| 书目名称 | Macroeconomics | | 副标题 | An Introductory Text | | 编辑 | John Evans-Pritchard | | 视频video | http://file.papertrans.cn/622/621023/621023.mp4 | | 图书封面 |  | | 描述 | This textbook provides a clear, accurate and up-to-date introduction to macroeconomics. The contents have been selected in response to the requirements of first examinations in macroeconomics at A level, first year degree level, and other higher education courses. The presentation is one that is suitable both for structured coursework and for private study. The selected topics are covered in detail and each section has samples of examination questions and data response. References are provided throughout for further study. | | 出版日期 | Textbook 1985Latest edition | | 关键词 | fiscal policy; growth; Inflation; Keynes; macroeconomics; monetary policy; unemployment | | 版次 | 1 | | doi | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17926-8 | | copyright | Macmillan Publishers Limited 1985 |
| 1 |
Front Matter |
|
|
Abstract
|
| 2 |
,Introduction, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
The study of economics can be divided broadly into two parts, microeconomics and macroeconomics. The distinction between these two, as the names suggest, is that micro studies the economics of small-scale systems whereas macro studies the economics of large-scale systems. The distinction should become quite clear if we take some examples.
|
| 3 |
,Measurement of the National Income, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
In Chapter 1 the basic objectives of government economic policy were outlined as low inflation, full employment, growth, and a favourable balance of payments. Whilst these are generally accepted as the obvious policy objectives, it is not so immediately obvious how they are going to be tested. How do we known, for example, that we have full employment, or that economic growth is really taking place? Clearly some basis of measurement is required. The same is true of macroeconomic theories in general. If the theories are dealing with aggregates and how they change, then we must be able to measure these aggregates both to allow us to formulate meaningful theories and to test them against reality. Some of the data that we require is provided by what are called the national income statistics. These record not only the aggregated totals but also the parts that go to make them up. They are a record of what has taken place in the national income over a specified period of time, usually one year. They also tell us how much income flows from one sector of the economy to another, from which we will be able to build up a picture of the circular flow of income.
|
| 4 |
,Classical Theory of Employment, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
The term ‘Classical’ as we will be using it was explained in Chapter 1. It was suggested there that Classical economists can be identified by what theories they hold. We will adopt that approach here.
|
| 5 |
,Keynesian Thery of Employment, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
The Classical model, as outlined in Chapter 3, shows an economy in which permanent unemployment is not possible. With the mechanism of falling prices all markets, including labour, will clear, and hence any temporary unemployment will be corrected. The economy will tend naturally towards that level of income and output necessary to keep the workforce in a state of full employment. If temporary unemployment occurs, then wages will fall and Say’s Law will operate to return the economy back to the full employment position.
|
| 6 |
,Investment, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
To understand what determines the level of investment we must first be certain what the term means. Unfortunately investment is one of those words which has developed a specific, but not always exact, meaning in economic theory. For investment to occur capital must have been produced. What precisely constitutes capital is a matter of some debate, which we will not go into here. For the purpose of understanding how investment affects the circular flow of income, capital will be taken as meaning anything that aids the production process other than land, labour and enterprise. Investment will therefore have taken place when a producer buys a machine, or raw material, or builds up stocks, or rents a factory, but it will not have taken place when he pays his labour force, nor when he distributes profits to the shareholders, nor when he purchases a piece of land.
|
| 7 |
,Savings and Consumption, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
In broad terms the Keynesian and Classical approach to investment is similar. Both schools agree that a major determinant is the rate of interest. Investment demand may therefore be accepted as an expression of the demand for loanable funds. Investment demand (MEC) is the amount of new capital that will be purchased (or borrowed) at specific rates of interest.
|
| 8 |
,Equilibrium Level of the National Income, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
The equilibrium level of the national income is defined as that point where the aggregate supply and the aggregate demand are equal to each other. We are here restating the equilibrium point accepted in Chapter 4. Once that point is reached the entrepreneurs will individually be at their profit maximising positions and they will therefore have no reason to change from that level of production and national income. The economy will remain in equilibrium until some outside, or exogenous, force moves it to a new equilibrium position.
|
| 9 |
,Determination of the Rate of Interest, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
The simple meaning of the term ‘interest rate’ is the rate of return paid on borrowed money. As was stated in Chapter 3, the need for a rate of interest when one lends money to someone else arises for two reasons. First there is a risk involved, the risk that the money will not be returned. Secondly there is the inconvenience of not having the money available for one’s own use whenever one feels like using it. This requires compensation. In the sense that the interest rate pays for borrowing the money, it can be said to be the price of borrowed money. In the same way as a holiday-maker may rent a surfboard for use at the seaside, the entrepreneur, or indeed a private individual, may pay to be allowed to use someone else’s money. In both cases a payment is being made for the service that the item provides, and in both cases the item will finally be returned to the owner.
