The question of growth is nothing new but new disguise for an age-old issue, one which has always intrigued and preoccupied economics: the present versus the future. -James Tobin If you have ever spoken with your grandparents about what their lives were like when they were young, most likely you learned an important lesson over about economics: material standards of have improved substantially over form time for most families in most countries

Unemployment A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune's inequality exhibits under the sun Thomas Carlyle Unemployment is the macroeconomic problem that affects people most directly and severely. For most people, the loss of a job means a reduced living standard

The Open Economy No nation was ever ruined by tr Benjamin Franklin Even if you never leave your home town, you are an active participant in a global conomy. When you go to the grocery store, for instance, you might choose be- tween apples grown locally and grapes grown in Chile. When you make a de posit into your local bank, the bank might lend those funds to your next-door

1. GDP measures both the total income of everyone in the economy and the total expendi- ture on the economy's output of goods and services. GDP can measure two things at once because both are really the same thing: for an economy as a whole, income must al expenditure. As the circular flow diagram in the text illustrates, these are alter- native, equivalent ways of measuring the flow of dollars in the economy

National Income: Where t comes From and where丨 t Goes A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. Jane Austen The most important macroeconomic variable is gross domestic product(GDP) As we have seen, GDP measures both a nations total output of goods and ser- vices and its total income. To appreciate the significance of GDP, one need only take a quick look at international data: compared with their poorer counterparts, nations with a high level of gDP per person have everything from better child-

The Data of macroeconomics It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to fit facts. Sherlock holmes Scientists, economists, and detectives have much in common: they all want to figure out what's going on in the world around them. To do this, they rely on both theory and observation. They build theories in an attempt to make sense of what they see happening. They then turn to more systematic observation to eval- uate the theories validity. Only when theory and evidence come into line do they feel they understand the situation

1-1 What Macroeconomists Study Why have some countries experienced rapid growth in incomes over the past century while others stay mired in poverty? Why do some countries have high

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Eugene F Fama. James D. Mac Beth The Journal of political Economy, Volume 81, Issue 3(May -Jun, 1973),607-636 Stable url: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3808%28197305%2f197306%2981%03a3%03c607%3arraeett3e2.0.c0%03b2-c Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of jSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.htmlJstOr'sTermsandConditionsofUseprovidesinpartthatunlessyou