the Demand for Money 282
The Money Demand Curve 283
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 11.1 284
The Supply of Money and Money Market Equilibrium 286
How the Fed Controls the Nominal Interest Rate 287
The Role of the Federal Funds Rate in Monetary Policy 289
Can the Fed Control the Real Interest Rate? 290
The Federal Reserve and Interest Rates: A Closer Look 291
Can the Fed Fully Control the Money Supply? 291
Affecting Bank Reserves through Open-Market
Operations 292
Affecting Bank Reserves through Discount Window Lending 292
Setting and Changing Reserve Requirements 292
Excess Reserves: The Norm since 2008 293
Do Interest Rates Always Move Together? 294 The Zero Lower Bound and the Need for “Unconventional” Monetary Policy 295 Quantitative Easing 295
Forward Guidance 295
Interest on Reserves and the New Tools of Monetary Policy 296
The Effects of Federal Reserve Actions on the Economy 298
Planned Aggregate Expenditure and the Real Interest Rate 298
The Fed Fights a Recession 301
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 11.2 302
The Fed Fights Inflation 303
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 11.3 304
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 11.4 305
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 11.5 305
The Feds Policy Reaction Function 307
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 11.6 307
Monetary Policymaking: Art or Science? 310 Summary 310 • Key Terms 312 • Review Questions 312 • Problems 312 • Answers to Self-Tests 314 • Appendix: Monetary Policy
in the Basic Keynesian Model 315
Chapter 12 Aggregate Demand, Aggregate Supply, and Inflation 317
Inflation, Spending, and Output: The Aggregate Demand Curve 318
Inflation, the Fed, and Why the AD Curve Slopes Downward 319
Other Reasons for the Downward Slope of the AD Curve 320
Factors That Shift the Aggregate Demand Curve 320
Changes in Spending 321
Changes in the Fed’s Policy Reaction Function 322
Shifts of the AD Curve versus Movements along the AD Curve 322
Inflation and Aggregate Supply 324
Inflation Inertia 325
Inflation Expectations 325
Long-Term Wage and Price Contracts 326
The Output Gap and Inflation 327 No Output Gap: Y = Y* 328 Expansionary Gap: Y > Y* 328 Recessionary Gap: Y < Y* 328
The Aggregate Demand–Aggregate Supply Diagram 329
The Self-Correcting Economy 331
Sources of Inflation 332
Excessive Aggregate Spending 332
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 12.1 334
Inflation Shocks 335
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 12.2 336
Shocks to Potential Output 338
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 12.3 339
Controlling Inflation 341
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 12.4 343
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 12.5 344
Summary 346 • Key Terms 347 • Review Questions 347 • Problems 348 • Answer to Self-Test 349 • Appendix: The Algebra of Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply 352
PART 5 The International Economy
Chapter 13 Exchange Rates and the Open Economy 355
Exchange Rates 357
Nominal Exchange Rates 357
Flexible versus Fixed Exchange Rates 359
The Real Exchange Rate 359
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 13.1 362
The Determination of the Exchange Rate in the Long Run 363
A Simple Theory of Exchange Rates: Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) 363
Shortcomings of the PPP Theory 365
CONTENTS xvii
The Determination of the Exchange Rate in the Short Run 366
The Foreign Exchange Market: A Supply and Demand Analysis 367
Fixed Exchange Rates 373
How to Fix an Exchange Rate 374
Speculative Attacks 377
Monetary Policy and the Fixed Exchange Rate 378
The Supply of Dollars 367
The Demand for Dollars 368 THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 13.4 379
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 13.5 380
The Equilibrium Value of the Dollar 368 THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 13.6 380
Changes in the Supply of Dollars 369
Changes in the Demand for Dollars 370 Should Exchange Rates Be Fixed or Flexible? 382
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 13.7 383
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 13.2 370 Summary 384 • Key Terms 385 • Review
Monetary Policy and the Exchange Rate 371
THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST 13.3 372
The Exchange Rate as a Tool of Monetary Policy 373
Questions 385 • Problems 386 • Answers to Self-Tests 387
Glossary G-1
