Understanding Macro

Hi all,

Does anybody have good resources for getting up to speed on macro? Inflation, Central Bank Policy, etc...

Any books, articles, commentaries that you can recommend?

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Do you mean current macro environment, or macro as a discipline?

If the former, usual news sources + think tank websites are good for the basics (PIIE, Brookings, AEI, Council on Foreign Relations Economics program). Even blogs like The Macro Compass are cool. A ton of Macro podcasts too if you just Google "macro podcast".

If you mean knowing broader macro knowledge, I'd recommend looking at the IMF's edX online courses, namely Macroeconomic Diagnostics, or Monetary Policy Analysis and Forecasting. https://www.edx.org/school/imfx. They go over what you need to know to know the basics of theory and policy practice.

The best primer on all things economics to me remains

  • Economic Policy: Theory and Practice, by some French former policymakers. Unbelievably good and complete book.

If you need less technical stuff, check out

  • Alan Blinder's new book, A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States. 
  • The Price of Time, by Edward Chancellor - a history of interest rates from Byzantine onwanrds. Very interesting.
  • 21st Century Monetary Policy by Ben Bernanke
  • The Fed's latest Monetary Policy Report
 

Depends how deep you want to go. Usually the Economist, Financial Times,Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and New York Times (even with their slight left-leaning bias) all have top quality macro contributors who actually know their stuff. In the UK, the BBC has people who studied History or English becoming chief Economic editors who have literally no clue about any pressing macro issue. In terms of books, Monetary and Fiscal of the United States and Macroeconomics for Professionals are good reads. 

 

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