Conversations on Growth, Stability and Trade: An Historical Perspective

by Brian Snowdon

Overview

This unique volume provides a comprehensive survey of the major economic issues that have helped shape the modern world. It includes discussions of the latest research findings in macroeconomics and scrutinises some of the most important debates in economic history. The author examines the many controversies relating to the role of government in a modern economy, long-run growth and development, the spread of the Industrial Revolution, the causes and consequences of the 'Great Depression', the 'Great Peacetime Inflation', the conduct of stabilisation policy, international economic integration and globalisation.

To shed light on these major issues the volume contains interviews with ten leading economists who have each contributed extensively to the literature on macroeconomics, economic growth and development, international economics and economic history. A major theme which runs throughout the book is the conviction that economists can gain valuable insights concerning important contemporary policy issues from a knowledge of history, especially economic history.

The distinguished economists featured in this book are: Ben Bernanke, Jagdish Bhagwati, Alan Blinder, Nick Crafts, Bradford DeLong, Barry Eichengreen, Kevin Hoover, Charles Jones, Christina Romer and Joseph Stiglitz.

Containing an extensive and up-to-date list of references, the book provides a comprehensive guide to the modern literature on macroeconomics and related fields. It will be an essential reference for all scholars and students of economics, especially those with an interest in economic growth, business cycles, inflation, unemployment, trade and globalisation. It will also be of considerable value to students of economic history and the history of economic thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843767237
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	02/19/2004
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Brian Snowdon, Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Economics and Finance, Durham University, UK

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface 1. Introduction: The World Economy in Historical Perspective 2. Economic Growth and Development: A Very Long-run View 3. Growth Theories: Old and New 4. Managing Aggregate Economic Instability: From Keynes to Lucas 5. International Economic Integration in the Second Global Age Interviews Appendix References Index

Editorial Reviews

'It should be in every library. A hundred years from now, it will be an important guide to what leading economists thought they knew, and what they knew they didn't know as of A.D. 2002.'

Christopher Hanes

'Conversations on Growth, Stability and Trade has all the lucidity of A Modern Guide to Macroeconomics by Snowdon, Vane and Wynarczyk, combined with the fascination of Conversations with Leading Economists by Snowdon and Vane. Students will love it and their teachers will devour it the night before the big lecture. If only I had learned macroeconomics this way.'

The late Mark Blaug

'This is a splendid book. It sits at the interface of economics and economic history, and provides both a textbook-style introduction to the key themes of macroeconomics and personal insights into the central debates gleaned from interviews with leading economists.'

David Greasley

'Conversations on Growth, Stability and Trade is a wonderful survey of the development of macroeconomic thinking over the past decades. Brian Snowdon has a knack for combining insightful essays on a subject with interviews of interesting, relevant, and diverse economists. The interviews give one an excellent sense of how economists approach policy issues.'

David Colander