Manzur Rashid - Macroeconomics For Dummies - UK Edition

Macroeconomics For Dummies, UK Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2015

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015950120

ISBN 978-1-119-02662-4 (paperback); ISBN 978-1-119-02667-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-02668-6 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole. So if you want to understand key concepts that you come across every day in the news, such as inflation, unemployment and economic growth, this is the book for you!

This book helps you to tackle some of the biggest questions people ask about macroeconomics, such as

• Why are some countries rich and others poor? And what can poor countries do to become richer?
• What causes the prices of things to rise and fall?
• Why are some people unable to find work? And what can be done to reduce unemployment?
• Why is there so much inequality in the world and what can we do about it?

We dont pretend to have answers to all the questions, but we do think that macroeconomics provides some good answers to many questions about how the economy works.

Fortunately, some of the worlds greatest minds have worked on macroeconomics and created a substantial body of work. Sadly, economists (and were just as guilty) havent done a great job at communicating the key ideas of macroeconomics to the public. As a result, all too often politicians and commentators are able to bamboozle people with nice-sounding but ultimately bad economics.

The point of this book is to introduce you to the fascinating world of macroeconomics so you can see how the economy works in reality, how you fit into it and, perhaps, ultimately how the world can be made a better place.

Macroeconomics affects almost every part of your life. Whether you have a job or are unemployed, whether you earn millions or the minimum wage, whether you want to borrow money or earn income from your savings, macroeconomics matters to you.

In this book you find the core macroeconomic concepts presented in a way thats easy to digest. We skip as much unnecessary complexity as possible while still taking a rigorous approach to the issues.

You can use this book for reference, flicking straight to any chapter that interests you: reading the book from cover to cover isnt necessary. That said, if youre studying a macroeconomics course at school or university you may prefer to read it systematically, in which case taking the chapters in order makes sense.

Throughout the book you find sidebars that provide additional detail about different topics of interest. We hope that you find these useful, but you dont need them to understand the main text. Feel free to skip them without worrying too much.

Like it or not, mathematics is widely used in economics. Whenever we use mathematics we also explain the process in words so youre not lost in a sea of equations! Sometimes in a sidebar we derive some of the results explicitly for interested readers. Again, you can skip these without getting lost.

We make some assumptions about you and why you want to read this book:

• Youre smart and interested in finding out how the economy works.
• Youre considering taking a school, university or professional course that involves macroeconomics and you want an easy-to-read resource that explains modern macroeconomics clearly.
• You understand that having a good knowledge of macroeconomics is essential in the modern world so no one can pull the wool over your eyes!
• Youre not scared about working through simple mathematical equations every now and again so long as theyre clearly explained and allow you to gain a deeper understanding of the material.
• Youre reading this book alongside our companion title Microeconomics For Dummies in order to master economics from a micro- (the study of individuals and firms) and macro- (the economy as a whole) perspective.

For Dummies books use icons, partly because theyre pretty but also because they draw your attention to some important things. Here are the icons we use in this book.

Tips are small morsels of useful information to help you understand something.

This icon draws your attention to something quite important.