|
| 10 |
,Monetary policy, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
Government’s macroeconomic policy is designed to control the level of economic activity in the country. Monetary policy does this by regulating the supply of money. To explain why control of the money supply will affect the economy it is useful to introduce at this stage what is known as the Quantity Theory of Money. This claims that the level of prices in the economy is directly related to the quantity of money in the economy. The significance of this theory for inflation is developed in Chapter 12, where the theory will be explained in more detail. Here we will mainly be using the equation with which the theory has become associated, Fisher’s equation:
|
| 11 |
,Fiscal Policy, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
Strictly speaking, fiscal policy refers to the policy of the public treasury, but economists have narrowed this definition so that now it is taken to relate only to controls of the economy by government revenue (mainly taxation) and government expenditure. As with monetary policy, the primary historical objective of fiscal policy has been to influence the economy through the level of aggregate monetary demand. It is those fiscal controls that have dominated, but the government can also influence the supply of goods and services through the imposition of indirect taxes, such as VAT, and the use of grants and subsidies.
|
| 12 |
,Physical Policy and Supply-side Economics, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
Monetary and fiscal policies primarily operate through some control of the supply or demand conditions of the economy. The traditional control is that of demand management, but subsidies, indirect taxes, the effects of interest rates on firms, etc., work mainly on the supply side. Physical policy in contrast ignores these supply and demand controls and simply dictates how markets will work. With prices policies, for example, the market prices will be fixed at a level stipulated by government, with little or no reference to the price that would be reached by the free interaction of supply and demand.
|
| 13 |
,Inflation, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
In advanced economies the development of a high degree of specialisation means that exchange cannot take place unless money is used. A man who works in the BL Truck and Bus Division cannot exchange his production for all the things he needs and wants, such as food, clothing, holidays and so on. He cannot do this for two main reasons, (a) He is not the sole owner, nor sole maker of the vehicles, and therefore it is not up to him to whom they will be sold, (b) The local shopkeeper, tailor and travel agent do not want a truck or bus.
|
| 14 |
,Unemployment, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
In this chapter we will limit the terms ‘employment’ and ‘unemployment’ to apply only to labour. It might therefore be thought that defining unemployment would present no problem. Unemployment surely means that people do not have jobs. In reality, as usual, it is not so simple. There must be a distinction made between people who do not have jobs and do not want them, such as housewives and schoolchildren, and those who do not have jobs and do want them. Schoolchildren, housewives, pensioners, etc., should not create an unemployment problem for the government because they do not want to be part of the labour market.
|
| 15 |
,Balance of Payments and Exchange Rates, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
The balance of payments between the monies that we have spent abroad on imports and the monies that we have received from the sale of exports is important to the economy for a number of reasons. To purchase imports it is usually necessary to exchange our currency for the exporter’s currency. This is done because pounds sterling are not of much use to the exporter who must pay his workforce and buy more goods for export in his own country’s currency. Pounds are not legal tender in, say, France. To buy French goods we must first buy francs (or the exporter may accept pounds and then buy francs himself). This is done in the main through the banking system, but the banks only have a limited reserve of foreign currency. Once that is used up the banks will have to exchange pounds for francs in the foreign exchange markets. Like any other demand the demand for another currency puts pressure on its price level. Balance of payments will therefore affect exchange rates.
|
| 16 |
,Economic Growth, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
Of the four main government economic objectives, growth is perhaps the most important. While inflation, unemployment and the balance of payments all place constraints upon the economy, it is growth that is the ultimate objective of the whole process. Growth provides us with the possibility of a rising standard of living. It may well be true that, unless we achieve the other three objectives, growth will be less than it might be, but it is also true that growth is possible even when we do not control inflation, unemployment and the balance of payments.
|
| 17 |
,Control of the Economy in the Real World, |
John Evans-Pritchard B.Sc. Econ |
|
Abstract
In this book we have, so far, concentrated mainly on the theoretical explanations of how the macroeconomy works. Where it has been possible to introduce an element of realism, without destroying the simplicity of the theories, this has been done. Now, as a final exercise, we must open our theories up to the tests of the real world in order to discover how useful they are likely to be.
|
| 18 |
Back Matter |
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
|Archiver|手机版|小黑屋|
派博传思国际
( 京公网安备110108008328)
GMT+8, 2025-8-14 06:55
发表于 2025-3-21 20:03:56
