Description of the Textbook

This book bridges the gap between undergraduate textbooks using graphs, and graduate level texts that focus on a single theoretical framework. The text presents a range of models and connects them to current policy issues and empirical results. The field of macroeconomics has made great strides, but it is far from a finished product.

The price of the ebook is a modest $16. Easing the financial strain on students has been a goal of the project. The price of the hardcover is less modest due to the mysterious workings of book distribution.

The textbook is the result of two decades teaching a Masters level macro class. Some of the students plan to go on to Ph.D. level work, but, for others, its the last macroeconomics class they'll ever take. My goal has been to provide something for everyone in terms of policy and econometric lessons, while giving a sense of what macroeconomic researchers do these days.

Undergraduates who have taken an intermediate level class and understand calculus fundamentals are quite capable of using this text. In fact, its a good way to explore modern macroeconomics, if you're considering it as a future endeavor.

Doctoral students taking macroeconomics could use the Primer to get some intuition behind the models. Its easy to get lost in the math when encountering Ph.D. level texts like Sargent and Ljungqvist for the first time.